A new report seem to link arsenic in water to Type 2 Diabetes. Sounds absurd but various tests were conducted which led to this conclusion. Salient points in the article are as follows:
- A new analysis of government data is the first to link low-level arsenic exposure, possibly from drinking water, with Type 2 diabetes, researchers say. The study’s limitations make more research necessary. And public water systems were on their way to meeting tougher U.S. arsenic standards as the data were collected.
- Seafood also contains nontoxic organic arsenic. The researchers adjusted their analysis for signs of seafood intake and found that people with Type 2 diabetes had 26 percent higher inorganic arsenic levels than people without Type 2 diabetes.
- Arsenic can get into drinking water naturally when minerals dissolve. It is also an industrial pollutant from coal burning and copper smelting. Utilities use filtration systems to get it out of drinking water.
Also, the findings raise a chicken-and-egg problem, she said, since it’s unknown whether diabetes changes the way people metabolize arsenic. It’s possible that people with diabetes excrete more arsenic.
Originally written February 12, 2009
0 comments
Post a Comment