1 3 Individual methylmercury intake estimates from local seafood of the 4 Mediterranean Sea, in Italy 5 6 7 Elena Dellatte a,⇑ Q1 , Gianfranco Brambilla a , Roberto Miniero a , Maria Cesarina Abete b , Roberta Orletti c , 8 Giannina Chessa d , Alessandro Ubaldi e , Eugenio Chiaravalle f , Micaela Tiso g , Angelo Ferrari g 9 a Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Toxicological Chemistry Unit, Viale Regina Elena 299, I-00161 Rome, Italy 10 b Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle d’Aosta, Via Bologna 148, I-10154 Turin, Italy 11 c Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Umbria e delle Marche, Via Cupa di Posatora 3, I-60100 Ancona, Italy 12 d Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sardegna, Via Vienna 2, I-79100 Sassari, Italy 13 e Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana, Via Appia Nuova 1411, I-00178 Rome, Italy 14 f Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e Basilicata, Via Manfredonia 20, I-71121 Foggia, Italy 15 g Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, Liguria e Valle D’Aosta, Piazza Borgo Pila 39, I-16129 Genoa, Italy 16 17 18 20 article info 21 Article history: 22 Received 30 December 2013 23 Available online xxxx 24 Keywords: 25 Mediterranean Sea 26 Seafood 27 Methylmercury 28 Intake 29 Sensitive groups 30 Food safety 31 Food security 32 33 abstract 34 A Seafood Frequency Questionnaire (SFQ) broken down in more than 42 items with 8-week coverage was 35 interview-administered to 278 adults aged 19–82 years (167 women, 98 in the reproductive age 19– 36 45 years, and 111 men), resident on the Italian Mediterranean shore and frequent buyer at local fish mar- 37 kets. Methylmercury (MeHg) intake on individual basis was estimated for a selected occurrence equal to 38 the median value + Median Absolute Deviation (MAD) in each seafood species reported (conservative sce- 39 nario). MeHg occurrence was derived from an extensive seafood database referred to years 2009–2011. 40 Accounting for an average body weight of 62.2 kg, 24.6% of women resulted overexposed with respect to 41 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Tolerable Weekly Intake (TWI) for MeHg of 1.3 lg/kg bw, with 42 a mean of 0.92 lg/kg bw. In the vulnerable group aged 19–45 years, 29.6% exceeded the TWI. Rather than 43 the amount of seafood consumed, the seafood choice appears to be the main determinant of the MeHg 44 intake. Risk awareness was reported in the 49% of SFQs. Uncertainties related to such estimates from 45 questionnaires are discussed, in order to give adequate health recommendations without compromising 46 seafood consumption in the Mediterranean region. 47 Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 48 49 50 51 52 1. Introduction 53 The Mediterranean Sea is worldwide acknowledged as a mer- 54 cury (Hg) hotspot, due to the presence of relevant cinnabar settle- 55 ments on the coastal shores and of the historical related mining 56 and industrial activities discontinued in the last decades, only 57 (UNEP, 2002). Methylmercury (MeHg) originates from inorganic 58 Hg biomethylation in the marine sediments and bioaccumulates 59 in the seafood. Mediterranean wild seafood species from FAO 37 60 fishing area show total Hg (Hg TOT ) and MeHg levels higher than 61 those reported from other FAO zones (Brambilla et al., 2013; FAO 62 and WHO, 2011). As environmental pollutant, MeHg exerts neuro- 63 toxic effects on the human central nervous system, particularly for 64 exposures within the first months of the foetal development 65 (Grandjean and Landrigan, 2006). Fish and seafood give the most 66 relevant contribution in the dietary exposure to MeHg in high and 67 frequent consumers and in general population, as well (EFSA, 2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2014.03.002 0273-2300/Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Abbreviations: bw, body weight; EC, European Commission; EFSA, European Food Safety Authority; EU, European Union; FAO, Food and Agriculture Organiza- tion of the United Nations; FFQ, Food Frequency Questionnaire; Hg, mercury; Hg TOT , total mercury; IQ, intelligence quotient; JECFA, Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives; LC-PUFA, Long Chained Poly-Unsaturated Fatty Acid; MAD, Median Absolute Deviation; MeHg, methylmercury; MRL, Maximum Residue Limit; RDA, Recommended Daily Allowance; RfD, Reference Dose; SD, standard deviation; SFQ, Seafood Frequency Questionnaire; TWI, Tolerable Weekly Intake; UNEP, United Nations Environment Programme; US EPA, United States of America Environmental Protection Agency; WHO, World Health Organization. ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Department of Environment and Primary Prevention, Toxicological Chemistry Unit, Viale Regina Elena 299, I-00161 Rome, Italy. Fax: +39 0649902836. E-mail addresses: elena.dellatte@iss.it (E. Dellatte), gianfranco.brambilla@iss. it (G. Brambilla), roberto.miniero@iss.it (R. Miniero), mariacesarina.abete@izsto.it (M.C. Abete), r.orletti@izsum.it (R. Orletti), giannina.chessa@izs-sardegna. it (G. Chessa), alessandro.ubaldi@izslt.it (A. Ubaldi), izsfgchimica@tiscali.it (E. Chiaravalle), micaela.tiso@unige.it (M. Tiso), angelo.ferrari@izsto.it (A. Ferrari). Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology xxx (2014) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/yrtph YRTPH 3018 No. of Pages 8, Model 5G 21 March 2014 Please cite this article in press as: Dellatte, E., et al. Individual methylmercury intake estimates from local seafood of the Mediterranean Sea, in Italy. Regul. Toxicol. Pharmacol. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2014.03.002