Objective To study the application of different cumulative risk assessment method in evaluating risk of combined exposure of chemicals, based on the exposure data of lead and cadmium in typical beverage consumers. Methods Concentration data of lead and cadmium of beverages and beverage consumption data were used to calculate beverage exposure of lead and cadmium among three groups of beverage consumers. The scientific literature was used to obtain the toxicological data and health guideline values of lead and cadmium, and the control level of heavy metals in beverages was assumed to be less than 5% of the health guideline value. Based on the principle of grading assessment, the cumulative risk assessment method of hazard index(HI),target-organ toxicity dose(TTD) and weight-of-evidence(WOE) were used to assess the combined exposure risk of lead and cadmium, and also compared with the result of single substance exposure. Results In comparison with 5 percent of the health guideline value, middle school students exposed to lead through beverage exceeded this value. The result of HI method showed that the HI values of the middle school and college students' beverage consumers were greater than 1. The result of TTD method showed that the HI values of combined exposure of lead and cadmium to kidney were greater than 1 in three groups. For the cardiovascular and neurological system, only HI value of middle school students was greater than 1. For other endpoints, the HI values of the three groups were less than 1. The result of WOE method showed that the adjusted HI values for the interaction between lead and cadmium exposed to the cardiovascular and nervous system in middle school students were greater than 1. Conclusion Different cumulative risk assessment method could be used to assess the cumulative risk of combined exposures to different chemicals in foodstuffs. The appropriate method could be selected using the principle of grading assessment based on the adequacy of supportive data and management needs.