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Mondal D, Rahman MM, Suman S, Sharma P, Siddique AB, Rahman MA, Bari ASMF, Kumar R, Bose N, Singh SK, Ghosh A, Polya DA. Arsenic exposure from food exceeds that from drinking water in endemic area of Bihar, India. Sci Total Environ 2021; 754:142082. [PMID: 32919317 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2020] [Revised: 08/27/2020] [Accepted: 08/28/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Extensive evidence of elevated arsenic (As) in the food-chain, mainly rice, wheat and vegetables exists. Nevertheless, the importance of exposure from food towards total As exposure and associated health risks in areas with natural occurring As in drinking water is still often neglected, and accordingly mitigations are largely focused on drinking water only. In this study, the contribution of food over drinking water to overall As exposure was estimated for As exposed populations in Bihar, India. Increased lifetime cancer risk was predicted using probabilistic methods with input parameters based on detailed dietary assessment and estimation of As in drinking water, cooked rice, wheat flour and potato collected from 91 households covering 19 villages. Median total exposure was 0.83 μg/kgBW/day (5th and 95th percentiles were 0.21 and 11.1 μg/kgBW/day) and contribution of food (median = 49%) to overall exposure was almost equal to that from drinking water (median = 51%). More importantly and contrary to previous studies, food was found to contribute more than drinking water to As exposure, even when drinking water As was above the WHO provisional guide value of 10 μg/L. Median and 95th percentile excess lifetime cancer risks from food intake were 1.89 × 10-4 and 7.32 × 10-4 respectively when drinking water As was below 10 μg/L and 4.00 × 10-4 and 1.83 × 10-3 respectively when drinking water As was above 10 μg/L. Our results emphasise the importance of food related exposure in As-endemic areas, and, perhaps surprisingly, particularly in areas with high As concentrations in drinking water - this being partly ascribed to increases in food As due to cooking in high As water. These findings are timely to stress the importance of removing As from the food chain and not just drinking water in endemic areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debapriya Mondal
- School of Science, Engineering & Environment, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK.
| | - Mohammad Mahmudur Rahman
- Global Centre for Environmental Remediation (GCER), Faculty of Science, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
| | - Sidharth Suman
- School of Science, Engineering & Environment, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK; Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Center, Patna, India; Department of Environment and Water Management, A.N. College, Patna, India
| | - Pushpa Sharma
- Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Center, Patna, India; Department of Environment and Water Management, A.N. College, Patna, India
| | - Abu Bakkar Siddique
- Global Centre for Environmental Remediation (GCER), Faculty of Science, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
| | - Md Aminur Rahman
- Global Centre for Environmental Remediation (GCER), Faculty of Science, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
| | - A S M Fazle Bari
- Global Centre for Environmental Remediation (GCER), Faculty of Science, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
| | - Ranjit Kumar
- Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Center, Patna, India
| | - Nupur Bose
- Department of Geography, A.N. College, Patna, India
| | | | - Ashok Ghosh
- Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Center, Patna, India
| | - David A Polya
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
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