Arsenic poisoning constitutes a major threat to humans, causing various health problems. Almost everywhere across the world certain “hotspots” have been detected, putting in danger the local populations, due to the potential consumption of water or food contaminated with elevated concentrations of arsenic. According to the relevant studies, Asia shows the highest percentage of significantly contaminated sites, followed by North America, Europe, Africa, South America and Oceania. The presence of arsenic in ecosystems can originate from several natural or anthropogenic activities. Arsenic can be then gradually accumulated in different food sources, such as vegetables, rice and other crops, but also in seafood, etc., and in water sources (mainly in groundwater, but also to a lesser extent in surface water), potentially used as drinking-water supplies, provoking their contamination and therefore potential health problems to the consumers. This review reports the major areas worldwide that present elevated arsenic concentrations in food and water sources. Furthermore, it also discusses the sources of arsenic contamination at these sites, as well as selected treatment technologies, aiming to remove this pollutant mainly from the contaminated waters and thus the reduction and prevention of population towards arsenic exposure.

Cross-cultural differences exist in the typical temperature of water served with meals. North American people typically drink iced water/beverages while eating, whereas European or Asian people show a preference for room temperature water or hot water/tea, respectively. It has been reported that food perception and acceptance are influenced by oral temperature, as well as by serving temperature of food. Based on the fact that the iced or hot water served with meals can alter the oral temperature, the present study aimed to determine whether the temperature of served water can affect the sensory perception and acceptance of food subsequently consumed. Following a mouth rinse with water served at 4, 20, and 50°C for 5s, two different types of food, dark chocolate and cheddar cheese, were evaluated in terms of sensory intensity and overall liking. For the dark chocolate, the intensity ratings for sweetness, chocolate flavor, and creaminess were significantly lower when following water at 4°C than when following water at either 20 or 50°C. However, the modulatory effect of water temperature on sensory perception was not obtained with cheddar cheese. In addition, the temperature of served water altered the acceptance for the foods subsequently presented. Specifically, the overall liking for the dark chocolate was significantly lower when following water at 4°C than when following water at either 20 or 50°C. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates new empirical evidence that the consumption of iced water can decrease perceived intensities of sweetness, chocolate flavor, and creaminess for subsequently consumed chocolate. Our findings may provide one of plausible answers to the question of why North American people, who are more used to drinking iced water, show a strong preference for more highly sweetened foods.

Asia, Europe, Oceania, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze the water, energy, and food nexus and regions of study, nexus keywords and stakeholders in order to understand the current state of nexus research.Through selected 37 projects, four types of nexus research were identified including water–food, water–energy–food, water–energy, and climate related. Among them, six projects (16%) had a close linkage with water–food, 11 (30%) with water–energy–food, 12 (32%) with water–energy, and eight (22%) with climate. The regions were divided into Asia, Europe, Oceania, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa. North America and Oceania had a tendency to focus on a specific nexus type, water–energy (46%) and climate (43%), while Africa had less focus on water–energy (7%). Regarding keywords, out of 37 nexus projects, 16 projects listed keywords in their articles. There were 84 keywords in total, which were categorized by the author team depending on its relevance to water, food, energy, climate, and combination of water–food–energy–climate, and 40 out of 84 keywords were linked with water and only 4 were linked with climate. As for stakeholders, 77 out of 137 organizations were related to research and only two organizations had a role in media.