Seafood consumption and blood mercury concentrations in youth ages 1‐19 years, 2007‐2010 (369.4)

Abstract

Background: Consuming seafood has health benefits, but seafood can also contain methyl mercury, a neurotoxin.Objective: To examine seafood consumption and blood mercury concentrations in US youth.Design: In the 2007‐2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, blood mercury and seafood consumption in the past thirty days were collected from 5,744 youth, ages 1‐19 years. Seafood consumption was categorized as fish or shellfish and by frequency of consumption: none, 1‐2, 3 or more times per month. Association between seafood consumption and blood mercury was examined using multiple linear regression adjusted for sex, age and race/Hispanic origin.Results: In 2007‐2010, 60.5% (SE,1.0), of youth reported consuming seafood, 35.9%, (SE,1.2), shellfish, and 47.6% (SE,1.0) fish in the preceding month. Less than 1% of youth had blood mercury concentrations at or above 5.8 µg/L. The geometric mean blood mercury concentrations were 0.31 (SE, 0.01) for non‐seafood consumers and 0.54 (SE, 0.02) for seafood consumers. Higher frequency of seafood consumption was associated with higher log10(blood mercury concentrations) in the adjusted model (fish: (β=0.70 (95% CI, 0.62,0.78), shellfish:(β=0.43 (95% CI, 0.31,0.54)).Conclusions: Very few youth have blood mercury concentrations at or above 5.8 µg/L but among US youth, blood mercury concentration is associated with both fish and shellfish consumption.