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Mercury Exposure as a Function of Fish Consumption in Two Asian Communities in Coastal Virginia, USA

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Abstract

Fish consumption and associated mercury exposure were explored for two Asian-dominated church communities in coastal Virginia and compared with that of two non-Asian church communities. Seafood-consumption rates for the Chinese (36.9 g/person/day) and Vietnamese (52.7 g/person/day) church communities were greater than the general United States fish-consumption rate (12.8 g/person/day). Correspondingly, hair mercury concentrations for people from the Chinese (0.52 µg/g) and the Vietnamese church (1.46 µg/g) were greater than the overall level for United States women (0.20 µg/g) but lower than the published World Health Organization exposure threshold (14 µg/g). A conventional regression model indicated a positive relationship between seafood consumption rates and hair mercury concentrations suggesting the importance of mercury exposure through seafood consumption. The annual-average daily methylmercury intake rate for the studied communities calculated by Monte Carlo simulations followed the sequence: Vietnamese community > Chinese community > non-Asian communities. Regardless, their daily methylmercury intake rates were all lower than the United States Environmental Protection Agency reference dose of 0.1 µg/kg body weight-day. In conclusion, fish-consumption patterns differed among communities, which resulted in different levels of mercury exposure. The greater seafood and mercury ingestion rates of studied Asian groups compared with non-Asian groups suggest the need for specific seafood consumption advice for ethnic communities in the United States. Otherwise the health benefits from fish consumption could be perceived as trivial compared with the ill-defined risk of mercury exposure.

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Acknowledgments

The minister Muliang Gong of the Peninsula Chinese Baptist Church, Joseph Phien Nguyen of Our Lady of Vietnam Chapel, Ginny Roll of the Unity Fellowship Church, and Bud Goude of the Gloucester Point Baptist Church communicated the goal of this study to their church communities and encouraged people to take the survey. Solomon Chak, Yuan Dong, Vi Nguyen, Harry Wang, and Jude Eastman assisted by communicating with people, sending out and taking back questionnaires, and taking hair samples. M. C. Newman was the A. Marshall Acuff Jr. Professor of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science during the tenure of this study. Funding for this study was provided by the Virginia Sea Grant. This paper is Contribution No. 3422 of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William & Mary.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William & Mary, P.O. Box 1346, Gloucester Point, VA, 23062, USA

    Xiaoyu Xu & Michael C. Newman

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  1. Xiaoyu Xu
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Correspondence to Xiaoyu Xu.

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Xu, X., Newman, M.C. Mercury Exposure as a Function of Fish Consumption in Two Asian Communities in Coastal Virginia, USA. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 68, 462–475 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-014-0102-y

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