This study focused on the evaluation of the levels of total mercury in hair among 120 breastfeeding mothers aged 20 to 45 -. The concentrations of Hg ranged from 0.07 to 6.87 μg/g with a geometric mean (GM) of 1.22 μg/g. This GM is six times higher than the average internal exposure of mothers from other 17 European countries (0.225 μg/g). Near 70% of mothers presented levels of Hg above the USA EPA internal exposure guideline of 1 μg/g, and 27% exceeded the EFSA health-based guidance value of 1.9 μg/g. The multivariate regression analysis revealed that age, smoking and fish consumption (sword fish, small fat fish, small lean fish) were the major predictors of mercury in hair.
Keywords: Biomonitoring; Breastfeeding mothers; Hair; Mercury.
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