Arsenic in drinking water may raise the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a new study showed.
After analyzing 788 U.S. adults aged 20 or older, researchers at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University found that people with type 2 diabetes had a 26 percent higher level of total arsenic in their urine than participants without type 2 diabetes.
People with the highest levels of arsenic were almost 3.6 times more likely to have diabetes than people with the lowest levels, the researchers said in the study published in the Aug. 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Those with the highest levels of dimethylarsinate (a compound into which inorganic arsenic is metabolized) had 1.5 times the risk of diabetes as those with the lowest levels, the study found. This was after adjusting for organic arsenic compounds such as arsenobetaine and arsenosugars, which come primarily from seafood.
The findings were the first to link low-level exposure to arsenic with type 2 diabetes prevalence in the United States.
"This suggests that arsenic would play a role in the development of diabetes," said lead researcher Dr. Ana Navas-Acien, assistant professor of environmental health science.
"But there clearly needs to be additional research conducted because our study has certain limitations. We are conducting those studies now, but that's going to take a few years."
Inorganic arsenic from natural mineral deposits contaminates much drinking water. Individuals exposed to enough arsenic can develop cancer, among other conditions, experts note.
According to background information in the study, about 13 million people in the United States live in areas with a concentration of inorganic arsenic in the public water supply that exceeds recommended levels.
In animal studies, high concentrations of arsenic affected glucose and insulin mechanism -- key factors in type 2 diabetes.
