If you suspected you are at risk of arsenic poisoning, you may be better off taking antioxidant supplements like green tea extract and vitamin C as a new study recently published in Nutritional Neuroscience suggests that these supplements can reduce arsenic toxicity.

Some foods may contain high levels of arsenic.  Apple juice imported from other countries was found to have high levels of arsenic.  Arsenic has been once found high in rice and chicken produced in the U.S.

In the current study, male rats ingested 10 mg/kg body weight of trivalent inorganic arsenic five days a week for six weeks.  The rats were also receiving vitamin C solution at a concentration of 1 grams per liter or green tea infusion at the concentration of 5 grams per liter boiled water.

Ingestion of arsenic caused body weight gain and the antioxidants did not have an effect on weight gain.   But the antioxidants reduced lipid peroxidation induced by arsenic and protected the central nervous system because antioxidants minimized the arsenic-induced decrease in tail nerve conduction velocity.  (David Liu, PHD)

Sárközi K, Papp A, Horváth E, Máté Z, Ferencz A, Hermesz E, Krisch J, Paulik E, Szabó A.  Green tea and vitamin C ameliorate some neuro-functional and biochemical signs of arsenic toxicity in rats.  Nutr Neurosci. 2014 Sep 11.