A team of researchers on Monday said that exposure to arsenic and other toxic metals may accelerate the progression toward diabetes.
In a
study of over 500 Mexican Americans living in southern Texas in the US,
researchers from University of Illinois Chicago found that high levels of toxic
metals in urine predicted faster increases in blood sugar over subsequent
years.
The
study, published in Diabetes Care, highlights an underappreciated risk factor
for diabetes.
Environmental
exposures have largely been neglected as drivers of the diabetes epidemic.
"These
data support using environmental policy as a new tool to mitigate the
devastating burden of diabetes on individuals and society at large," said
Margaret Weiss, first author of the study.
Based
on these results, individuals with the highest levels of arsenic in their urine
were projected to qualify as prediabetic 23 months earlier and diabetic 65
months earlier than those with the lowest exposure to the toxic metal.
The
study emphasised that this risk factor can be addressed by reducing exposure to
contaminated food, water and other products.
On
average, blood sugar levels increased in all participants. But in those who
initially exhibited higher urinary levels of arsenic, selenium, copper,
molybdenum, nickel or tin, blood sugar increased at a faster rate over the
three years.
This
acceleration puts those who started with normal blood sugar levels at risk of
developing prediabetes and diabetes earlier than others in their population.
In
clinical medicine, time really matters. The earlier you develop diabetes, the
worse the complications are. The longer you have diabetes, the worse the
complications are. It underscores the need to engage these folks sooner in the
clinic," said Dr Robert Sargis, associate professor in the College of
Medicine.
How
arsenic and other metals increase the risk of diabetes isn't completely
understood.
Other
metals, namely cobalt and zinc, were associated in the study with lower blood
sugar in subsequent years, suggesting a potentially protective effect of some
elements.
However,
the alarming results with arsenic and other toxic metals suggest they are
environmental risk factors that could be new targets to prevent the disease.
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