Abstract
Inorganic arsenic (iAs) exposure increases risk of several diseases, including cancer. Some nutrients such as flavonoids enhance glutathione activity, which in turn play a key role in iAs elimination. Our objective was to explore whether dietary non-soy flavonoids are associated with iAs metabolism. We hypothesized that the intake of flavonoids belonging to the following groups, flavan-3-ols, flavone, flavonol, flavanone, and anthocyanidin, is positively associated with urinary dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), which is the most soluble iAs metabolite excreted. We performed a cross-sectional study that included 1027 women living in an arsenic-contaminated area of northern Mexico. Flavonoid intake was estimated using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Concentration of urinary iAs and its metabolites (monomethylarsonic acid and DMA) were determined by high performance liquid chromatography ICP-MS. Results showed positive significant associations between DMA and the flavonoid groups flava-3-ols (β= 0.0112) and flavones (β= 0.0144), as well as the individual intake of apigenin (β= 0.0115), luteolin (β= 0.0138), and eriodictyol (β= 0.0026). Our findings suggest that certain non-soy flavonoids may improve iAs elimination; however, there is still very limited information available regarding the consumption of flavonoids and iAs metabolism.
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