Balancing the benefits and costs of traditional food substitution by indigenous Arctic women of childbearing age: Impacts on persistent organic pollutant, mercury, and nutrient intakes

Binnington, Matthew J.; Curren, Meredith S.; Chan, Hing Man; Wania, Frank

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2016.06.016

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Specifically, the combination of ACC-HUMAN with regional environmental fate model calculations has been successful in predicting PCB exposure in Scandinavian populations [48][49][50]. The combination of global fate calculations with the global fate model Globo-POP and an Arctic version of ACC-HUMAN predicted PCB concentrations that matched well with those recorded in the Inuit Health Survey in Canada [51]. PCB exposure predicted with the combination of BETR-Global and ACC-HUMAN matched that of US populations as sampled within NHANES [52].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Who in the world is most exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls? Using models to identify highly exposed populations

Undeman

Brown

McLachlan

et al. 2018

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Human subpopulations experience different exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) because of differences in the structure of their food webs and the extent of environmental contamination. Here we quantify the time-variant exposure of different human populations around the world to one representative POP, namely the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congener 153, based on a dynamic simulation of both global environmental fate (using the model BETR-Global) and human food chain bioaccumulation (using the model ACC-HUMAN). The approach identifies subpopulations whose diets include a carnivorous mammal as experiencing the world's highest PCB-153 exposure, i.e. the very large biomagnification potential of their food web more than makes up for the remoteness of their living environment. However, for subpopulations that do not eat warm-blooded carnivores, the proximity to sources of PCBs is more important than food web structure and environmental conditions for differentiating their exposure to PCBs.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Who in the world is most exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls? Using models to identify highly exposed populations

Undeman

Brown

McLachlan

et al. 2018

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…Another study, for example, found that PCBs only had a relatively minor contribution to developmental endpoints (52). In a very recent and balanced evaluation of traditional Arctic foods consumed by women of childbearing age, Binnington et al (53) concluded that blubber and meat from marine mammals is still essential for this population to maintain the intake of essential nutrients such as EPA and DHA. They recommend a diet consisting of “baseline traditional foods (TF),” which consist of 1.4 g seal blubber per day in a moderate intake scenario.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk–Benefit Assessment of Monomethylmercury and Omega-3 Fatty Acid Intake for Ringed Seal Consumption with Particular Emphasis on Vulnerable Populations in the Western Canadian Arctic

et al. 2017

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Many northern Inuit communities rely on traditional food as major source of nourishment. An essential part of the traditional Arctic diet is marine mammals such as ringed seals or beluga. Being top predators, these animals are often highly contaminated with various toxins. In contrast, some tissues of marine mammals are also characterized by high amounts of n3-PUFAs (omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids). Here, we try to balance the risks associated with the consumption of different tissue types of ringed seals in terms of the neurotoxin monomethylmercury (MMHg) with the benefits of consumption due to high n3-PUFA concentrations. Fetuses are at the highest risk of neurological impairments because MMHg can easily cross the placental barrier. Therefore, women of childbearing age served as an indicator population for especially susceptible subpopulations. We calculated maximal weekly maternal portions sizes if mutual consumption of muscle and blubber tissue or liver and blubber tissue was assumed. Those weekly portion sizes resulted in an estimated overall IQ point gain of infants of 0, whereas the consumption of liver or muscle tissue without blubber could lead to an IQ loss. In contrast to former studies, our data do not generally prohibit the consumption of liver tissue. Instead, our results suggest that a maximal weekly consumption of 125 g liver tissue together with 1 g of blubber tissue is acceptable and does not lead to neurological damages in the long term. Similarly, the consumption of maximal 172 g muscle tissue can be balanced by the mutual consumption of 1 g blubber tissue.

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“…Even though these estimations were based on hypothetical scenarios, they clearly indicated that a dietary transition from traditional to market food is bound to have a notable effect on temporal trends in human contaminant exposure in the Arctic. Binnington et al (2016b) attempted to take these calculations out of the realm of the hypothetical by adopting the approach of , but using temporal data on dietary composition and PCB body burden derived from two separate pairs of baseline and follow-up studies in pregnant women from the Inuvik (Northwest Territories) and Baffin (Nunavut) regions of Arctic Canada. Contrary to expectations (e.g.…”

Section: Clarifying the Reasons Behind Indigenous Arctic Contaminant mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Laird et al (2013) reported a geometric mean total PCB concentration of 13.0 µg L -1 in all IHS participants and 5.34 µg L -1 in all IHS female participants between 18 and 40 years of age. Binnington et al (2016b) calculated total PCB concentrations between 21.5 and 41.3 µg L -1 for women of childbearing age eating the average reported diet of all participants in the Inuit Health Survey. For women of childbearing age, the average diet of all IHS participants likely overestimated their marine mammal intake because it included subgroups with higher marine mammal consumption: men and older women (Kuhnlein et al 2004;Egeland et al 2011).…”

Section: Evaluating Mechanistic Contaminant Exposure Models For Indigmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanistic modeling of persistent organic pollutant exposure among indigenous Arctic populations: motivations, challenges, and benefits

2017

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Indigenous Arctic populations experience elevated exposures to many environmental contaminants compared with groups residing in southern Canada. This is largely due to consumption of traditional foods, some of which (ringed seals, beluga whales, narwhals, etc.) have relatively high concentrations of persistent organic pollutants. Models of contaminant fate, transport, and bioaccumulation represent powerful tools to explore this exposure issue, wherein combined models can be used to mechanistically and dynamically describe the entire sequence of events linking chemical emissions into the environment to ultimate contaminant concentrations in indigenous Arctic populations. In this review, various approaches adapted and applied to understanding indigenous Arctic contaminant exposure are explored, including early models describing body burdens in single traditional food species to more recent approaches holistically examining uptake and bioaccumulation in entire food chains. The applications of these models are also discussed, including attempts to (i) identify chemical properties favouring transport to, and bioaccumulation in, the Arctic; (ii) clarify the main determinants of temporal trends observed in indigenous Arctic biomonitoring; (iii) explore the impacts of permanent and temporary dietary transitions on current and future indigenous Arctic contaminant exposures; and (iv) correlate modeled early-life pollutant exposures with measured health impacts. The review demonstrates the effectiveness of mechanistic model approaches in investigating indigenous Arctic contaminant exposure, and confirms their utility in continued improvements to understanding associated risk in this unique population context.

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Balancing the benefits and costs of traditional food substitution by indigenous Arctic women of childbearing age: Impacts on persistent organic pollutant, mercury, and nutrient intakes

Cited by 17 publications

References 79 publications

Who in the world is most exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls? Using models to identify highly exposed populations

Who in the world is most exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls? Using models to identify highly exposed populations

Risk–Benefit Assessment of Monomethylmercury and Omega-3 Fatty Acid Intake for Ringed Seal Consumption with Particular Emphasis on Vulnerable Populations in the Western Canadian Arctic

Mechanistic modeling of persistent organic pollutant exposure among indigenous Arctic populations: motivations, challenges, and benefits

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