A comprehensive assessment of arsenic in commonly consumed foodstuffs to evaluate the potential health risk in Bangladesh

Md Kawser Ahmed; Nazma Shaheen; Md Saiful Islam; Md Habibullah-Al-Mamun; Saiful Islam; Md Monirul Islam; Goutam Kumar Kundu; Lalita Bhattacharjee

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.11.133

A comprehensive assessment of arsenic in commonly consumed foodstuffs to evaluate the potential health risk in Bangladesh

Sci Total Environ. 2016 Feb 15:544:125-33. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.11.133. Epub 2015 Dec 3.

Authors

Md Kawser Ahmed¹, Nazma Shaheen², Md Saiful Islam³, Md Habibullah-Al-Mamun⁴, Saiful Islam², Md Monirul Islam⁵, Goutam Kumar Kundu⁶, Lalita Bhattacharjee⁷

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
² Institute of Nutrition and Food Science (INFS), University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
³ Department of Risk Management and Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Kanagawa 240-8501, Japan.
⁴ Department of Risk Management and Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Kanagawa 240-8501, Japan; Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. Electronic address: habibullah-al-sj@ynu.jp.
⁵ Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh; School of Earth and Environment, Leeds University, Leeds LS2, 9JT, UK.
⁶ Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
⁷ National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Bangladesh.

PMID: 26657358
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.11.133

Abstract

Arsenic (As), particularly of its inorganic form (iAs) is highly toxic, and its presence in food composites is a matter of concern for the public health safety, specifically in Bangladesh which is regarded as the most arsenic affected country throughout the world. This study was carried out to investigate the levels of As in the composite samples of commonly consumed foodstuffs collected from 30 different agro-ecological zones for the first time in Bangladesh. Most of the individual food composites contain a considerable amount of As which was, as a whole, in the range of 0.077-1.5mg/kg fw which was lower than those reported from Spain, EU, France, Korea, whereas higher than those of Mexico, Chile, Japan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Serbia, respectively. Cereals, vegetables, milk, and fish contribute about 90% to the daily intake of inorganic arsenic. Human health risk of dietary iAs was assessed separately for both the rural and urban adults. The estimated daily dietary intakes (EDI) of iAs for the exposed rural (3.5) and urban residents (3.2 μg/kg-BW/day) clearly exceeded the previous provisional tolerable daily intake (PTDI) value of 2.1 μg/kg-BW/day, recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). From the health point of view, this study concluded that both the rural and urban residents of Bangladesh are exposed to carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks who consume As-contaminated water and foodstuffs.

Keywords: Arsenic; Bangladesh; Cancer; Food chain; Health risks.

MeSH terms

Arsenic / analysis*
Bangladesh
Environmental Exposure / statistics & numerical data*
Environmental Pollutants / analysis*
Food Contamination / statistics & numerical data*
Humans
Risk

Substances

Environmental Pollutants
Arsenic