Organoarsenicals in Seafood: Occurrence, Dietary Exposure, Toxicity, and Risk Assessment Considerations − A Review

Published

January 8, 2020

Author(s)

Caleb Luvonga, Catherine A. Rimmer, Lee L. Yu, Sang B. Lee

Abstract

Diet, especially seafood, is the main source of arsenic exposure for humans. Total arsenic content provides limited information for evaluation of the toxicological implications of arsenic intake, which has impeded progress in the establishment of regulatory limits for arsenic in food. Toxicity studies are mainly based on inorganic arsenic, which is a well- characterized non-threshold category 1 carcinogen and arsenobetaine the main organoarsenical that is considered benign. The scarcity of toxicity data for organoarsenicals, the main arsenic species in seafood, has sometimes led to the assumption of their non-toxicity. However, recent toxicokinetic studies show that some organoarsenicals are bioaccessible and cytotoxic with demonstrated toxicities like that of pernicious trivalent inorganic arsenic (iAsIII), which underpins the need for speciation analysis. The need to investigate and compare the bioavailability, metabolic transformation, and clearance from the body of organoarsenicals with well-known effects of inorganic arsenic and arsenobetaine is apparent. This review gives an overview of the occurrence, human exposure assessment and toxicity associated with arsenic in seafood.

Citation

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.9b07532

Local Download

Keywords

Arsenic, Speciation analysis, Toxicity, Carcinogen, Regulation, Seafood, Organoarsenicals

Citation

Luvonga, C. , Rimmer, C. , Yu, L. and Lee, S. (2020), Organoarsenicals in Seafood: Occurrence, Dietary Exposure, Toxicity, and Risk Assessment Considerations − A Review, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, [online], https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.9b07532 (Accessed April 25, 2024)