1. Effect of acid precipitation on retention and excretion of elements in man
- Author
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Staffan Skerfving, C Fåhraéus, B L Svensson, Anna Karlsson, P Aprea, A Schütz, Lars Rylander, A Nilsson, Anders Holmén, Inger Bensryd, Benkt Högstedt, Ingrid Bratt, and Yngvar Thomassen
- Subjects
Adult ,Environmental Engineering ,Adolescent ,Population ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Food Contamination ,Urine ,Acid Rain ,Calcium ,Excretion ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Water Supply ,Environmental Chemistry ,Humans ,education ,Waste Management and Disposal ,Aged ,Sweden ,Creatinine ,Cadmium ,education.field_of_study ,Magnesium ,Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ,Middle Aged ,Pollution ,chemistry ,Metals ,Environmental chemistry ,Selenium - Abstract
From a population of 8918 farmers, 237 were selected whose consumption of locally produced foods was high. The subjects' water sources, private wells, were of different degrees of acidity. Significant associations between pH (median 6.7, range 4.7-8.6) of the drinking water and element concentrations were found. The correlation was negative for aluminium (Al; median 0.07 mumol/l), cadmium (Cd; 0.44 nmol/l), copper (Cu; 0.24 mumol/l) and lead (Pb; 1.9 nmol/l), and positive for calcium (Ca; 0.62 mmol/l) and magnesium (Mg; 0.21 mmol/l). Associations could not be found between the pH of, or element concentrations in, the water and concentrations of A1 (0.17 mumol/l), Mg (0.86 mmol/l) and selenium (Se; 1.0 mumol/l) in plasma, Cd (2.0 nmol/l), Pb (0.19 mumol/l) and mercury (Hg; 13 nmol/l) in blood, or A1 (12 mumol/mol creatinine) and Cu (11 mumol/mol creatinine) in urine. The concentrations of Hg in blood and Se in plasma were related to fish consumption, Cd and Pb in blood to smoking, A1 in urine to antacid intake, Pb in blood to rifle activities and hunting, and Hg in blood to hunting. Acid precipitation has an effect on element concentrations in drinking water, but not on the retention of those elements in the subjects investigated.
- Published
- 1994