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MONDAY, Jan. 19 (HealthDayNews) -- Indulging in your favorite chicken dish may expose you to higher levels of arsenic than you think, government researchers say.
Arsenic levels in young chickens, or "broilers," may be three to four times greater than in other poultry and meat, they report in the January issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.
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While the amount of arsenic people ingest by eating chicken appears to be well below tolerable daily intake levels, it is higher than previously recognized and may require government agencies to reassess total arsenic exposure, the authors conclude.
The study is the first to assess average levels of arsenic in chicken and then calculate how much of the substance people are ingesting when they consume different amounts of chicken.
Arsenic is an approved feed supplement that farmers use to control intestinal parasites in chickens, particularly young chickens.
"If we're taking in more in chicken, then there's, in a way, less room to take in arsenic through the water," explains study author Tamar Lasky, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture epidemiologist now with the National Institutes of Health.
Chicken is a staple of the American diet. Between 1970 and 2000, per capita consumption nearly doubled -- from an average of 40 pounds per year to about 78 pounds a year, reports the National Chicken Council.
Arsenic is a naturally occurring element found in food, drinking water and the environment. But exposure to high levels of the inorganic form, such as that found in wood preservatives, insecticides and weed killers, can be deadly.
Studies have linked long-term arsenic exposure in drinking water to cancer of the bladder, lungs, skin, kidney, nasal passages, liver and prostate, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is also associated with cardiovascular, pulmonary, immunologic, neurologic and endocrine problems.
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