Arsenic exposure from food exceeds that from drinking water in endemic area of Bihar, India

Extensive evidence of elevated arsenic (As) in the food-chain, mainly rice, wheat and vegetables exists. Nevertheless, the importance of exposure from food towards total As exposure and associated health risks in areas with natural occurring As in drinking water is still often neglected, and accordingly mitigations are largely focused on drinking water only. In this study, the contribution of food over drinking water to overall As exposure was estimated for As exposed populations in Bihar, India. Increased lifetime cancer risk was predicted using probabilistic methods with input parameters based on detailed dietary assessment and estimation of As in drinking water, cooked rice, wheal flour and potato collected from 91 households covering 19 villages. Median total exposure was 0.83 mu g/kgBW/day (5th and 95th percentiles were 0.21 and 11.1 mu g/kgBW/day) and contribution of food (median = 49%) to overall exposure was almost equal to that from drinking water (median = 51%). More importantly and contrary to previous studies, food was found to contribute more than drinking water to As exposure, even when drinking water As was above the WHO provisional guide value 10 mu g/L. Median and 95th percentile excess lifetime cancer risks from food intake were 1.89 x 10(-4) and 732 x 10(-4) respectively when drinking water As was below 10 mu g/L and 4.00 x 10(-4) and 1.83 x 10(-3) respectively when drinking water As was above 10 mu g/L. Our results emphasise the importance of food related exposure in As-endemic areas, and, perhaps surprisingly, particularly in areas with high As concentrations in thinking water - this being partly ascribed to increases in food As due to cooking in high As water. These findings are timely to stress the importance of removing As from the food chain and not just drinking water in endemic areas. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.