New research suggests that drinking arsenic-laden water can produce dangerous narrowing in the carotid artery, which channels blood through the neck to the brain. The newly identified arsenic risk joins a slew of health problems, including other cardiovascular conditions and several cancers, previously linked to consumption of the poisonous metal.
“Long-term arsenic exposure may lead to the progression or acceleration of carotid artery disease,” says Chien-Jen Chen of National Taiwan University in Taipei, a member of the study team.
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