Healthcare (Commonwealth Union) – A key study has found that lowering arsenic levels in drinking water can significantly cut long-term deaths linked to heart disease and cancer.
Scientists from NYU Langone Health, Columbia University, and the University of Chicago describe their extensive analysis as a major public-health finding, noting that naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater continues to pose a global threat. In the United States alone, more than 100 million people depend on groundwater that may contain unsafe arsenic concentrations, particularly those using private wells. Arsenic remains one of the most widespread chemical contaminants.
For the study, researchers tracked drinking water quality and health data from 10,977 adults in Bangladesh between 2002 and 2022. Over this period, initiatives to lower arsenic in the water supply resulted in a 70% reduction in arsenic concentrations, which corresponded with a 50% drop in arsenic measured in participants’ urine samples.
In findings published online November 17 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the team compared individuals whose arsenic exposure shifted from high to low with those who continued to face high exposure. They found that participants who saw reductions in arsenic had a 54% lower likelihood of dying from any chronic illness. Comparable declines were recorded for cardiovascular deaths (57%) and cancer-related deaths (49%).
The co-lead investigator of the study, Fen Wu, PhD, who is a senior research scientist at NYU Grossman School of Medicine indicated that their study gives the most powerful evidence to date that bringing down arsenic in drinking water can reduce the death rates from chronic disease.
She further indicated that raising arsenic levels in drinking water is still a pervasive public health issue due to the arsenic naturally accumulating in groundwater, which has no taste or odor, so individuals may consume unsafe levels for years without their knowledge.
“Our research supports switching to safer water sources as a strategy to improve long-term health around the world,” explained the study senior investigator Yu Chen, PhD, MPH, who is a professor in the Department of Population Health for the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “Improved access to low-arsenic water, periodic testing, and clear signage to mark safer-from-higher-arsenic water are useful tools to accomplish this goal.”
Dr. Chen notes that earlier studies conducted in parts of Taiwan and Chile—areas where arsenic concentrations exceed 600 micrograms per liter—have linked drops in heart disease and cancer mortality to reductions in arsenic in drinking water. However, she explains that her team’s research is the first to provide direct proof by tracking individual participants’ arsenic exposure and death outcomes over a 20-year period in a location with moderate exposure levels (below 200 micrograms per liter).
For this project, scientists monitored more than 10,000 wells in and around Araihazar, Bangladesh, where efforts to reduce arsenic contamination began in 2000. Wells are marked to show whether their arsenic levels are high or low, local educators urge residents to shift to safer water sources, and new wells with lower arsenic concentrations are continually being installed.
Throughout the study, volunteers provided urine samples on six occasions, enabling researchers to observe how their arsenic exposure changed over time. Over the course of the investigation, the team documented 1,401 deaths among participants due to chronic illnesses, including 730 related to cardiovascular disease and 256 to cancer.
Researchers of the noted that across Bangladesh, arsenic-tainted drinking water remains one of the country’s most severe public health issues. More than 50 million people are exposed to levels exceeding the World Health Organization’s recommendation of 10 micrograms per liter.
In recent years a greater focus has been placed on the food we consume and the environment we live in. As rates of a variety diseases increases the need for further research into food and beverages consumed and the atmosphere becomes even more significant.
