A Quantative Health Risk Analysis Of Mercury Exposure From Food Consumption For General Residents

The mercury exposure from food consumption for general residents in China was studied quantitatively by both survey and simulation. The survey on the dietary food consumption was conducted among general residents in different regions in China, and collected their hair samples for mercury detection. Based on the survey results of food consumption and the mercury levels in various food items, hair mercury level was also simulated using the mercury exposure model developed. This model was verified by comparison the survey results of hair mercury level with the simulation outcomes.The real survey was conducted among general residents in three representative regions (the coastal area Dalian, the freshwater basins Wuhan, and the inland areas Henan province). The daily food consumption was interviewed with the well designed questionnaire face to face, and collected their hair as mercury exposure biomarker. The food items, such as aquatic products, cereals, vegetables and others, were collected from Dalian market for mercury detection. The survey data of dietary food items and their measured mercury levels were used to establish mercury exposure model, where Monte Carlo technique involved to simulate the hair mercury levels in residents from Dalian.This study collected331effective questionnaires and hair samples in all. The relative total mercury in hair was0.46±0.55μg/g in Dalian, while0.44±0.30μg/g in Wuhan and0.22±0.17μg/g in Henan. The mean total mercury level of hair collected from three regions was0.39±0.44(0.04-6.22) μg/g.The mercury exposure model was used to simulate hair mercury level from food consumption and their mercury levels for residents in Dalian. The simulated results showed that the dietary mercury intake was2.58±0.85μg/d and the hair mercury level was0.48±0.44μg/g. There was2.5%of population with higher hair mercury than the reference dose regulated by U.S EPA, which was lower than3.9%that in the real hair survey.In general, the mercury exposure was significantly different between the residents from coastal and inland, indicating that aquatic products were the main source of mercury exposure. The mercury exposure model developed was confirmed to be useful, partially, to evaluate the mercury exposure among population. This model provided a quantitative prediction tool under potential intervention strategies in order to avoid the risk associated with mercury exposure.