Posted on 08/20/2008 7:53:21 PM PDT by neverdem
Reviewed By Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC
13 Million Americans Are Exposed to Dangerous Levels of Arsenic Through Drinking Water
Exposure to arsenic, typically through drinking water, is linked to diabetes, according a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Thirteen million Americans — and millions more worldwide — are exposed to drinking water contaminated with more inorganic arsenic than the Environmental Protection Agency has deemed safe. The EPA standard is 10 micrograms per liter.
Researchers, led by Ana Navas-Acien, MD, PhD, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, studied 788 adults who had their urine tested for arsenic exposure in the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants with type 2 diabetes had a 26% higher level of total arsenic in their urine than those without the disease. Levels of organic arsenic, called arsenobetaine, which is often found in seafood, were similar between two groups. Arsenobetaine is considered nontoxic.
After adjusting for diabetes risk factors and seafood intake, researchers found that participants in the top one-fifth of total urine arsenic levels (16.5 micrograms per liter) had 3.6 times the odds of having type 2 diabetes as those in the lowest one-fifth (3 micrograms per liter).
Researchers also looked at levels of dimethylarsinate, a compound created when inorganic arsenic is metabolized before excretion. Participants in the top one-fifth of urine dimethylarsinate levels (6 micrograms per liter) had 1.6 times the odds of having type 2 diabetes as those in the lowest one-fifth (2 micrograms per liter.)
There are several reasons that inorganic arsenic may contribute to diabetes. Insulin-sensitive cells that are exposed to insulin and sodium arsenic appear to take in less glucose than cells exposed only to insulin. Arsenic could influence genetic factors that interfere with insulin sensitivity and other processes. Arsenic also may contribute to oxygen-related cell damage, inflammation, and cell death, all of which are linked to diabetes.
The study adds more evidence that inorganic arsenic in drinking water is dangerous. Previous research has linked arsenic to cancer and other health problems.
"Given widespread exposure to inorganic arsenic from drinking water worldwide, elucidating the contribution of arsenic to the diabetes epidemic is a public health research priority with potential implications for the prevention and control of diabetes," the authors conclude.
An accompanying editorial written by Molly L. Kile, ScD, and David Christiani, MD, MPH, both of the Harvard School of Health, highlights the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes, which affects 7.8% of Americans (24 million individuals). Most research focus has been on prevention through medication and lifestyle changes, but additional research needs to be done on environmental factors, the authors write.
In the meantime, Kile and Christiani write, "It is prudent to minimize arsenic exposures while its effect on metabolic diseases continues to be researched."
SOURCES: Navas-Acien, A., TheJournal of the American Medical Association, Aug. 20, 2008; vol 300. Kile, M., Christiani, D., The Journal of the American Medical Association, Aug. 20, 2008; vol 300. News release, The Journal of the American Medical Association.
©2008
LAY OFF THE PROCESSED CARBS!
That is all. (White bread is poison)
/johnny
And, as she as radically controlled her carb consumption, her blood sugar readings have normalized (and she's lost over 70 lbs).
Do you get your water through a filter? Like a PUR filter or a reverse-osmosis filter? They usually take out arsenic.
While it may be true that there is a relationship between arsenic and type 2 diabetes, the whole refined carbs/sugars issue is a much bigger one than the arsenic, I believe.
Celiac is far more serious than Type II diabetes.
At the same time, having one or the other is often associated with the other. That is, you can have the gene for Celiac or similar condition AND an increased probability of having Type II, or Type I diabetes.
If you have both the odds are good you have a porphyria or two which is mediated through the action of a gene ordinarily used to construct heme. There are, currently, 83 known variants of this same gene.
I suspect this arose during a period when folks in the far North ate a lot of seal. Those critters have 25 times as much iron in their tissues as the next highest ranking animal (the reindeer).
You could be short the gene for "blue" retinal cones, have extra copies of the gene for "red" retinal cones, and a square shaped heart with extra large atrial chambers (which is kind of like having an extra heart in cold weather because it allows you to reduce your airflow while enhancing your ability to gather oxygen from the air sacs in your lungs).
Taken all together, it's rather far fetched to even begin to think that higher than healthy background arsenic levels have anything to do with many cases of Type II diabetes.
Wait a minute - arsenic is dangerous?
Many years ago I read that the nation with the highest rate of type II diabetes was Kuwait. Type II diabetes is a lifestyle issue (not that lifestyle is a guaranteed cure after it manifests itself).
I just decided that I would change the way I eat after watching “You are what you eat” on the BBC...I have cut out almost all processed carbs...except whole wheat bread...which I eat in moderation...lots of veggies and some fruit...a little meat now and than but I don’t go overboard and some dairy. I eat veggies until I am full..and in little over 2 months I have lost 31 lbs. I have a lot more energy...even getting back on my bike and taking a spin or two around town. I feel great, my thinking is clearer...and for some reason that nagging craving for sweets has disappeared. I was afraid of developing diabetes because of my weight...my son in law has it and just went through a horrendous time with cellulitis...the doctors had to remove a good portion of his belly because it was dead. He almost died from it.
Looking at what I ate and changing my thinking about food is probably the best decision I have ever made.
(Note - I didn't spend 15 bucks to read the JAMA article, and science reporting is notoriously uneven, so maybe the underlying JAMA article is not snark-worthy).
I wonder if they thought of the possibility that having diabetes could render your body less capable of excreting arsenic.
I guess avoiding that whole issue of deciding cause and effect makes fear-mongering so much easier, and certainly makes it easier to call for "prudent" restrictions. /sarc
My type 2 diabetes was not the result of overeating, or a genetic disposition, or consuming a boatload of carbs.
Thanks to the government (from whom too many ignorant people want their healthcare), my diabetes is the result of Agent Orange exposure in ‘Nam. It’s only ONE symptom of Agent Orange exposure . . . . . . . along with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), cystic fibrosis, fibromyalgia, muscular dystrophy and a host of other delightful diseases.
Despite many “wise and knowledgeable folks who make stqatements about overeating and obesity, those aren’t the only ways people get Type II Diabetes.
Sometimes, the government REALLY is . . . “here to HELP you!”
/sarc (last line only)
Yes, but (soft) white bread with French butter is so GOOOOOOD. (Heidi’s Grandmother was right).
Sounds like BS to me.
Im sure it doesnt have a thing to do with all the sodas and sugar people are pumping through their systems
Amazing.
Males with colorblindness actually are color-shifted to infra-red. Not much, but enough. But I don't have to write a paper to justify a great big grant for it.
So it doesn't count.
My advice remains the same. Eat whatever is in season, and isn't too easy to catch.
In Central NW Texas, that would be italian and mexican poverty foods. Beans, corn, 'maters, onions. Cheese. Lots of cheese. And goats and squirrel.
/johnny
IIRC, yes.
I was thinking the same, so many cause and effects left unanswered.
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