Increased global mortality linked to arsenic exposure in rice-based
diets

Date:
August 4, 2020
Source:
University of Manchester
Summary:
Rice is the most widely consumed staple food source for a large
part of the world's population. It has now been confirmed that rice
can contribute to prolonged low-level arsenic exposure leading to
thousands of avoidable premature deaths per year.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Rice is the most widely consumed staple food source for a large part of
the world's population. It has now been confirmed that rice can contribute
to prolonged low-level arsenic exposure leading to thousands of avoidable premature deaths per year.


========================================================================== Arsenic is well known acute poison, but it can also contribute to health problems, including cancers and cardiovascular diseases, if consumed at
even relatively low concentrations over an extended period of time.

Compared to other staple foods, rice tends to concentrate inorganic
arsenic.

Across the globe, over three billion people consume rice as their major
staple and the inorganic arsenic in that rice has been estimated by some
to give rise to over 50,000 avoidable premature deaths per year.

A collaborating group of cross-Manchester researchers from The University
of Manchester and The University of Salford have published new research exploring the relationship, in England and Wales, between the consumption
of rice and cardiovascular diseases caused by arsenic exposure.

Their findings, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, shows that -- once corrected for the major factors known to contribute
to cardiovascular disease (for example obesity, smoking, age, lack of
income, lack of education) there is a significant association between
elevated cardiovascular mortality, recorded at a local authority level,
and the consumption of inorganic arsenic bearing rice.

Professor David Polya from The University of Manchester said: "The type
of study undertaken, an ecological study, has many limitations, but is
a relatively inexpensive way of determining if there is plausible link
between increased consumption of inorganic arsenic bearing rice and
increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Professor Polya from The University of Manchester said "The study suggests
that the highest 25 % of rice consumers in England and Wales may plausibly
be at greater risks of cardiovascular mortality due to inorganic arsenic exposure compared to the lowest 25 % of rice consumers.

"The modelled increased risk is around 6 % (with a confidence interval
for this figure of 2 % to 11 %). The increased risk modelled might also
reflect in part a combination of the susceptibility, behaviours and
treatment of those communities in England and Wales with relatively high
rice diets." While more robust types of study are required to confirm
the result, given many of the beneficial effects otherwise of eating
rice due to its high fibre content, the research team suggest that
rather than avoid eating rice, people could consume rice varieties,
such as basmati, and different types like polished rice (rather whole
grain rice) which are known to typically have lower inorganic arsenic
contents. Other positive behaviours would be to eat a balanced variety
of staples, not just predominately rice.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Manchester. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Lingqian Xu, David A. Polya, Qian Li, Debapriya Mondal. Association
of
low-level inorganic arsenic exposure from rice with age-standardized
mortality risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in England and Wales.

Science of The Total Environment, 2020; 743: 140534 DOI: 10.1016/
j.scitotenv.2020.140534 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200804134737.htm

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