Arsenic in their chapatis putting Bihar’s rural population at increased cancer risk
Health

Arsenic in their chapatis putting Bihar’s rural population at increased cancer risk

Study by scientists shows chapatis, which are a part of the staple diet in Bihar, can pose greater risk to the arsenic-exposed populations of Bihar.

   
Photo: https://www.sciencedirect.com/

Photo: https://www.sciencedirect.com/

New Delhi: Scientists have found that chapatis in rural homes in Bihar contain higher amounts of arsenic than previously estimated, putting the population of areas exposed to the harmful chemical element at an increased risk of cancer.

The research, published in the journal Science of The Total Environment, shows that lifetime cancer risk of the arsenic-exposed population from Bihar was higher than the threshold values set by the US-based Environmental Protection Agency.

Wheat is one of the most important food grains in India, after rice. While arsenic exposure from rice is extensively studied, it is not well explored for wheat, researchers pointed out in the study.

Arsenic accumulation in food grains is usually due to high arsenic levels in the soil or water in the area.

19 villages in 10 arsenic-affected districts studied

“Whether the arsenic in the grains is due to accumulation from soil or other reason like pesticides which might have arsenic, needs to be studied further and we are initiating further studies on this regard,” Debapriay Mondal, from the University of Salford, told ThePrint in an email.

“Our study was based on household sample collection and wheat is procured from the Public Distribution System in many rural households of Bihar.

As a part of this study, we can say that people living in arsenic- exposed areas of Bihar have another potential route of exposure over rice and water, that is wheat,” Mondal said.

The team, including scientists from the Mahavir Cancer Sansthan and Research Center and Aryabhatta Knowledge University in Patna, collected data from 77 households across 19 villages in 10 arsenic-affected districts of Bihar.

Of the 154 participants who were surveyed, 78 per cent consumed rice every day, while chapati was consumed every day by 99.5 per cent of the participants.

According to the team, previous studies have demonstrated that arsenic concentration in wheat flour is lower than that in the grains, as bran is removed during the process of grinding. However, in the samples studied, researchers did not find an appreciable lowering of arsenic in the wheat flour. They suspect there is external arsenic contamination during processing and grinding.

“The estimated increased cancer risk due to arsenic exposure from wheat intake is around 1 in 10,000 in this studied arsenic exposed populations of Bihar,” Mondal said.


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Larger study on food habits in arsenic-exposed areas of Bihar

The research is part of an ongoing larger study, “Nutri-SAM: Nature and nurture in arsenic-induced toxicity of Bihar, India”, which is looking at the diet and food habit of arsenic-exposed populations in Bihar. The objective is to determine if there is any food habit that can help reduce arsenic exposure or induced toxicity.

“To address this, we are also looking at arsenic exposure from the staple food. In Bihar the consumption of wheat is high and we found that almost every participant consume wheat in the form of chapati every day over rice,” Mondal said.

“Bihar is one of the most arsenic-affected states in India next to Bengal and Assam with distinct dietary habits compared to Bengal, prompting this study in Bihar,” he said, noting that the state was less explored compared to West Bengal in terms of arsenic exposure from food intake.


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