Seafood can lead to toxic arsenic compounds
Published: Monday, Dec 9th 2024, 14:10
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Potentially toxic arsenic compounds can form in the human body when seafood is consumed. This is caused by arsenobetaine, which is often found in seafood. It can be converted into partially toxic substances by intestinal bacteria.
Arsenobetaine is one of the most frequently occurring arsenic compounds in seafood, including algae, fish and shellfish, as the University of Bern (Unibe) announced on Monday. Arsenobetaine was previously considered low-risk for humans due to its low toxicity and rapid excretion. According to the researchers, the results of an interdisciplinary study published in the "Journal of Hazardous Materials" call into question the safety of seafood rich in arsenobetaine.
The Unibe research team investigated the arsenobetaine metabolism of mice with different gut microbial colonization status. Three groups of mice were fed an arsenobetaine-rich diet to compare arsenic metabolism, distribution in the body and excretion.
Mice with intestinal microbes accumulated a higher concentration of arsenic in their intestinal tract than germ-free mice. The researchers observed the formation of specific highly toxic arsenic compounds in the large intestine of microbially colonized mice.
In conventional mice that were switched to a low-arsenic diet, the excretion of arsenic from the body was significantly slower than in germ-free mice. "Gut microbes therefore play a crucial role in the metabolism of arsenobetaine in the body. In this case, however, the microbiome appears to have a harmful effect," intestinal microbiome expert Siegfried Hapfelmeier was quoted as saying in the press release.
©Keystone/SDA
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