You are here:
Opportunities and Challenges for Dietary Arsenic Intervention
Citation:
Nachman, K., T. Punshon, L. Rardin, A. Signes-Pastor, C. Murray, B. Jackson, M. Guerinot, T. Burke, C. Chen, H. Ahsan, M. Argos, K. Cottingham, F. Cubadda, G. Ginsberg, B. Goodale, M. Kurzius-Spencer, A. Meharg, M. Miller, A. Nigra, C. Pendergrast, A. Raab, K. Reimer, K. Scheckel, T. Schwerdtle, V. Taylor, E. Tokar, T. Warczak, AND M. Karagas. Opportunities and Challenges for Dietary Arsenic Intervention. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Research Triangle Park, NC, 126(8):84503-84506, (2018). https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP3997
Impact/Purpose:
Emerging data suggest that arsenic, even at relatively low levels of exposure, may impact human health, particularly during early life (National Research Council 2014). In consideration of this issue, risk assessment efforts have been mobilized to address exposures, primarily from drinking water. As successes are increasingly documented in these exposure reduction efforts (Nigra et al. 2017; Welch et al. 2018), the diet has emerged as a driving source of exposure in populations with low drinking water arsenic. Despite its contributions to aggregate arsenic exposures, efforts to tackle arsenic in food have been relatively sparse. The Collaborative on Food with Arsenic and associated Risk and Regulation (C-FARR) brought arsenic and food scientists together with policy stakeholders for a workshop focusing on knowledge gaps and policy questions in recognition of this lagging focus. The resulting five papers address this issue from soil to plate to policy (Cubadda et al. 2017; Davis et al. 2017; Nachman et al. 2017; Punshon et al. 2017; Taylor et al. 2017). Moving beyond the C-FARR workshop, and considering scientific and policy hurdles, we discuss here an array of immediate-term opportunities that exist among multiple stakeholder groups to intervene on dietary arsenic exposures.
Description:
The diet is emerging as the dominant source of arsenic exposure for most of the U.S. population. Despite this, limited regulatory efforts have been aimed at mitigating exposure, and the role of diet in arsenic exposure and disease processes remains understudied. In this brief, we discuss the evidence linking dietary arsenic intake to human disease and discuss challenges associated with exposure characterization and efforts to quantify risks. In light of these challenges, and in recognition of the potential longer-term process of establishing regulation, we introduce a framework for shorter-term interventions that employs a field-to-plate food supply chain model to identify monitoring, intervention, and communication opportunities as part of a multisector, multiagency, science-informed, public health systems approach to mitigation of dietary arsenic exposure. Such an approach is dependent on coordination across commodity producers, the food industry, nongovernmental organizations, health professionals, researchers, and the regulatory community.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Opportunities and Challenges for Dietary Arsenic Intervention
Free access through PubMed Central