Abstract
Arsenicosis, a disease caused by toxicity of arsenic, has been reported as a severe global health threat for the millions of peoples who are bound to use arsenic contaminated ground water as the main source of drinking water. Arsenicosis can be managed by using synthetic remedies. But, most of these synthetic remedies have side effect and/or are costly for the people of poor countries where arsenicosis is more prevalent. Hence, research on an alternative strategy for management of arsenicosis is important for public health. In this study, as a strategy to manage arsenicosis, a diet regime containing proper foods and vitamin C supplementation was suggested to follow for six months by arsenicosis patients who were selected from three study areas located in northwestern districts (Nawabganj and Rajshahi) of Bangladesh. It was found that the suggested diet regime can cause significant reduction of urinary arsenic excretion, enhancement of blood hemoglobin level, and improvement of keratosis condition in investigated arsenicosis patients after following the diet regime for six months, indicating a positive role of diet regime on betterment of health condition of arsenicosis patients.
Highlights
Arsenic contamination in ground water has been reported as a severe health threat for the population who are using contaminated water for drinking and/or for cooking their meal [1, 2]
In this study, investigated patients with arsenicosis were motivated to follow a diet regime containing proper foods and vitamin C supplementation for six months with an aim that their condition would be better after that time
Arsenic concentrations in tube-well water in all three studied areas were above the permissible limit (0.01 ppm) set by World health organization [3] indicating that people of three studied areas were might be affected by toxicity of arsenic by drinking tube-well water
Summary
Arsenic contamination in ground water has been reported as a severe health threat for the population who are using contaminated water for drinking and/or for cooking their meal [1, 2]. Around 24 million people are exposed potentially to arsenic contaminated water collected from hand-pumped tube-wells in Bangladesh, and 8500 people of them are seriously suffering from toxic effect of arsenic, known as arsenicosis [4]. Several studies have revealed that dietary supplementation with selective foods and vitamin is positively correlated with the decline of toxic effect of various environmental agents such as heavy metals [12]. In this study, investigated patients with arsenicosis were motivated to follow a diet regime containing proper foods and vitamin C supplementation for six months with an aim that their condition would be better after that time.
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