Diet and Blood Concentrations of Essential and Non-Essential Elements among Rural Residents in Arctic Russia

Abstract

Nutrition is an essential factor for human health. Earlier research has suggested that Arctic residents are vulnerable to environmental toxic exposures through traditional foods. Although Russia is the largest Arctic country, the evidence on the topic from the Russian part of the Arctic is scarce. We studied associations between blood concentrations of essential and non-essential elements and traditional food consumption in 297 adults from seven rural settlements in the Nenets Autonomous Area, Northwest Russia. Blood arsenic concentration was positively associated with consumption of rainbow smelt, pink salmon, Arctic char and navaga fish. Frequent consumption of northern pike was associated with increased concentration of blood mercury. Blood mercury and arsenic concentrations were significantly associated with blood selenium. We also observed positive associations between blood lead levels and the frequency of goose consumption. Moreover, subjects who reported to be hunters had higher blood levels of lead, suggesting contamination of goose meat with fragments of shotgun shells. Blood cobalt and manganese concentrations were inversely associated with serum ferritin levels. Positive associations between blood levels of manganese and lead were observed. Moreover, blood lead concentrations were significantly associated with cadmium, mercury, copper, and zinc. Our results corroborate earlier findings on the traditional foods as source of non-essential elements for the Arctic residents. Observed correlations between the levels of lead and other elements warrant further research and may have potential implications for the studies on the associations between essential elements and health outcomes.

Keywords: country foods; dietary intake; indigenous population; iron status; nutrients; trace metals.

Figure 1

Arithmetic mean (and 95% CI) B-Mn concentrations among all participants (left) and females (right) adjusted for cloudberry consumption. The p-values (*** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05) refer to the subgroup with S-ferritin >100 μg/L as reference for all participants and women, respectively.

Figure 2

Geometric mean (and 95% CI) B-Co concentrations among all participants (left) and females (right) adjusted for age and reindeer consumption. The p-values (*** p < 0.001; * p < 0.05) refer to the subgroup with S-ferritin >100 μg/L as reference for all participants and women, respectively.

Figure 3

Arithmetic mean B-Mn concentrations among all participants according to S-ferritin divided into tertiles (low 0.5–44 μg/L; medium 45–108 μg/L; high 109–506 μg/L) and B-Pb concentrations (also divided into tertiles). The B-Pb concentration intervals are shown in the figure. The concentrations are adjusted for sex and cloudberry consumption. The p-values (*** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05) refer to comparisons with the subgroup comprising high S-ferritin and low B-Pb.

Figure 4

Arithmetic mean B-Se concentrations among all participants according to B-Hg stratified into tertiles (low 0.3–2.9 μg/L; medium 2.9–5.5 μg/L; high 5.5–24.3 μg/L) and B-As concentrations stratified into tertiles (low 0.5–3.5 μg/L; medium 3.5–8.8 μg/L; high 8.8–163 μg/L). The p-values (*** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01) refer to comparisons with the subgroup comprising both low B-Hg and low B-As.

Figure 5

Geometric mean (and 95% CI) B-As concentrations among all participants according to number of selected fish species (navaga, rainbow smelt, pink salmon and Arctic char) they record to consume. The p-values (*** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05) refer to comparisons with the subgroup reporting to consume none of the four species.

Figure 6

GM (and 95% CI) B-Pb concentrations among all participants (left) and non-hunters (right) according to number of meals with goose meat/month. The p-values (** p < 0.01) refer to comparisons between groups with no consumption of goose and the other respective subgroups.