A community-based assessment of seafood consumption along the lower James River, Virginia, USA: Potential sources of dietary mercury exposure

The use of community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods to conduct environmental exposure assessments provides valuable insight about disparities in seafood consumption and contaminant exposure. Ninety-five community-specific seafood consumption surveys were administered to low-income African–American women (ages 16–49) residing in the Southeast community of Newport News, VA, USA, for the purpose of assessing potential dietary mercury exposure. Only the results of the seafood consumption surveys are presented in this manuscript. Approximately 65% of the women surveyed do not fish; however, 83% had consumed seafood within the last 7 days. Whiting, shrimp, and canned tuna were the three items most frequently consumed. Ninety-three percent of the women surveyed stated that grocery/seafood markets were the main sources of the seafood items generally consumed. The mean seafood consumption rate for the women surveyed was 147.8 g/day (95% CI: 117.6–185.8), a rate substantially higher than the mean seafood consumption rate reported for US women (1.8 g/day 95% CI: 1.51–2.04). Shrimp, croaker, and blue crab were the top three seafood items with the highest summed amount (g/day) consumed. There was no significant association between demographic variables (age, income, education, and weight) and total number of seafood items listed, ingestion rate (g/meal), exposure frequency (meals/year), and seafood consumption rate (g/day). By using CBPR to assess seafood consumption in this community, we learned that even though women in Southeast Newport News, Virginia are not subsistence fishers, they consume seafood at a subsistence fisher rate. Of the three seafood items most frequently consumed, canned tuna potentially plays a significant role in dietary mercury exposure for women in this community. Future work includes determining mercury concentrations in seafood items consumed and generating community-specific statements of dietary mercury risks.