Enhancing Decision-Making of Consumers on Arsenic in Foods

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Transport of arsenic in living systems

The entry of arsenic into hepatocytes is controlled by water transport proteins aquaporin (Drobna et al., 2010, McDermott et al., 2010). Aquaglyceroporin channels are transport channels that facilitate bidirectional movement of small neutral solutes such as urea, glycerol. Examples of aquapglyceroporins are the GlpF in Escherichia coli, AQP7 and AGP9 from rats and humans (Agre and Kozono, 2003). The aquaglyeroporins GlpF, AQP7 and AQP9 transport trivalent inoganic arsenic in the form of arsenic trioxide though they differ in selectivity for trivalent arsenicals and transport rates (Liu et al., 2002, Liu et al., 2006).

Selected Medical, Agricultural and Industrial Applications of Arsenic

In solution at physiologic pH, inorganic trivalent arsenic As(III), is primarily in the form of undissociated acid arsenic trioxide [As(OH)3] (RamirezSolis et al., 2004). The anhydrous form of arsenite trioxide (As2O3) is used in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) (Soignet et al., 1998) by inducing differentiation and apoptotic death in the leukemic cells, thought to be due to an overproduction of reactive oxygen species (Sumi et al., 2010). Data is also available on the molecular responses in human leukemic cell lines as well as enhancement using ascorbic acid (vitamin C) (Yedjou et al., 2010, Yedjou et al., 2009, Yedjou et al., 2006, Yedjou et al., 2008, Yedjou and Tchounwou, 2007, Yedjou and Tchounwou, 2009).

Arsenic Toxicity in Young Children

Many research and epidemiologic investigations focus on the effects of arsenic toxicity in adults. However, young children also make up one of the vulnerable groups. This vulnerability of young children to arsenic toxicity can be explained by many physiological reasons and also the behavioural habits they exhibit such as their play habits on the floor, hand or object-mouth habits (Rieuwerts et al., 2006). An investigation of arsenic on the hands of children after playing in playgrounds that use wood treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA) (Kwon et al., 2004). Comparison of CCA and non-CCA playgrounds revealed a significant difference between the groups (p < 0.001). The mean amount of water-soluble arsenic on children’s hands from CCA playgrounds was 0.50 μg (range, 0.0078–3.5 μg compared to non-CCA playgrounds, which was 0.095 μg (range, 0.011–0.41 μg).

Arsenic Concentrations in Various Foods

People in Bangladesh are exposed to arsenic mainly through the food ingestion associated with the consumption of contaminated drinking water and large amounts of rice and other foods (vegetables, daal, fish, milk, chicken and other meats) (Khan et al., 2009). Even in populations where arsenic contamination through water is not a threat, a rice-based diet can contribute a significant amount of arsenic exposure (Meharg et al., 2009, Zhu et al., 2008). The data on arsenic in six food groups have been collated by Uneyama et al. (2007). In this section, the emphasis is to highlight published articles that have compared arsenic content of selected foods obtained from arsenicendemic regions of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India with other parts of the world.

READ Cell Wall-related Proteins of Unknown Function: Missing Links in Plant Cell Wall Development

Arsenic in rice versus other grains

There is a significant emphasis on arsenic levels in rice when compared with wheat which happens to be the second most important food grain worldwide (Zhao et al., 2010). In the wheat grain arsenic is contained mostly in the outer layers of the grain (Zhao et al., 2010). The arsenic concentration in the bran fractions (the outer coverings of the grain) was found to be at least four to five times higher than the content in the white flour fraction (the endosperm). It is noteworthy that the bran fraction accounts for only 23-29 percent of the total grain weight. This observation corresponds with similar investigations to determine arsenic speciation in rice grain (Lombi et al., 2009, Moore et al., 2010, Sun et al., 2008).

TABLE OF CONTENTS :

DECLARATION
DEDICATION
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
- 1.1 OVERVIEW
- 1.2. MOTIVATION FOR RESEARCH
  - 1.2.1 Regulatory Limits for Arsenic in Foods
  - 1.2.2 Enhancing Decision-Making of Consumers on Arsenic in Foods
- 1.3 RESEARCH GOAL, PURPOSE, HYPOTHESIS AND OBJECTIVES
  - 1.3.1 Goal
  - 1.3.2 Hypothesis
  - 1.3.3. Research Objectives
- 1.4 RATIONALE FOR RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
  - 1.4.1. Objective 1: Provide insightful visual analytic views of compiled data on arsenic in food categories
  - 1.4.2 Objective 2: Categorize table ready foods by arsenic content
  - 1.4.3 Objective 3: Compare arsenic content in rice product categories
- 1.5 SOFTWARE USED FOR VISUAL ANALYTICAL DISCOVERIES
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
- 2.1 SOURCES OF ARSENIC
- 2.2 METABOLISM OF ARSENIC IN THE HUMAN BODY
- 2.3 TRANSPORT OF ARSENIC IN LIVING SYSTEMS
- 2.4 SELECTED MEDICAL, AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF ARSENIC
- 2.5 POSSIBLE MECHANISMS OF CANCER INDUCTION BY INORGANIC ARSENIC
- 2.6 ARSENIC TOXICITY IN YOUNG CHILDREN
- 2.7 TIMELINE FOR CANCER DEVELOPMENT FROM ARSENIC EXPOSURE
- 2.8 ARSENIC CONCENTRATIONS IN VARIOUS FOODS
- 2.9 ARSENIC IN RICE VERSUS OTHER GRAINS
- 2.10 ARSENIC IN SEAFOOD
- 2.11 FACTORS AFFECTING ARSENIC UPTAKE IN PLANTS
- 2.12 ARSENIC ESTIMATES IN TOTAL DIET STUDY
- 2.13 GOAL OF VISUAL ANALYTICS
- 2.14 VISUAL ANALYTICS AS AN INTEGRATED APPROACH
- 2.15 “INSIGHT” IN VISUAL ANALYTICS
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODS
- 3.1 OBJECTIVE 1: PROVIDE INSIGHTFUL VISUAL ANALYTIC VIEWS OF COMPILED DATA ON ARSENIC IN FOOD CATEGORIES
  - 3.1.1 Data Collection and Preparation for Visual Analytics
  - 3.1.2 Use Cases for Visual Analytics of Datasets
- 3.2. OBJECTIVE 2: CATEGORIZE TABLE READY FOODS BY ARSENIC CONTENT
  - 3.2.1 Data Collection and Preparation for Visual Analytics
  - 3.2.2. Use Cases for Visual Analytics of Datasets
- 3.3. OBJECTIVE 3: COMPARE ARSENIC CONTENT IN RICE PRODUCT CATEGORIES
  - 3.3.1 Data Collection and Preparation for Visual Analytics
  - 3.2.2 Use Cases for Visual Analytics of Datasets
- 3.4. OBJECTIVE 4: IDENTIFY INFORMATIVE SENTENCES ON ARSENIC CONCENTRATIONS IN RICE
  - 3.4.1 Data Collection and Preparation for Visual Analytics
  - 3.4.2 Identification of Sentences with Information on Arsenic Concentration
CHAPTER 4 RESULTS
CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION
CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMENDATIONS