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Inorganic arsenic, commonly found in ground water in certain areas,
may increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a
study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health. The study found that individuals with type 2 diabetes had higher
levels of arsenic in the urine compared to individuals without type 2 diabetes.
“Our
findings suggest that low levels of exposure to inorganic arsenic may
play a role in type 2 diabetes,” said Ana Navas-Acien, MD, PhD, lead author of
the study and assistant professor with the Bloomberg School’s
Department of Environmental Health Sciences. “While prospective studies
are needed to establish whether this association is causal, these
findings add to the existing concerns about the long-term health
consequences of low and moderate exposure to inorganic arsenic.”
Inorganic
arsenic is found naturally in rocks and soils. In the U.S., most
exposure to inorganic arsenic comes from contaminated drinking water.
Foods such as flour and rice can also provide small quantities of
inorganic arsenic, particularly if grown or cooked in areas with
arsenic contamination in soil or water. Seafood is a source of organic
arsenic compounds that have little or no toxicity.
Researchers
examined randomly selected urine samples taken from 788 U.S. adults 20
years or older that participated in a 2003—2004 National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey. The results were adjusted for type 2 diabetes
risk factors, including body mass index and for organic arsenic
compounds found in seafood.
In the U.S., approximately 13
million people live in areas where the concentration of inorganic
arsenic in the public water supply exceeds standards established by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, primarily in the West, Midwest
and Northeast regions. Dietary intake of inorganic arsenic in the U.S.
ranges from 8.4 to 14 micrograms per day for various age groups.
The
authors concluded that given widespread exposure to inorganic arsenic
from drinking water worldwide, clarifying the contribution of arsenic
to the diabetes epidemic is a public health research priority with
potential implications for the prevention and control of diabetes.
“Arsenic
Exposure and Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes in US Adults” was written by
Ana Navas-Acien, MD, PhD; Ellen K. Silbergeld, PhD; Roberto
Pastor-Barriuso, PhD; and Eliseo Guallar, MD, DrPH.
The
researchers were funded in part by a grant from the National Institute
of Environmental Health Sciences Center in Urban Environmental Health.
About
Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is also referred
to as non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus
(NIDDM), or adult onset diabetes mellitus (AODM).
Type 2 diabetes affects nearly
21 million in the United States and nearly 200 million people worldwide.
Type 2 diabetes is characterized
by high levels of blood sugar, caused by the body's inability to utilize insulin
to move blood sugar into the cells for energy. In type 2 diabetes, patients can
still produce insulin, but do so relatively inadequately for their body's
needs, particularly in the face of insulin
resistance as discussed above. In many cases this actually means the
pancreas produces larger than normal quantities of insulin.
Diabetes is
a major cause of heart disease and stroke, as well as the
most common cause of blindness, kidney failure and amputations in U.S. adults.
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