Estimated intake levels of methylmercury in children, childbearing age and pregnant women in a Mediterranean region, Murcia, Spain

Abstract

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a bioaccumulable toxin in the trophic chain and a powerful neurotoxin during fetal and child development. Consumption of contaminated fish and shellfish is a principal environmental source of MeHg exposure. This study was designed to assess the Hg and estimated MeHg intake in vulnerable groups of the Murcia region, a Mediterranean part of Spain, compared with international regulations. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to assess seafood consumptions in 320 children younger than 10 years, 301 women of childbearing age, and 537 pregnant women. Hg concentrations were measured in the most consumed fish products by cold vapor generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry. The weekly intake of MeHg (microg/kg bw/week) was 2.60 (95% CI = 2.10-3.10) in children 1-5 years, 2.65 (95% CI = 2.26-3.03) in children 6-10 years, 0.98 (95% CI = 0.89-1.07) in women of childbearing age, and 0.88 (95% CI = 0.81-0.95) in pregnant women. The main exposure to MeHg, especially in young children, is related to intake of bluefin tuna and swordfish. Fifty-four percent of children aged 1-10 years, 10% of pregnant women, and 15% of women of childbearing age exceed the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives provisional tolerable weekly intake of MeHg. In the Murcia region, where fish is a central component of the diet, the focus should be on educating vulnerable populations to reorient fish consumption in order to lower the amount of Hg incorporated with the diet as well as to reduce Hg emissions into the environment.

Scientific Opinion on the risk for public health related to the presence of mercury and methylmercury in food

“…per week for women of child-bearing age and 0.88 µg/kg b.w. per week for pregnant women (Ortega-Garcia et al, 2009), a mean and 95 th percentile methylmercury exposure for women in child-bearing age in Sweden is reported at 0.42 and 1.05 µg/kg b.w. per week respectively (Ström et al, 2011) and a mean value of 0.70 µg/kg b.w.…”

“…Descriptor (supplier) (a) Total mercury Methylmercury Fish and other seafood Fish protein DORM-3 (NRCC) 0.382 ± 0.060 (b) Most of analytical methods published in the literature are to a certain extent in-house validated for total mercury (Cava-Montesinos et al, 2004;Carbonell et al, 2009;Nardi et al, 2009;Torres et al, 2009;da Silva et al, 2010;Xia et al, 2010;Jarzynska and Falandysz, 2011;Millour et al, 2011a;Senila et al, 2011;Djedjibegovic et al, 2012) and methylmercury (Landaluze et al, 2004;Abrankó et al, 2007;Diez and Bayona 2008;Hippler et al, 2009;Jackson et al, 2009;Clémens et al, 2011;Guzman-Mar et al, 2011;He et al, 2011;Nevado et al, 2011). Two fully validated, European standardised methods for determination of total mercury by CV-AAS and ICP-MS detection are available (CEN, 2003(CEN, , 2010.…”

“…Following acidic digestion of samples (Evans et al 2006), cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry (CV-AAS;Torres et al, 2009;Mousavi et al, 2010;Jarzynska and Falandysz, 2011) or cold vapour atomic fluorescence spectrometry (CV-AFS;Cava-Montesinos et al, 2004;da Silva et al, 2010;Xia et al, 2010;Senila et al, 2011) has been widely used for the determination of total mercury in several food matrices. Similar limits of quantification (LOQ) may be obtained by CV-AFS (LOQ of about 2 -10 µg/kg) and CV-AAS (about 3 ng/L in water and 4 -30 µg/kg in foods).…”

Effects of solar UV radiation and climate change on biogeochemical cycling: interactions and feedbacks

“…221,222 Fish and other seafood are important sources of mercury in the human diet. 223 Overall, rates of bioaccumulation and transfer through the aquatic food web are susceptible to ecological, biogeochemical and climatic influences. 224 Although poorly understood, it is likely that climate change related shifts in atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns, coupled with shifts in the global distribution of UV-B radiation, will strongly alter the distribution and biological impacts of mercurycontaining compounds.…”

Metilmercurio en el cabello de población infantil

“…se puede predecir que muchos de nuestros niños ingieren una cantidad de meHg que supera los límites de seguridad recomendados por la Us ePa y por la JeCFa (Fao/oms) [33][34][35] . sobre lo anteriormente expuesto, y dado que el Hg en pelo, es el biomarcador preferido para evaluar la exposición a Hg en periodos largos de tiempo.…”