Vegetables, including leafy vegetables and fruit, are of importance to human health. In order to evaluate the heavy metal contamination status and associated health risks of vegetables, 57 vegetables (34 spring vegetables and 23 winter vegetables) and 34 corresponding soil samples (sampled with the spring vegetables) were collected from farmland surrounding a mining area in southern Hunan, China. Analysis was carried out to determine the correlation between the heavy metal content of vegetables and soils, to enable assessment of the potential health risk to local inhabitants consuming the vegetables grown in the contaminated soils. The results showed that: (1) The measured maximum total Pb and Cd in the soils were up to 1251.9 mg / kg (the corresponding soil to the three鄄colored amaranth) and 13.2 mg / kg (the corresponding soil to the kidney bean) , respectively. The average concentration of total Pb and Cd in all soils were 841.7 mg / kg and 6.5 mg / kg, respectively, which were 3.37 and 21.67 times the standard allowable concentration of Pb and Cd for vegetable soils in China (pH level < 6. 5, Pb 臆 250 mg / kg, Cd 臆 0. 3 mg / kg; Environment Quality Standard for Soil Heavy Metals GB15168-1995, Grade II). It suggested that contamination from heavy metals in these soils was very serious. (2) Vegetables grown on the contaminated soils were rich in Pb and Cd in different plant organs. The highest levels of heavy metals were 5.03 mg / kg for total Pb and 2.92 mg / kg for total Cd in the edible parts of garlic and three鄄colored amaranth, respectively, which exceeded the maximum levels of the China National Food Sanitation Standards for total Pb (GB

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