Urinary Arsenic Concentrations and their Associated Factors in Korean Adults

Abstract

Arsenic (As) is a well-known human carcinogen and its dietary exposure has been found to be the major route of entry into general population. This study was performed to assess the body levels of As and their associated factors in Korean adults by analyzing total As in urine. Urine and blood samples were collected from 580 adults aged 20 years and older, who had not been exposed to As occupationally. Demographic information was collected with the help of a standard questionnaire, including age, smoking, alcohol intake, job profiles, and diet consumed in the last 24 hrs of the study. Total As, sum of As(III), As(V), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), in urine was determined using atomic absorption spectrometer involving hydride generation method. The geometric mean concentration of total As in urine was 7.10 μg/L. Urine As was significantly higher in men (7.63 μg/L) than in women (6.75 μg/ L). Age, smoking, alcohol consumption, and job profiles of study subjects did not significantly affect the concentration of As in urine. No significant relationship was observed between body mass index (BMI), Fe, and total cholesterol in serum and urinary As. Urine As level was positively correlated with seaweeds, fishes & shellfishes, and grain intake. A negative correlation between urinary As level and HDL-cholesterol in serum and meat intake was observed. Overall, these results suggest that urinary As concentration could be affected by seafood consumption. Therefore, people who frequently consume seafood and grain need to be monitored for chronic dietary As exposure.

Association of arsenic exposure with smoking, alcohol, and caffeine consumption: Data from NHANES 2005–2010

“…While, Bae et al (2013) did not find an association between alcohol consumption and arsenic levels, in this study, amount of alcohol consumed during the last 24 h was found to be associated with elevated levels of UAS, UDMA, as well as UAB (Table 5). On the other hand, Aguilera et al (2008) did report a dose response relationship between alcohol consumption and arsenic levels among adults living in Spain.…”

“…Bae et al (2013) found Korean men aged 20 years and over to have higher urinary arsenic levels than females. In this study also, males aged ≥12 years were found to have higher adjusted UDMA levels than females ( (2014) found female nonsmokers to have higher adjusted levels than male nonsmokers for adults aged ≥20 years.…”

“…Based on the relatively small study sample size of 580, Bae et al (2013) reported no effect of smoking on the levels of UAS. This is somewhat unexpected since arsenic being one of the constituents of tobacco, smokers should have higher levels of arsenic than nonsmokers.…”

“…Interaction between alcohol use and arsenic exposure has been studied among others by Bae et al (2013), Wadhwa et al (2013), and Zhang et al (2014). To the best of our knowledge, we do not know of a study in general U.S. population that has considered the interacting effect of arsenic exposure with smoking, alcohol, and caffeine consumption.…”

“…While this was not the focus of this study, adjusted levels of arsenic variable UAB, UAS, and UDMA were also computed by gender, race/ethnicity, and SES which to the best of our knowledge has been done in only a few studies (Bae et al, 2013;Wei et al, 2014). Bae et al (2013) found Korean men aged 20 years and over to have higher urinary arsenic levels than females.…”