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R A N N S Ó K N
ingunartími kvikasilfurs er langur má færa rök fyrir því að rétt
sé að kynna slíkar ráðleggingar fyrir konum á barneignaraldri.
Þakkir
Við viljum þakka ljósmæðrum Heilsugæslu höfuðborgarsvæð-
isins fyrir gott samstarf við framkvæmd rannsóknarinnar sem,
þrátt fyrir miklar annir á tímum heimsfaraldurs, gáfu sér tíma í
þetta verkefni og leystu það af metnaði. Við viljum einnig þakka
þátttakendum sem gáfu sér tíma til að sitja undir fræðslu, svara
spurningalistum og gefa hársýni. Án þeirra hefði þessi rannsókn
ekki verið möguleg.
Greinin barst til blaðsins 28. ágúst 2022,
samþykkt til birtingar 3. febrúar 2023.
Heimildir
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E N G L I S H S U M M A R Y
Levels of mercury in hair among pregnant women in Iceland
INTRODUCTION: To limit exposure to methylmercury several countries have implimented specific
advice on fish intake to pregnant women as well a measuring compliance through regular human
biomonitoring. Despite fish intake being relatively high in Iceland, human biomonitoring data on
mercury is scarce.
MATERIALS AND MEHODS: We measured mercury in hair from 120 pregnant women recruited in 2021
from the the Reykjavik Capital area. At recruitment, information on fish intake during the past four
months was recorded. Hair mercury concentrations were compared to existing health based guidance
values and associatons with fish intake was explored.
RESULTS: Mean (standard deviation) mercury concentration in hair was 0.48 μg/g (0.33). All
participants had concentrations in hair below 1.8 μg/g, which corresponds to the hair value that
the tolerable daily intake set by the European Food Safety Authority is derived from, while 5% had
concentrations above 1.1 μg/g, which corresponds to the hair value that the US-EPA reference dose
is derived from. Mean mercury concentrations in hair increased in a dose dependent manner (p for
trend <0.001) from 0.25 μg/g among women who consumed fish ≤ 3/month (n=24) and up to 0.80 mg/g
among those consuming fish 3-4/ week (n=16). The few (n=3) women who reported to have eaten shark
(<1/month) were all at the higher end of the exposure distribution.
CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that exposure is generally below the tolerable daily intake set by
EFSA but may in some women exceed the reference dose established by the US-EPA.
doi 10.17992/lbl.2023.03.733
*Edda Dufþaksdóttir1
*Eva Jacobsen1
Ása Valgerður Eiríksdóttir2
Óla Kallý Magnúsdóttir3
Kristín Ólafsdóttir2
Þórhallur Ingi Halldórsson1
*These authors contributed equally to this work
1Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, Univeristy of
Iceland, 2Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology,
University of Iceland, 3Development Centre for Primary
Health Care in Iceland.
Correspondence: Þórhallur Ingi Halldórsson, tih@hi.is
Key words: mercury, seafood, pregnancy, hair,
biomonitoring.