title: A comprehensive assessment of arsenic in commonly consumed foodstuffs to evaluate the potential health risk in Bangladesh.
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.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Md Kawser
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nutrition and Food Science (INFS), University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Nazma
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shaheen
authors.affiliation: Department of Risk Management and Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Kanagawa 240-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Md Saiful
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.affiliation: 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.
authors.forename: Md
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Habibullah-Al-Mamun
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nutrition and Food Science (INFS), University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Saiful
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.affiliation: Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh; School of Earth and Environment, Leeds University, Leeds LS2, 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Md Monirul
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.affiliation: Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Goutam Kumar
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Kundu
authors.affiliation: National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Lalita
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bhattacharjee
mesh_terms: D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis*; D001459:Bangladesh; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D012306:Risk
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D001151:Arsenic
keywords: Arsenic; Bangladesh; Cancer; Food chain; Health risks