A team of researchers on Monday said that exposure to arsenic and other toxic metals may accelerate the progression toward diabetes.

In a study of over 500 Mexican Americans living in southern Texas in the US, researchers from University of Illinois Chicago found that high levels of toxic metals in urine predicted faster increases in blood sugar over subsequent years.

The study, published in Diabetes Care, highlights an underappreciated risk factor for diabetes.

Environmental exposures have largely been neglected as drivers of the diabetes epidemic.

“These data support using environmental policy as a new tool to mitigate the devastating burden of diabetes on individuals and society at large,” said Margaret Weiss, first author of the study.

Based on these results, individuals with the highest levels of arsenic in their urine were projected to qualify as prediabetic 23 months earlier and diabetic 65 months earlier than those with the lowest exposure to the toxic metal.

The study emphasised that this risk factor can be addressed by reducing exposure to contaminated food, water and other products.

On average, blood sugar levels increased in all participants. But in those who initially exhibited higher urinary levels of arsenic, selenium, copper, molybdenum, nickel or tin, blood sugar increased at a faster rate over the three years.

This acceleration puts those who started with normal blood sugar levels at risk of developing prediabetes and diabetes earlier than others in their population.

In clinical medicine, time really matters. The earlier you develop diabetes, the worse the complications are. The longer you have diabetes, the worse the complications are. It underscores the need to engage these folks sooner in the clinic,” said Dr Robert Sargis, associate professor in the College of Medicine.

How arsenic and other metals increase the risk of diabetes isn’t completely understood.

Other metals, namely cobalt and zinc, were associated in the study with lower blood sugar in subsequent years, suggesting a potentially protective effect of some elements.

However, the alarming results with arsenic and other toxic metals suggest they are environmental risk factors that could be new targets to prevent the disease.