HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Stene, L. C. Articles by Joner, G. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Stene, L. C. Articles by Joner, G. Social Bookmarking                What's this?

Acidic Drinking Water and Risk of Childhood-Onset Type 1 Diabetes

¹ Diabetes Research Center, Aker and Ullevål University Hospitals, Oslo, Norway
² Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
³ Division of Environmental Medicine, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway

OBJECTIVE—To estimate the associations of acidity and concentration of selected minerals in household tap water with the risk of type 1 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—We designed a population-based case-control study with 64 cases of type 1 diabetes and 250 randomly selected control subjects. Acidity, color, and mineral content were measured in tap water from each participant’s household.

RESULTS—Tap water pH 6.2–6.9 was associated with a fourfold higher risk of type 1 diabetes compared with pH 7.7 (OR 3.73, 95% CI 1.52–9.15). This result was similar after exclusion of individuals with the highly protective HLA-DQB1*0602 allele, but adjustment for maternal education, urban/rural residence, sex, and age tended to strengthen the estimated association. Higher tap water concentration of zinc was associated with lower risk of type 1 diabetes after adjustment for pH and other possible confounders, but the overall association was strictly not significant.

CONCLUSIONS—These results suggest the possibility that quality of drinking water influences the risk of type 1 diabetes. The possible mechanisms by which water acidity or mineral content may be involved in the etiology of type 1 diabetes remain unknown, but the mechanisms are most likely indirect and may involve an influence on survival of microorganisms in the water.

CiteULike    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. Aamodt, L. C. Stene, P. R. Njolstad, O. Sovik, G. Joner, and for the The Norwegian Childhood Diabetes Study Gro Spatiotemporal Trends and Age-Period-Cohort Modeling of the Incidence of Type 1 Diabetes Among Children Aged <15 Years in Norway 1973-1982 and 1989-2003 Diabetes Care, April 1, 2007; 30(4): 884 - 889. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Joner, L. C. Stene, and O. Sovik Nationwide, Prospective Registration of Type 1 Diabetes in Children Aged <15 Years in Norway 1989-1998: No increase but significant regional variation in incidence Diabetes Care, July 1, 2004; 27(7): 1618 - 1622. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				U Samuelsson and O Lofman Geographical mapping of type 1 diabetes in children and adolescents in south east Sweden J. Epidemiol. Community Health, May 1, 2004; 58(5): 388 - 392. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]