Methylmercury risks and EPA + DHA benefits associated with seafood consumption in Europe

The intake of methyl-Hg and EPA + DHA through consumption of seafood in Europe as well as the associated probability of exceeding the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) and the recommended daily intake (RDI), respectively, were estimated by combining methyl-Hg and EPA + DHA contents in the five most consumed seafood species with hypothesized consumption distributions for eight European countries, chosen on the basis of size and representative significance. Two estimators were used: plug-in (PI) and tail estimation (TE). The latter was based on the application of the extreme value theory to the intakes distribution curves. Whereas contents data were collected from own database and published scientific papers, consumption data were obtained from statistical sources of the various countries. Seafood consumption levels varied considerably between countries, from 140 in the United Kingdom to 628.5 g/(person.week) in Iceland. The main consumed species were also different between countries. The probability of exceeding the methyl-Hg PTWI ranged from 0.04% in the United Kingdom to 9.61% in Iceland. Concerning the probability of exceeding the RDI of EPA + DHA, Iceland was third, after Portugal (66.05%) and Spain (61.05%) and the United Kingdom was the last (0.32%). While TE was most accurate for small probabilities, PI yielded best estimates for larger probabilities.