Peng Qian, Greenfield Ben K, Dang Fei, Zhong Huan
School of Environment, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Nanjing University, 163 Xian Lin Da Dao, Nanjing, 210023, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
Environmental Health Sciences Division, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
Environ Geochem Health. 2016 Feb;38(1):169-81. doi: 10.1007/s10653-015-9701-4. Epub 2015 Apr 8.
Methylmercury (MeHg) accumulation in aquatic food raises global concerns about human exposure to MeHg. Crayfish is the world's third largest farmed crustacean species and a favorite aquatic food in many countries. However, human health hazard due to MeHg exposure via crayfish consumption is unclear, partly because appropriate survey data are lacking. We report on mercury concentrations and speciation in edible tail muscle of crayfish collected from restaurants in 23 Chinese cities. On average, MeHg constituted 99.1 % of mercury in tail muscle, and MeHg concentrations were comparable with those reported for fish in China. Variation in MeHg concentrations was not attributable to broad geographic region (i.e., provinces) or tail length. For different populations, potential health risk (characterized by hazard quotient or HQ) of MeHg exposure through crayfish consumption depended largely on crayfish consumption rates. In particular, a health hazard (HQ > 1) was found for high-rate consumers (i.e., 95 %ile or higher) in some cities in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (MLYR), during the peak consumption season. Our results suggest that more attention should be paid to dietary MeHg intake via crayfish consumption in China, particularly for communities with high consumption in MLYR.
水生食物中的甲基汞（MeHg）积累引发了全球对人类接触甲基汞的担忧。小龙虾是世界上第三大养殖甲壳类物种，也是许多国家受欢迎的水生食物。然而，通过食用小龙虾接触甲基汞对人类健康的危害尚不清楚，部分原因是缺乏适当的调查数据。我们报告了从中国23个城市的餐馆收集的小龙虾可食用尾部肌肉中的汞浓度和形态。平均而言，甲基汞占尾部肌肉中汞的99.1%，甲基汞浓度与中国报道的鱼类浓度相当。甲基汞浓度的变化并不归因于广泛的地理区域（即省份）或尾长。对于不同人群，通过食用小龙虾接触甲基汞的潜在健康风险（以危害商数或HQ表示）在很大程度上取决于小龙虾的消费率。特别是，在长江中下游（MLYR）的一些城市，在消费高峰期，发现高消费率人群（即第95百分位数或更高）存在健康危害（HQ>1）。我们的结果表明，在中国，应更多关注通过食用小龙虾摄入膳食甲基汞的问题，特别是在长江中下游高消费的社区。
