Intake of arsenic from water, food composites and excretion through urine, hair from a studied population in West Bengal, India

• Published in: Food and chemical toxicology 2006-04, Vol.44 (4), p.455-461
• Main Authors: Uchino, T., Roychowdhury, T., Ando, M., Tokunaga, H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Arsenic - toxicity; Arsenic - urine; Arsenic in tubewell water; Biological and medical sciences; Chemical and industrial products toxicology. Toxic occupational diseases; Child; Environmental Exposure; Environmental Monitoring; Epidemiological Monitoring; Female; Food Analysis; Food composites; Food Contamination - statistics & numerical data; Hair - chemistry; HPLC; Human hair and urine; Humans; ICP-MS; India - epidemiology; Male; Medical sciences; Metals and various inorganic compounds; Toxicology; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity; Water Pollutants, Chemical - urine; Water Supply; West Bengal—India
• ISSN: 0278-6915; 1873-6351
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2005.08.018

To evaluate the main intake source of arsenic by the villagers from arsenic-affected families in Jalangi and Domkol blocks in Mushidabad district, West Bengal—India, we determined the concentrations of arsenic in tubewell water and in food composites, mainly including vegetables and cereals collected from the surveyed families which were cultivated in that region. The daily dietary intakes of arsenic by the villagers were estimated and the excretions of arsenic through urine and hair were determined. The arsenic concentrations in hair and urine of the studied population living in mild (2.78 μg/L), moderate (30.7 μg/L) and high (118 μg/L) arsenic-affected families were 133, 1391 and 4713 μg/kg and 43.1, 244 and 336 μg/L, respectively. The linear regressions show good correlations between arsenic concentrations in water vs hair ( r 2 = 0.928, p < 0.001) and water vs urine ( r 2 = 0.464, p < 0.01). Approximately 29.4%, 58.1% and 62.1% of adult population from mild, moderate and high arsenic-affected families were suffering from arsenical skin manifestations. The mean arsenic concentrations of food composites (vegetables and cereals) in high arsenic-affected families are not significantly different from mild arsenic-affected families. The daily dietary intakes of arsenic from water and food composites of the studied population, living in high, moderate and mild arsenic-affected families were 568, 228 and 137 μg, respectively. The linear regressions show good correlations between arsenic concentrations in hair vs daily dietary intake ( r 2 = 0.452, p < 0.001) and urine vs daily dietary intake ( r 2 = 0.134, p < 0.001). The water for drinking contributed 6.07%, 26.7% and 58.1% of total arsenic in our study from mild, moderate and high arsenic-affected families. The result suggested that the contaminated water from high arsenic-affected families should be the main source for intake of arsenic. On contrary, the contribution of arsenic-contaminated food composites from mild and moderate arsenic-affected families might be the main source for intake of arsenic. The Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) values of arsenic in our study were 3.32, 5.75 and 12.9 μg/kg body weight/day from mild, moderate and high arsenic-affected families, respectively, which is higher than the recommended PTWI value of arsenic (2.1 μg/kg body weight/day).