Duplication Diet Study on Mercury Intake by Fish Consumers in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Hair samples were analyzed for mercury in 942 persons living in either one of two coastal areas of the United Kingdom who reported above average fish consumption. A duplicate diet study group was selected from the 942 individual's who had elevated concentrations of mercury in their hair. The study group's fish consumption averaged 0.36 kg/person . wk during the duplicate diet. Concentration of total mercury in the blood of the study group ranged from 1.1 to 42.3 micrograms/L with an arithmetic mean of 8.8 micrograms/L. The linear curve fitted to the data on the concentration of total mercury in blood vs. mercury intake was similar to that observed in a previous study made in the United Kingdom, but different from that observed in other studies. The results from the present study indicate that people in the United Kingdom are unlikely to be adversely affected by the presence of methylmercury in the fish they consume.

Concentrações sangüíneas de metais pesados e praguicidas organoclorados em crianças de 1 a 10 anos

“…Sherlock e col. 22 , pesquisando 942 habitantes do Reino Unido, encontraram teor médio de 8,8 ± 6,1 mg/l. de mercúrio no sangue, valor parecido ao encontrado em Cubatão.…”

Teores de chumbo e mercúrio em cabelo de crianças residentes em Cubatão, na região sudeste do Brasil

“…Sherlock e col. 20 encontraram a concentração média de 1,4 ± 2,4 mg/g de mercúrio em cabelo em 942 habitantes do Reino Unido.…”

For good measure: Origins and prospects of exposure science (2007 Wesolowski Award Lecture)

“…Modern exposure science has adopted duplicate diet studies as a more accurate means of assessing dietary exposures. Analysis of complete meals was a part of the Total Diet Study and related studies in the United Kingdom (Sherlock et al, 1982;Lacey et al, 1985). The US National Human Exposure Assessment Survey (NHEXAS) project included duplicate diet collection (Sexton et al, 1995), and the US EPA has devoted substantial effort to standardize sampling methods (Melnyk et al, 1997;Sheldon et al, 1997;Thomas et al, 1997).…”