Discover “important” in some … arsenic amounts – RTVE

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Researchers at the Miguel Hernández (UMH) University of Elche have analyzed the presence of arsenic in flour, bread, sweets, pasta, beer and milk made with rice destined for People with celiac disease.

Y is that people who have the celiac disease, about 1% of the Western population, can not tolerate gluten and are forced to consume products without this substance, like Rice .

But this cereal, depending on their origin, can also contain worrisome levels of arsenic , a toxic and carcinogenic element, according to Sync. For most consumers this is not a problem because they eat little rice every day, but not in celiac patients.

Arsenic in flour

The results of the analyzes presented in Food Additives & amp; Contaminants , warn that Some of these products contain “important content” total arsenic (As-t, up to 120 mg / kg) and inorganic arsenic (As-i, up to 85.8 mg / kg).

The total arsenic is the sum of organic, which combines with carbon, and inorganic, which reacts with other elements such as oxygen, chlorine or sulfur, and is more harmful.

With these data have been estimated contents of As and As-t-i just used rice as the main ingredient -descartando the other components of food-and have proven to be as high as 235 and 198 mg / kg, respectively .

In addition, the daily intake of inorganic arsenic taking celiac to consume products with rice was calculated 0.46 and 0.45 mg / kg (micrograms per kilogram of body weight) for women and men of 58 and 75 kg, respectively.

And in the case of children (up to five years ), these values ​​are even higher, ranging between 0.61 and and 0.78 mg / kg, according to another study published in the Journal of Food Science .

Risks of arsenic intake

A panel of experts from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) established the EU in 2009 that there is evidence that the intake range between 0.3 and 8.0 mg / kg of body weight per day is a risk of lung, skin and bladder cancer. The estimated intakes in the two studies move therefore within that range.

The celiac ingest arsenic moves in the range of risk

“These values ​​indicate that we can not exclude a health risk to people who consume these products,” says Ángel Carbonell, co-author of the studies, while acknowledging an important point: “ The European Union has not yet established legal limits of the levels of arsenic in rice and foods made with this cereal, but now is actively working on it. “

Lack of legislation

The advice of researchers is clear: “a legislation by health agencies to delimit the arsenic levels must not exceed in is required rice-based foods for celiac consumers. “

So far, celiac disease is diagnosed mainly in children, but in recent years has changed the profile and one in five people with disease is over 65 .

Today, every European country is taking samples of these products, analyzing and submitting the results to the EFSA to develop a database large enough to make decisions.

The Spanish Agency for Consumer Food Safety and Nutrition (AECOSAN) just sent the Spanish report , who collaborated in the study investigators.

Another of its key recommendations is to include quality information on labels: “It should indicate the content of inorganic arsenic leads each food , and to identify the variety of well rice used and its origin, because some are more desirable than others, “says Sandra Munera, another author.

One of the most ‘clean’ rice the world is the Doñana National Park

Arsenic occurs naturally in the earth’s crust, but in some regions their abundance is higher than in other, and concentration also increases with the use of pesticides . Then this element diffuses water to rice, one of the few plants grown flooded.

One of the most “clean” rice in the world is the National Park of Doñana because in this environment has not been allowed to use pesticides and arsenic not naturally abundant.

But in countries like India and Bangladesh, where waters are contaminated with inorganic arsenic and rice is a staple food for the population, the result being one of the largest mass poisoning in history .