Research news: Arsenic-diabetes link gets broader

The News:
Arsenic- diabetes link gets broader
A study indicates a tie-in even with low levels of arsenic. The jury's out on what it all means.
By Carla K. Johnson The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 08/19/2008 10:44:04 PM MDT
CHICAGO — A new analysis of government data is the first to link low-level arsenic exposure, possibly from tap water, with Type 2 diabetes, researchers say.
The study's limitations make more research necessary. And public water systems were on their way to meeting tougher U.S. arsenic standards as the data were collected.
Still, the analysis of 788 adults' medical tests found a near-quadrupling in the risk of diabetes in people with low arsenic concentrations in their urine compared with people with even lower levels.
Previous research outside the U.S. has linked high levels of arsenic in drinking water with diabetes. It's the link at low levels that's new. The findings appear in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.
"The good news is, this is preventable," said lead author Dr. Ana Navas-Acien of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
New safe drinking water standards may be needed if the findings are duplicated in future studies, Navas-Acien said. She said they've begun a new study of 4,000 people.
Arsenic can get into drinking water naturally when minerals dissolve. It is also an industrial pollutant from coal burning and copper smelting. Utilities use filtration systems to get it out of drinking water. Read on...

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).