Inconsistencies and Contradictions: Some Potential Effects of Groundwater Contamination on the Incidence of Diabetes Mellitus
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Diabetes mellitus is one of the leading chronic and degenerative diseases in the world. It is caused by a myriad of established risk factors such as unhealthy diet, alcohol intake, tobacco use, and physical inactivity among others. Groundwater contamination, though not as prominent as the others, has surfaced as a possible predisposing risk factor of DM. Three major contaminants of groundwater, which have strong link to DM are arsenic, nitrate and fluoride. This paper reviews the findings of previous ecological studies on the nature of the relationship between DM and groundwater contaminants and highlights inconsistencies and contradictions in the findings. Therefore, it is too early to conclude on the effects of the groundwater contaminants on DM based on these early studies. It is still difficult to tell which DM type is more responsive to which groundwater contaminant. Finally, most of the existing studies have been carried out in Asia and Europe/North America regions while very little presently comes from Africa where there is very limited access to public water supply and most private water supplies depend on groundwater sources.
Publication Info:
Author: Osayomi, T.
Volume: 57
Issue: March
Published By: Journal of Mining and Geology, 2024-03-01