title: Toenail mercury and dietary fish consumption.
abstract: New England is one of three areas in the United States with the highest annual deposition of mercury, an established environmental pollutant with a variety of health effects. We measured the mercury content in toenails of 27 individuals in New Hampshire who participated as controls in a health study in 1994-95. The mean total toenail mercury concentration was 0.27 mcg/g (median 0.16; SD 0.27; range 0.04-1.15 mcg/g). The best predictor of toenail mercury levels was the mean combined fish and shellfish consumption measured using four simple questions from a validated food frequency questionnaire. Toenail total mercury content was significantly correlated with the mean average weekly consumption of finfish and shellfish (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.48, P=0.012). Multivariate models confirmed that toenail total mercury concentration was best predicted by total finfish and shellfish consumption.
authors.affiliation: Dartmouth College Center for Environmental Health Sciences, Department of Community and Family Medicine (Biostatistics and Epidemiology) and Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire 03756, USA. Judith.R.Rees@dartmouth.edu
authors.forename: Judy R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Rees
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sturup
authors.forename: Celia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Folt
authors.forename: Margaret R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Karagas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D005399:Fishes; D006801:Humans; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D009262:Nails / Q000737:chemistry*; D009513:New Hampshire; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017747:Seafood
chemical_list: D008628:Mercury