Arsenic in the drinking water of millions of Americans may be contributing to the diabetes epidemic, Bloomberg reports. Researchers found that people with high levels of arsenic in their urine were nearly four times more likely to have type 2 diabetes. Higher rates of diabetes occurred even with trace amounts of arsenic and levels that meet US legal standards.
"We know drinking water is the main source of exposure. It's important to reduce arsenic levels in drinking water where it exists,'' said an author of the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers are now trying to establish whether the toxin somehow triggers the disease, or if diabetes makes the body less able to filter out arsenic.