Dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, methyl mercury and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids as biomarkers of fish consumption

Abstract

Background/Objectives: To assess biomarkers and frequency questions as measures of fish consumption. Subjects/Methods: Participants in the Fishermen substudy numbered 125 men and 139 women (aged 22-74), and in the Health 2000 substudy, 577 men and 712 women (aged 45-74) participated. The aim of the Fishermen study was to examine the overall health effect of fish consumption in a high-consumption population, whereas the aim of the Health 2000 substudy was to obtain in-depth information on cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Fish consumption was measured by the same validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) in both the studies, with a further two separate frequency questions used in the Fishermen substudy. Dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and methyl mercury (MeHg) (in the Fishermen substudy alone), and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 PUFAs) (in both studies) were analyzed from fasting serum/blood samples. Results: The Spearman's correlation coefficients between FFQ fish consumption and dioxins, PCBs, MeHg and omega-3 PUFAs were respectively 0.46, 0.48, 0.43 and 0.38 among the Fishermen substudy men, and 0.28, 0.36, 0.45 and 0.31 among women. Similar correlation coefficients were observed between FFQ fish consumption and serum omega-3 PUFAs in the Health 2000 substudy, and also between FFQ fish consumption and the frequency questions on fish consumption in the Fishermen substudy. According to multiple regression modeling and LMG metrics, the most important fish consumption biomarkers were dioxins and PCBs among the men and MeHg among the women. Conclusions: Environmental contaminants seemed to be slightly better fish consumption biomarkers than omega-3 PUFAs in the Baltic Sea area. The separate frequency questions measured fish consumption equally well when compared with the FFQ.

Blood concentration of methylmercury in relation to food consumption

“…The FFQ was designed to cover the whole diet over the preceding 12 months. The participants were asked to indicate the frequency of consumption of each food item with nine frequency categories ranging from 'never' to 'six or more times per day' (for more information, see Appendix in Turunen et al (18) ). Portion sizes were specified using commonly used units (e.g.…”

A metabolomic study of biomarkers of meat and fish intake ,

“…Over one 116 hundred biomarkers have been used in population-based studies to assess dietary 117 exposures (9) and several biomarkers for meat or fish intake have already been 118 identified (10,11). These biomarkers can be amino acids such as 3-methylhistidine 119 note that some confusion exists in the literature about the numbering of atoms 120 in the imidazole ring of histidine; N τ and N π atoms in the imidazole ring of histidine are 121 numbered here respectively 1 and 3 as most commonly done today (12)], or fatty 122 acids such as eicosapentaenoic acid or docosahexaenoic acid (11,13).…”

Correlations of fish intake and plasma docosahexaenoic acid levels with each congener of PCDDs/PCDFs/dioxin-like PCBs in blood from the Japanese population

“…Correlation analyses were restricted to 23 congeners with detectable levels in 25% or more samples. In these analyses, age, sex, BMI, and smoking habit were adjusted as potential confounding variables, in addition to the frequency of intake of other food groups, because these variables were correlated with blood levels of dioxins in the present ) and other populations (Flesch-Janys et al 1996;Arisawa et al 2003;Turunen et al 2010). Comparison of continuous variables between two groups was made using Wilcoxon rank-sum test.…”