Analysis of the causes of shrimp arsenic poisoning

Shrimp poisoning is easy to occur in life because shrimp itself contains trace amounts of arsenic. Especially when shrimp is in polluted water, it is easy for toxic substances to accumulate. Therefore, if you do not pay attention to the correct consumption, poisoning may occur.

1. Shrimp contains arsenic because shrimp itself contains trace amounts of arsenic. If the waters where shrimp live are polluted, the shrimp head, as the gateway for the interaction and metabolism between the shrimp and the water, will accumulate harmful substances, so shrimp contains arsenic. The World Health Organization points out that arsenic content below 10 micrograms per liter is safe for the human body.

2. Studies have found that the shrimp head is the main site of heavy metal enrichment, because the shrimp head is not the "head" we usually know. It is both the gateway for the interaction and metabolism between shrimp and water bodies, and the site where shrimp liver, pancreas, kidneys and other organs are concentrated. Even so, the shrimp head test results showed that except for cadmium exceeding the standard, the lead, total mercury and inorganic arsenic contents were all in line with my country's health standards. From this, it can be concluded that shrimp is not a "high arsenic" animal, and its food safety issue is no different in essence from that of other aquatic products; the so-called problem of arsenic in shrimp is also consistent with the situation of other heavy metal pollution in aquatic products; the pollution of aquatic products is only an individual case, and we cannot say that eating fish leads to mercury poisoning just because of the "Minamata disease".

3. Arsenic is an ancient poison. It is generally believed that arsenic was obtained by the German Albertus Magnus in 1250 when he heated realgar and soap together. In fact, the ancient Chinese alchemists were the first to discover arsenic. According to historical records, around 317 AD, Chinese alchemist Ge Hong used three substances, realgar, rosin and saltpeter, to refine arsenic. Based on years of clinical research, people have gained considerable knowledge about arsenic poisoning.

4. The mechanism by which eating shrimp and vitamin C together can lead to arsenic poisoning is not convincing. First, the toxicity of arsenic and its compounds depends largely on their water solubility. Toxicology studies have shown that trivalent arsenic ions are more toxic than pentavalent arsenic ions. Arsenic trioxide is highly toxic, and 0.8-2 mg/kg can cause death from poisoning in an adult. The acute toxicity of arsenic pentoxide is also highly toxic. Oral administration of 8 mg/kg to rats caused half of the experimental animals to die; oral administration of 55 mg/kg to mice caused half of the experimental animals to die. From this we can see that pentavalent arsenic causes poisoning without the need for conversion to trivalent arsenic.

5. To avoid arsenic intake, you can not eat shrimp heads, but nothing should be taken to extremes. Studies have shown that arsenic is also an essential trace element for the human body. Extreme deficiency will worsen a person's health. Studies in sheep, miniature pigs and chickens have shown that very low levels of arsenic in feed and drinking water lead to slowed growth, fewer pregnancies, more spontaneous abortions and higher mortality. It has been observed that the blood arsenic level of patients undergoing long-term hemodialysis is reduced, which may be related to the patients' central nervous system dysfunction and high incidence of vascular diseases.