To evaluate Chinese adult dietary lead intake level and its potential health risks.Methods Concentration data of lead of 21 food categories in 2014, food consumption data from Chinese Nutrition and Health Survey 2002, and beverage consumption data from Chinese Beverage and Alcholic Beverage Consumption Survey 2013 were used to calculate dietary exposure of lead among Chinese adult population by simple distribution model. The margin of exposure (MOE) method was adopted to assess the potential health risks of dietary lead exposure. Results The MOE values of mean, median and high consumption (P97.5) dietary lead exposure among all adults were over 1, so did the values among different areas and age-gender specified population. However, there were 0.61% of adults whose MOE values were less than or equal to 1. It was indicated that the main sources of dietary lead were rice and its products, flour and its product, vegetables and meat, which contributed more than 70% of total dietary lead exposure.Conclusion It suggested that the potential health risks caused by dietary lead exposure in Chinese adult population was of low concern, but there still were 0.61% of the population need further consideration.