Blood Heavy Metal Concentrations of Korean Adults by Seafood Consumption Frequency: Using the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES IV), 2008

Young A Kim; Young-Nam Kim; Kyung-Dong Cho; Mi Young Kim; Eun Jin Kim; Ok-Hee Baek; Bog-Hieu Lee

doi:10.4163/kjn.2011.44.6.518

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Kim, Kim, Cho, Kim, Kim, Baek, and Lee: Blood Heavy Metal Concentrations of Korean Adults by Seafood Consumption Frequency: Using the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES IV), 2008

Research Article

Korean Journal of Nutrition

Korean Journal of Nutrition 2011; 44(6): 518-526.

Published online: 31 December 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4163/kjn.2011.44.6.518

Blood Heavy Metal Concentrations of Korean Adults by Seafood Consumption Frequency: Using the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES IV), 2008

Young A Kim¹, Young-Nam Kim², Kyung-Dong Cho³, Mi Young Kim¹, Eun Jin Kim¹, Ok-Hee Baek⁴, Bog-Hieu Lee¹

¹Department of Food and Nutrition, Chung-Ang University, Anseong 456-756, Korea.

²Department of Food and Nutrition, Duksung Women's University, Seoul 132-714, Korea.

³Department of Planning, FOOD ONE TECH Co., Ltd, Seoul 153-787, Korea.

⁴DIMI Co Ltd, Anseong 456-749, Korea.

To whom correspondence should be addressed. (lbheelb@cau.ac.kr)

Received 21 September 2011 Revised 18 October 2011 Accepted 5 December 2011

Abstract

To determine blood heavy metal concentrations by seafood consumption in Korean adults, blood cadmium, mercury, and lead concentrations in a representative sample of 1,709 Koreans participated in the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KHANES IV-2) in 2008 were analyzed by age and seafood consumption frequency. The mean blood cadmium, mercury, and lead concentrations were 1.14 ± 0.73 µg/L, 5.50 ± 3.83 µg/L, and 2.56 ± 1.22 µg/dL, respectively. The subjects aged ≥ 50 years had significantly higher blood cadmium concentrations than the subjects aged 20~39 years. Blood mercury concentrations of the 50's were significantly higher than those of the 20's and 30's (p < 0.05). Approximately, 43% of males and 22% of females had blood mercury concentrations > 5.8 µg/L which is a blood mercury level equivalent to the current Reference Dose. Only 2 subjects had lead concentrations > 10 µg/dL, the standard lead level by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA. The subjects consuming pollack, mackerel, anchovy, corvina, shellfish, and salted seafood at least once a week had significantly higher mercury concentrations than the subjects consuming those seafoods less than once a month. However, there were no clear relationships between blood cadmium and lead concentrations and seafood consumption frequencies.

Keywords: seafood frequency, KNHANES IV, Cd, Hg, Pb

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1

Percentages of subjects having blood cadmium concentrations ≥ 1.0 µg/L and mercury concentrations > 5.8 µg/L in KNHANES IV, 2008.

Fig. 2

Percentages of the subjects consuming fish and shellfish at least once a week with blood mercury concentrations over 5.8 µg/L in KNHANES IV, 2008.

Table 1

General characteristics by age for the Korean adults aged ≥ 20 years included in KNHANES IV, 2008¹⁾

¹⁾Values are means ± SD. Means within a row not sharing the same superscript letters differ significantly (p < 0.05) ²⁾Body Mass Index

Table 2

Blood heavy metal concentrations by age and gender in KNHANES IV, 2008¹⁾

¹⁾Values are means ± SD. Means within a row not sharing the same superscript letters differ significantly (p < 0.05)

Table 3

Blood heavy metal concentrations by the frequency of the selected seafood in KNHANES IV, 2008¹⁾

¹⁾Values are means ± SD (n) by seafood consumption. Means within a row not sharing the same superscript letters differ significantly (p < 0.05)

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