Title: “Safe” Levels Of Arsenic In Drinking Water Have Negative Health Effects on Pregnant/Lactating Mothers And Offspring, Scientists Find
Headings: “Safe” Levels Of Arsenic In Drinking Water Have Negative Health Effects on Pregnant/Lactating Mothers And Offspring, Scientists Find
“Safe” Levels Of Arsenic In Drinking Water Have Negative Health Effects on Pregnant/Lactating Mothers And Offspring, Scientists Find
June 1, 2012 by

Content: In this study, pregnancy and lactation acted as that secondary stress. In the prior study, Hamilton’s group demonstrated that arsenic suppressed immune function, leading to dramatically greater effects of a flu infection in mice. Offspring are also uniquely sensitive to environmental chemicals because “they are developing rapidly. It’s not hard for very low doses of a chemical to have big effects on a developing animal,” Hamilton says. In the current study, the mothers who were exposed to arsenic had significantly lower triglyceride concentrations in their serum and breast milk than normal, indicating the process of fat metabolism and storage in their bodies was compromised. Joshua Hamilton of MBL Woods Hole. Credit Tom Kleindinst
“Normally, the body is very good at storing fat and glucose for later use,” Hamilton says. “ Up to a certain point, if a mother is malnourished during and after pregnancy, the offspring will not be compromised, because her body uses nutrients it has stored to nourish the baby. Her body will basically ‘eat itself’ to provide for the baby.” However, because this protective mechanism was disrupted in the arsenic-exposed mothers, they could provide less nutrients to their pups via breast milk.