Arsenic speciation in rice and risk assessment of inorganic arsenic in Taiwan population.
This study assessed the total arsenic content and arsenic speciation in rice to determine the health risks associated with rice consumption in various age-gender subgroups in Taiwan. The average total arsenic levels in white rice and brown rice were 116.6 ± 39.2 and 215.5 ± 63.5 ng/g weight (n = 51 and 13), respectively. The cumulative cancer risk among males was 10.4/100,000. The highest fraction of inorganic/total arsenic content in white rice ranged from 76.9 to 88.2 % and from 81.0 to 96.5 % in brown rice. The current study found different arsenic speciation of rice in southern Taiwan, where the famous blackfoot disease has been reported compared with arsenic speciation from other Taiwan areas. Therefore, rice and other grains should be further monitored in southern Taiwan to evaluate whether arsenic contamination is well controlled in this area.
Institute of Occupational Safety and Hazard Prevention, Hung Kuang University, No. 1018, Sec. 6, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu District, Taichung City, 43302, Taiwan, Republic of China. hsiulin@sunrise.hk.edu.tw.
Hsiu-Ling
HL
Chen
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Medical College, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 701, Taiwan.
Ching-Chang
CC
Lee
Department of Safety, Health and Environmental Engineering, Hung Kuang University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Winn-Jung
WJ
Huang
Institute of Occupational Safety and Hazard Prevention, Hung Kuang University, No. 1018, Sec. 6, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu District, Taichung City, 43302, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Han-Ting
HT
Huang
Institute of Occupational Safety and Hazard Prevention, Hung Kuang University, No. 1018, Sec. 6, Taiwan Boulevard, Shalu District, Taichung City, 43302, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Yi-Chen
YC
Wu
Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Executive Yuan, Taiwan.
Ya-Chen
YC
Hsu
Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Executive Yuan, Taiwan.
Yi-Ting
YT
Kao
D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis*; D005506:Food Contamination; D006801:Humans; D012275:Oryza / Q000737:chemistry*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013624:Taiwan
D001151:Arsenic
Arsenic; Blackfoot disease; Cancer risk; Inorganic arsenic; Rice; Risk assessment