Dietary intake of methylmercury by 0-5 years children using the duplicate diet method in Japan

The developing brains are sensitive to methylmercury (MeHg). However, the exposure to MeHg in baby foods and toddler meals remains unknown. This study aimed to determine MeHg intake from baby food or toddler meals, and to investigate the relationship with child hair total mercury (THg).

A total of 3 days of 24-hour dietary diet and hair samples were collected from 260 consenting children aged 0-5 years. We measured the concentrations of THg and MeHg in the diet and THg in the hair.

The results of measuring THg were below both the method detection and method quantification limits or either of both in powdered milk (93.8%), 5-6 months (53.3%), and 7-8 months (39.5%). The median daily THg intake was 20.3 (95% confidence interval 0.72-232.5) ng/kgbw. MeHg was not detected in 213 samples with dietary THg concentrations below 1 ng/g. The MeHg concentration with THg concentrations of 1 ng/g or higher was 1.70 (0.87-6.21) ng/g, and MeHg percentage in THg was 90.0%. To estimate MeHg intake, we multiplied the THg concentration by 90.0%, resulting in an estimated MeHg intake of 18.3 (0.65-209.2) ng/kgbw/day. The THg in children's hair was 1.05 (0.31-3.96) ppm, and a weak positive correlation was observed between hair THg and dietary MeHg (r = 0.170).

This study highlights the accurate estimation of MeHg intake in children using a duplicate method. Japanese children consume fish, the MeHg intakes exceeded the reference dose and/or provisional tolerable weekly intake in several children. Further discussion based on epidemiological data is required.