Associations Between Great Lakes Basin Fish Consumption and Vitamin D, Selenium, Fatty Acids, and Persistent Contaminants in 154 Wisconsin Anglers

BACKGROUND:   Essential nutrients such as vitamin D, selenium and omega-3 fatty acids are keys to maintaining good health.  Fish is an important source of these nutrients; however, fish, especially fresh water fish from the Great Lakes Basin, can also be a source of persistent pollutants such as methyl mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polyfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs, such as PFOS and PFOA) and other contaminants associated with a range of adverse health outcomes.  There is a paucity of nutrient information for Great Lakes Basin fish and information on nutrient and contaminant levels for Wisconsin residents.

METHODS:   A United States Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant to Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services and Department of Natural Resources provided an opportunity to characterize levels of vitamin D, selenium and omega-3 fatty acids and contaminants in a cohort of Wisconsin anglers.  Dietary and health questionnaires, serum and hair samples were collected from 154 older adult men and tested for vitamin D, selenium, a suite of fatty acids (including DHA, DPA and EPA), blood mercury, hair mercury, PCBs, PBDEs, PFOS, and PFOA.

RESULTS:   In this population, higher consumption of Great Lakes fish was associated with higher levels of DPA, vitamin D, and selenium.  In addition, higher consumption of commercial fish was associated with higher DHA.  Higher Great Lakes fish consumption was associated with higher levels of mercury (hair and blood), PCBs, PBDEs, PFOS and PFOA; higher consumption of other locally caught fish (hair and blood mercury, PFOA) and of commercial fish (blood mercury) were also associated with higher contaminant levels.  The distributions of fish consumption, nutrients, and contaminants found in Wisconsin anglers were compared to those for the US general population of older non-Hispanic white males (NHANES).  Wisconsin anglers had higher rates of fish consumption compared to the US general population, and also had higher or comparable levels of fatty acids and vitamin D.  However, WI anglers in this study had lower levels of selenium.  The anglers in this study had notably higher blood mercury, but levels of other contaminants (PFOA, PBDEs, PCBs) were lower than or comparable to those in the US general population. 

CONCLUSIONS:   Our results show that Wisconsin anglers had higher fish consumption compared with the US general population.  They also had on average higher levels of certain nutrients and of blood mercury.  However, levels of other contaminants studied were lower or similar.