In an unusual health study, researchers analyzing toxin levels in tens of thousands of toenail clippings determined that mercury from eating fish does not raise the risk of heart disease or stroke.
Health experts have long urged people to eat fish to lower heart risks, but some have worried that the mercury in certain types of fish like shark and swordfish might offset any benefits. Earlier studies on mercury and heart problems in adults have yielded contradictory results.
The latest US government-funded work is the largest to look at this question. Instead of relying on what people said they ate, it measured mercury in their toenails — a good gauge of long-term exposure to the metal from fish consumption.
No differences were seen in the rates of heart and stroke among those with the highest concentrations of mercury compared with those with the lowest.
“The average person should eat fish as part of a healthy diet,” and not worry about ill heart effects, said Harvard School of Public Health cardiologist Dariush Mozaffarian, who led the research published in yesterday’s New England Journal of Medicine.
Mercury occurs naturally in soil and rocks, including coal. It gets into the air from coal-fired power plants and other sources, and settles into water. Small fish absorb mercury when they feed on plankton, and they, in turn, are eaten by bigger fish. Older and larger predator fish — like shark, swordfish and king mackerel — tend to accumulate the highest mercury levels.
In high quantities, the metal can damage the developing brain and nervous system of young children and is a special concern for pregnant women because of potential harm to the fetus.
The new research in adults used information from two studies of 174,000 health professionals. Some participants sent in toenail clippings when the work started decades ago.
Since toenails grow slowly and at different rates, they are favored over blood samples because they provide a more accurate picture of long-term mercury exposure.
Toenails are also easy to collect and can be stored cheaply.
After an average of 11 years, 3,500 participants who had given nail samples had suffered strokes or developed heart disease.
Researchers compared them with an equal number of participants who did not develop those health problems.
After adjusting for factors such as age, gender and smoking, there was no link between mercury exposure and risks for heart disease or stroke.
This was true even at high exposure where the average toenail mercury levels were 1 microgram per gram — roughly twice the recommended limit for pregnant women.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not