Endothelial function and serum concentration of toxic metals in frequent consumers of fish

Abstract

Endothelial dysfunction is involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Consumption of fish is associatedwith reduced cardiovascular risk, but there is paucity of data concerning its effect on endothelial function. Furthermore,investigation of the effects of fish consumption on health must take into account the ingestion of contaminants, includingtransition metals and some metalloids, which may have unfavorable effects on health, including those on the cardiovascularsystem. We investigated the association between fish consumption, endothelial function (flow mediated dilation of thebrachial artery), and serum concentration of some toxic metals in apparently healthy people.Methods:Twenty-nine high fish consumers (at least 3 portions a week) were compared with 25 low fish consumers (lessthan 1 portion a week). All participants were free of diabetes, cardiovascular or other systemic diseases. Serum metal(antimonium, arsenic, mercury, lead, cobalt, copper, zinc, selenium, strontium) concentrations were measured in subgroupsof 24 high fish consumers and 19 low fish consumers.Results:Both groups exhibited similar habitual dietary patterns, age and anthropometric characteristics. The high fishconsumers had higher flow mediated dilation (9.761.8 vs. 7.361.9%; P,0.001), but also higher serum concentrations ofmercury (5.8762.69 vs. 1.6561.10 mcg/L; P,0.001) and arsenic (6.0463.25 vs. 2.3061.58 mcg/L; P,0.001). The fastingplasma glucose concentrations were significantly correlated with both mercury (r = 0.39; P = 0.01) and arsenicconcentrations (r = 0.55; P,0.001).Conclusions:Habitual consumption of high amounts of fish is associated with better endothelial function despite higherserum concentrations of mercury and arsenic.