Abstract
To assess the total daily mercury intake and main exposure sources of residents, six food groups, including marine fish, freshwater fish, poultry, livestock, vegetables, and cereals, were collected from five districts of Chengdu, China. The median concentrations of total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) were 12.8 and 6.94 μg kg−1 ww, respectively. Cereals (32.2%), vegetables (30.5%), and livestock (16.2%) contributed to a much larger extent to the total consumption for the participants in Chengdu. All food categories that contributed the most of THg (2.16 μg day−1) and MeHg 1.44 (μg day−1) to the daily intake in Chengdu were cereals and marine fish, respectively. The total Hazard Ratios values below 1 in this study indicate that there is no health risk associated with Hg ingestion from the consumption of these foods for the residents in Chengdu.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.
References
Abdel-Shafy, H. I., & Mansour, M. S. M. (2016). A review on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: Source, environmental impact, effect on human health and remediation. Egyptian Journal of Petroleum, 25, 107–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpe.2015.03.011
Al-Sulaiti, M. M., Al-Ghouti, M. A., Ramadan, G. A., & Soubra, L. (2023). Health risk assessment of methyl mercury from fish consumption in a sample of adult Qatari residents. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 195, 617. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11194-w
Ceccatelli, S., Daré, E., & Moors, M. (2010). Methylmercury-induced neurotoxicity and apoptosis. Chemico-Biological Interactions, 188, 301–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbi.2010.04.007
Chahid, A., Hilali, M., Benlhachimi, A., & Bouzid, T. (2014). Contents of cadmium, mercury and lead in fish from the Atlantic sea (Morocco) determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. Food Chemistry, 147, 357–360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.10.008
Cheng, J., Gao, L., Zhao, W., Liu, X., Sakamoto, M., & Wang, W. (2009). Mercury levels in fisherman and their household members in Zhoushan, China: Impact of public health. Science of the Total Environment, 407, 2625–2630. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.01.032
Cheng, Z., Li, H.-H., Yu, L., Yang, Z.-B., Xu, X.-X., Wang, H.-S., & Wong, M.-H. (2018). Phthalate esters distribution in coastal mariculture of Hong Kong, China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 25, 17321–17329. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1735-6
Cheng, Z., Liang, P., Shao, D.-D., Wu, S.-C., Nie, X.-P., Chen, K.-C., Li, K.-B., & Wong, M.-H. (2011). Mercury biomagnification in the aquaculture pond ecosystem in the Pearl River Delta. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 61, 491–499. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-010-9641-z
Cheng, Z., Mo, W. Y., Man, Y. B., Lam, C. L., Choi, W. M., Nie, X. P., Liu, Y. H., & Wong, M. H. (2015). Environmental mercury concentrations in cultured low-trophic-level fish using food waste-based diets. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 22, 495–507. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3333-6
Cheng, Z., Wang, H.-S., Du, J., Sthiannopkao, S., Xing, G.-H., Kim, K.-W., Yasin, M. S. M., Hashim, J. H., & Wong, M.-H. (2013). Dietary exposure and risk assessment of mercury via total diet study in Cambodia. Chemosphere, 92, 143–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.02.025
Chojnacka, K., Chojnacki, A., Górecka, H., & Górecki, H. (2005). Bioavailability of heavy metals from polluted soils to plants. Science of the Total Environment, 337, 175–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.06.009
Clarkson, T. W., & Magos, L. (2006). The toxicology of mercury and its chemical compounds. Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 36, 609–662. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408440600845619
Costa, F., Coelho, J. P., Baptista, J., Martinho, F., Pereira, M. E., & Pardal, M. A. (2020). Mercury accumulation in fish species along the Portuguese coast: Are there potential risks to human health? Marine Pollution Bulletin, 150, 110740. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110740
De Temmerman, L., Waegeneers, N., Claeys, N., & Roekens, E. (2009). Comparison of concentrations of mercury in ambient air to its accumulation by leafy vegetables: An important step in terrestrial food chain analysis. Environmental Pollution, 157, 1337–1341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2008.11.035
Driscoll, C. T., Mason, R. P., Chan, H. M., Jacob, D. J., & Pirrone, N. (2013). Mercury as a global pollutant: Sources, pathways, and effects. Environmental Science and Technology, 47, 4967–4983. https://doi.org/10.1021/es305071v
Du, B., Feng, X., Li, P., Yin, R., Yu, B., Sonke, J. E., Guinot, B., Anderson, C. W. N., & Maurice, L. (2018). Use of mercury isotopes to quantify mercury exposure sources in inland populations, China. Environmental Science and Technology, 52, 5407–5416. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b05638
FAO. (2012). The state of the world fisheries and aquaculture. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture, Department Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
GB15618. (1995). Environmental quality standards for soil. China National Standards Management Department.
GB2762. (2017). Maximum levels of contaminants in foods. China National Standards Management Department.
Ghasemidehkordi, B., Malekirad, A. A., Nazem, H., Fazilati, M., Salavati, H., Shariatifar, N., Rezaei, M., Fakhri, Y., & Mousavi Khaneghah, A. (2018). Concentration of lead and mercury in collected vegetables and herbs from Markazi province, Iran: A non-carcinogenic risk assessment. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 113, 204–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2018.01.048
Gong, Y., Nunes, L. M., Greenfield, B. K., Qin, Z., Yang, Q., Huang, L., Bu, W., & Zhong, H. (2018). Bioaccessibility-corrected risk assessment of urban dietary methylmercury exposure via fish and rice consumption in China. Science of the Total Environment, 630, 222–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.224
Hasegawa, T., Asano, M., Takatani, K., Matsuura, H., Umemura, T., & Haraguchi, H. (2005). Speciation of mercury in salmon egg cell cytoplasm in relation with metallomics research. Talanta, 68, 465–469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2005.09.038
JECFA. (2003). The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. In Summary and Conclusions of the 61st Meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). JECFA/61/SC.
Junqué, E., Garí, M., Arce, A., Torrent, M., Sunyer, J., & Grimalt, J. O. (2017). Integrated assessment of infant exposure to persistent organic pollutants and mercury via dietary intake in a central western Mediterranean site (Menorca Island). Environmental Research, 156, 714–724. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2017.04.030
Juric, A. K., Batal, M., David, W., Sharp, D., Schwartz, H., Ing, A., Fediuk, K., Black, A., Tikhonov, C., Chan, H. M., & Chan, L. (2018). Risk assessment of dietary lead exposure among First Nations people living on-reserve in Ontario, Canada using a total diet study and a probabilistic approach. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 344, 55–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.09.035
Lang, C. Y., Wen, L. Y., & Zhang, J. L. (2012). Distribution characteristic of mercury species in soils of rice paddy in eastern suburb of Chengdu. Environmental Pollution and Control, 34, 28–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-011-0280-z. In Chinese.
Li, H.-H., Chen, L.-J., Yu, L., Guo, Z.-B., Shan, C.-Q., Lin, J.-Q., Gu, Y.-G., Yang, Z.-B., Yang, Y.-X., Shao, J.-R., Zhu, X.-M., & Cheng, Z. (2017a). Pollution characteristics and risk assessment of human exposure to oral bioaccessibility of heavy metals via urban street dusts from different functional areas in Chengdu, China. Science of the Total Environment, 586, 1076–1084. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.02.092
Li, P., Du, B., Maurice, L., Laffont, L., Lagane, C., Point, D., Sonke, J. E., Yin, R., Lin, C.-J., & Feng, X. (2017b). Mercury isotope signatures of methylmercury in rice samples from the Wanshan Mercury Mining Area, China: Environmental implications. Environmental Science and Technology, 51, 12321–12328. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b03510
Li, P., Feng, X., Chan, H.-M., Zhang, X., & Du, B. (2015). Human body burden and dietary methylmercury intake: The relationship in a rice-consuming population. Environmental Science and Technology, 49, 9682–9689. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b00195
Liu, M., Chen, L., He, Y., Baumann, Z., Mason, R. P., Shen, H., Yu, C., Zhang, W., Zhang, Q., & Wang, X. (2018). Impacts of farmed fish consumption and food trade on methylmercury exposure in China. Environment International, 120, 333–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2018.08.017
MacLachlan, D. J., Budd, K., Connolly, J., Derrick, J., Penrose, L., & Tobin, T. (2016). Arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum, selenium and zinc concentrations in liver, kidney and muscle in Australian sheep. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 50, 97–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2016.05.015
Malvandi, H., Sari, A. E., & Aliabadian, M. (2014). Mercury contamination in Khramulia (Capoeta capoeta) from the Cheshme Kile and Zarrin Gol Rivers in Iran and Human Health Risk Assessment. B Environ Contam Tox, 93, 472–477. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-014-1335-1
Martinez-Miranda, M. M., Rosero-Moreano, M., & Taborda-Ocampo, G. (2019). Occurrence, dietary exposure and risk assessment of aflatoxins in Arepa, bread and rice. Food Control, 98, 359–366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2018.11.046
Meng, B., Feng, X., Qiu, G., Liang, P., Li, P., Chen, C., & Shang, L. (2011). The process of methylmercury accumulation in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Environmental Science and Technology, 45, 2711–2717. https://doi.org/10.1021/es103384v
Mergler, D., Anderson, H., Chan, L., Mahaffey, K., Murray, M., Sakamoto, M., & Stern, A. (2007). Methylmercury exposure and health effects in humans: A worldwide concern. Ambio, 36, 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447(2007)36[3:MEAHEI]2.0.CO;2
Mieiro, C., Coelho, J., Dolbeth, M., Pacheco, M., Duarte, A., Pardal, M., & Pereira, M. E. (2016). Fish and mercury: Influence of fish fillet culinary practices on human risk. Food Control, 60, 575–581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2015.09.006
Moslemi-Aqdam, M., Low, G., Low, M., Laird, B. D., Branfireun, B. A., & Swanson, H. K. (2023). Estimates, spatial variability, and environmental drivers of mercury biomagnification rates through lake food webs in the Canadian subarctic. Environmental Research, 217, 114835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.114835
Obrist, D., Kirk, J. L., Zhang, L., Sunderland, E. M., Jiskra, M., & Selin, N. E. (2018). A review of global environmental mercury processes in response to human and natural perturbations: Changes of emissions, climate, and land use. Ambio, 47, 116–140.
Parks, J. M., Johs, A., Podar, M., Bridou, R., Hurt, R. A., Smith, S. D., Tomanicek, S. J., Qian, Y., Brown, S. D., Brandt, C. C., Palumbo, A. V., Smith, J. C., Wall, J. D., Elias, D. A., & Liang, L. (2013). The genetic basis for bacterial mercury methylation. Science, 339, 1332–1335. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1230667
Pavithra, K. G., SundarRajan, P., Kumar, P. S., & Rangasamy, G. (2023). Mercury sources, contaminations, mercury cycle, detection and treatment techniques: A review. Chemosphere, 312, 137314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.137314
Qian, Y., Chen, C., Zhang, Q., Li, Y., Chen, Z., & Li, M. (2010). Concentrations of cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic in Chinese market milled rice and associated population health risk. Food Control, 21, 1757–1763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2010.08.005
Qin, D., Jiang, H., Bai, S., Tang, S., & Mou, Z. (2015). Determination of 28 trace elements in three farmed cyprinid fish species from Northeast China. Food Control, 50, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2014.08.016
Qiu, G., Feng, X., Li, P., Wang, S., Li, G., Shang, L., & Fu, X. (2008). Methylmercury accumulation in rice (Oryza sativa L.) grown at abandoned mercury mines in Guizhou, China. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 56, 2465–2468. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf073391a
Rodríguez, M., Gutiérrez, Á. J., Rodríguez, N., Rubio, C., Paz, S., Martín, V., Revert, C., & Hardisson, A. (2018). Assessment of mercury content in Panga (Pangasius hypophthalmus). Chemosphere, 196, 53–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.12.137
Sahuquillo, I., Lagarda, M. J., Silvestre, M. D., & Farré, R. (2007). Methylmercury determination in fish and seafood products and estimated daily intake for the Spanish population. Food Additives & Contaminants, 24, 869–876. https://doi.org/10.1080/02652030701258760
Saleh, I. (2009). Health implications of mercury exposure in children. International Journal of Environmental Health, 3, 22–57. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJENVH.2009.022904
Shao, D., Kang, Y., Cheng, Z., Wang, H., Huang, M., Wu, S., Chen, K., & Wong, M. H. (2013). Hair mercury levels and food consumption in residents from the Pearl River Delta: South China. Food Chemistry, 136, 682–688. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.08.059
Shao, L. J. (2010). Study on mercury pollution and security of the sideline aquatic products in suburb of Chengdu. Master Thesis, Chengdu University of Technology (In Chinese).
Sharafi, K., Nodehi, R. N., Mahvi, A. H., Pirsaheb, M., Nazmara, S., Mahmoudi, B., & Yunesian, M. (2019). Bioaccessibility analysis of toxic metals in consumed rice through an in vitro human digestion model—Comparison of calculated human health risk from raw, cooked and digested rice. Food Chemistry, 299, 125126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2019.125126
SPBS. (2021). Bulletin of the seventh National Census of Sichuan Province. Sichuan Provincial of Bureau of Statistics (SPBS), China http://tjj.sc.gov.cn/scstjj/tjgb/2021/5/26/68cf8ce902a44c389e72591bd5a31ca2.shtml
USEPA. (2019). Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) summary table. United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).
Vieira, C., Morais, S., Ramos, S., Delerue-Matos, C., & Oliveira, M. B. P. P. (2011). Mercury, cadmium, lead and arsenic levels in three pelagic fish species from the Atlantic Ocean: Intra- and inter-specific variability and human health risks for consumption. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 49, 923–932. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2010.12.016
Wai, K.-M., Dai, J., Yu, P. K. N., Zhou, X., & Wong, C. M. S. (2017). Public health risk of mercury in China through consumption of vegetables, a modelling study. Environmental Research, 159, 152–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2017.08.010
Wang, G., Zhang, S., Xiao, L., Zhong, Q., Li, L., Xu, G., Deng, O., & Pu, Y. (2017). Heavy metals in soils from a typical industrial area in Sichuan, China: Spatial distribution, source identification, and ecological risk assessment. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 24, 16618–16630. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9288-7
Wang, H.-S., Sthiannopkao, S., Du, J., Chen, Z.-J., Kim, K.-W., Mohamed Yasin, M. S., Hashim, J. H., Wong, C.K.-C., & Wong, M.-H. (2011). Daily intake and human risk assessment of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) based on Cambodian market basket data. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 192, 1441–1449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2011.06.062
Wang, H. S., Xu, W. F., Chen, Z. J., Cheng, Z., Ge, L. C., Man, Y. B., Giesy, J. P., Du, J., Wong, C. K., & Wong, M. H. (2013). In vitro estimation of exposure of Hong Kong residents to mercury and methylmercury via consumption of market fishes. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 248–249, 387–393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2012.12.060
Wang, X., Wang, F., Chen, B., Sun, F., He, W., Wen, D., Liu, X., & Wang, Q. (2012). Comparing the health risk of toxic metals through vegetable consumption between industrial polluted and non-polluted fields in Shaoguan, south China. Journal of Food Agriculture and Environment, 10, 943–948. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.18101
Wang, X., Ye, Z., Li, B., Huang, L., Meng, M., Shi, J., & Jiang, G. (2014). Growing rice aerobically markedly decreases mercury accumulation by reducing both Hg bioavailability and the production of MeHg. Environmental Science and Technology, 48, 1878–1885. https://doi.org/10.1021/es4038929
Wong, W. W. K., Chung, S. W. C., Chan, B. T. P., Ho, Y. Y., & Xiao, Y. (2013). Dietary exposure to inorganic arsenic of the Hong Kong population: Results of the first Hong Kong Total Diet Study. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 51, 379–385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2012.10.010
Wu, Y., Zhang, H., Liu, G., Zhang, J., Wang, J., Yu, Y., & Lu, S. (2016). Concentrations and health risk assessment of trace elements in animal-derived food in southern China. Chemosphere, 144, 564–570. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.09.005
Xie, Q., Wang, Y., Li, S., Zhang, C., Tian, X., Cheng, N., Zhang, Y., & Wang, D. (2021). Total mercury and methylmercury in human hair and food: Implications for the exposure and health risk to residents in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, China. Environmental Pollution, 282, 117041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117041
Yipel, M., Tekeli, İO., İşler, C. T., & Altuğ, M. E. (2017). Heavy metal distribution in blood, liver and kidneys of Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and Green (Chelonia mydas) sea turtles from the Northeast Mediterranean Sea. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 125, 487–491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.08.011
Yokoo, E. M., Valente, J. G., Grattan, L., Schmidt, S. L., Platt, I., & Silbergeld, E. K. (2003). Low level methylmercury exposure affects neuropsychological function in adults. Environmental Health, 2, 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069x-2-8
Zhang, H., Feng, X., Larssen, T., Qiu, G., & Vogt Rolf, D. (2010). In Inland China, rice, rather than fish, is the major pathway for methylmercury exposure. Environmental Health Perspectives, 118, 1183–1188. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1001915
Zhao, H., Yan, H., Zhang, L., Sun, G., Li, P., & Feng, X. (2019). Mercury contents in rice and potential health risks across China. Environment International, 126, 406–412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.02.055
Zhao, L., Anderson, C. W. N., Qiu, G., Meng, B., Wang, D., & Feng, X. (2016). Mercury methylation in paddy soil: Source and distribution of mercury species at a Hg mining area, Guizhou Province, China. Biogeosciences, 13, 2429–2440. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-2429-2016
Zhao, L., Meng, B., & Feng, X. (2020). Mercury methylation in rice paddy and accumulation in rice plant: A review. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 195, 110462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.110462
Zheng, S., Wang, Q., Yuan, Y., & Sun, W. (2020). Human health risk assessment of heavy metals in soil and food crops in the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration of China. Food Chemistry, 316, 126213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.126213
Zheng, S.-A., Wu, Z., Chen, C., Liang, J., Huang, H., & Zheng, X. (2018). Evaluation of leafy vegetables as bioindicators of gaseous mercury pollution in sewage-irrigated areas. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 25, 413–421. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0438-8
Acknowledgements
Financial support was provided by the Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province, China (2022NSFSC0237), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21507095), Dean’s Research Fund of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, the Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China (DRF/ICSP-3 2021 and FLASS/DRF/IRS-4) and the Early Career Scheme, Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR, China (Project No. 28300619).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
JBL: Writing—original draft. YJZ: Investigation, writing—original draft. F-ZD: Investigation. M-HW: Review and Editing. Y-BM: Methodology, review and editing, funding acquisition. ZC: Conceptualisation, supervision, writing—review and editing, funding acquisition.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
The manuscript did not contain any reporting studies involving human data.
Consent for publication
The manuscript does not contain any individual person data.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Liu, J.B., Zhou, Y.J., Du, F.Z. et al. Human health risk assessment based on a total diet study of daily mercury intake in Chengdu, China. Environ Geochem Health 46, 138 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-024-01910-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-024-01910-x