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Drug Monitoring and Toxicology: Mingsheng Ma and X. Chris Le Effect of arsenosugar ingestion on urinary arsenic speciation Clin Chem 1998; 44: 539-550 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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Question for the Author

Sheldon Goldberg   (3 December 1999)

Health Implications of Arsenosugar Ingestion

X Chris Le   (8 December 1999)

Question for the Author 3 December 1999
Sheldon Goldberg, Medical Director of Rehab/Nutrition Educator Porter Adventist/Littleton Hospital Send letter to journal: Re: Question for the Author Life403030{at}aol.com Sheldon Goldberg	As a nutrition educator, what implications does this information have in relation to intake of seaweed. At what volumes of consomption do you begin to see toxins in urine?
Health Implications of Arsenosugar Ingestion 8 December 1999
X Chris Le, Professor University of Alberta Send letter to journal: Re: Health Implications of Arsenosugar Ingestion xc.le{at}ualberta.ca X Chris Le	Our results demonstrated that arsenosugars were metabolized in the body to dimethylarsinic acid (DMAA) and up to six other unidentified arsenic species. Increased concentrations of DMAA and the unidentified arsenic metabolites were measured in urine samples following the ingestion of 9.5 g seaweed (dry weight). All volunteers who ingested this amount of seaweed showed increased urinary concentration of DMAA. Arsenosugars are abundant in seaweed, mussels, oysters, and clams. Our recent work showed that the ingestion of mussels (approximately 200 g in wet weight) also resulted in the increased concentration of DMAA in urine. We do not have data to show at what level of consumption we start to see the increase of DMAA in urine. However, from the ingestion of seaweed (9.5 g) and mussels (200 g) studies, we observed up to 10-fold increase in DMAA concentration in urine after the ingestion. There is little information on the toxicity of arsenosugars. Toxicological effects of the unidentified arsenic species due to metabolism of arsenosugars are not known. However, the increases in DMAA concentration due to arsenosugar metabolism should not be ignored. Although the acute toxicity of DMAA (LD50 = 700-2600 mg/kg) is much less than that of the inorganic arsenite (LD50 = 10-20 mg/kg), the genotoxic effects of these arsenic species are not well understood and may not follow the same order. Several studies suggest that DMAA may be more harmful than the inorganic arsenic species. To be on the safe side, excess consumption of arsenosugar-containing food should be discouraged.