Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals and Lipid Quality Indexes in Freshwater Fish from Lakes of Warmia and Mazury Region, Poland.

The objectives of study were to determine heavy metals content (Zn, Cu, Mn, Fe and Hg) and fatty acids in selected organs of roach, Rutilus rutilus (L.); bream, Abramis brama (L.); pike, Esox lucius (L.); Eurasian perch, Perca fluviatilis (L.) collected from reservoirs of Warmia and Mazury region (northeastern Poland). Heavy metals were determined with atomic absorption spectrometry AAS. The fatty acids were analyzed using gas chromatography. In a few cases, differences in the content of heavy metals and fatty acids were not significant between species. The muscles of fish characterized significantly higher values of mercury than other organs (p ≤ 0.05), except for bream. The reverse regularity was observed in the case of content of Cu, Zn, Mn and Fe. Fatty acids having a desirable dietary effect in humans (DFA-Hypocholesterolaemic fatty acids) (74.00-74.84) were more than OFA (hypercholesterolaemic fatty acids), i.e., those undesirable (24.03-24.79). The lipid quality indexes AI (index of atherogenicity) (0.40-0.44) and TI (index of thrombogenicity) (0.18-0.24) in muscles of fish were low, which means that the meat of the fish may be recommended for human health. THQ (target hazard quotient) and HI (hazard index) as individual foodstuff were below 1, whereas HI for a specific receptor/pathway combination exceeded 1. This may suggest that eating meat from a given species is safe from a health point of view.

Fish as a bioindicator of heavy metals pollution in aquatic ecosystem of Pluszne Lake, Poland, and risk assessment for consumer's health.

Heavy metals content (Zn, Cu and Hg) were measured in gills, liver, gonads and muscles of perch, Perca fluviatilis (L.) and roach, Rutilus rutilus (L.) from Lake Pluszne (north-eastern Poland). Correlations between heavy metals levels and total length, weight, HSI, GSI and FCF were examined. As expected, muscles contained the significantly highest values of Hg (P ≤ .05). The concentrations of Zn were significantly higher in gills of roach and gonads of perch (P ≤ .05), while the liver of fish accumulated significantly more Cu than other organs (P ≤ .05). In all organs of perch the higher content of mercury was found (P ≤ .05). The value of Zn and Cu was highest in organs of roach (P ≤ .05) (with the exception of Zn in muscles P > .05). Sequence of metals in both species was Zn > Cu > Hg. Only in muscle tissue, Hg was significantly positive correlated with weight of roach (r = 0.811, P = .045) and perch (r = 0.652, P = .041), and total length of roach (r = 0.806, P = .005). A positive relationship was also observed between Zn concentration in gills of perch and their weight (r = 0.634, P = .049). In contrary, Zn in gills of roach decreased with weight (r = -0.693, P = .026)) and length (r = -0.668, P = .035). Cu concentration in liver of perch was statistically positively correlated with HSI (r = 0.717, P = .020), whereas Hg content in muscle tissue of roach with FCF (r = 0.643, P = .045). There was negative relationship between Hg in perch gonads and GSI (r = -0.808, P = .005). Metal pollution index (MPI) in gills, liver, gonads and muscles of roach was 7.68, 7.24, 6.77 and 3.13, respectively, whereas in these organs of perch was 3.25 (gills), 4.75 (liver), 5.84 (gonads) and 4.44 (muscles), therefore the contamination of each tissue ranged from very low contamination to low contamination. The concentration of mercury was lower than the maximum acceptable limit estimated by the Commission Regulation (EC) No 629/2008 of 2 July 2008. The values of HI and THQ were below 1, which means that consumption of these fish is not hazardous to the consumer.

Mercury, Fatty Acids Content and Lipid Quality Indexes in Muscles of Freshwater and Marine Fish on the Polish Market. Risk Assessment of Fish Consumption.

Mercury content and fatty acids in muscles of Perca fluviatilis L. (European perch), Leuciscus idus L. (ide), Cyprinus carpio L. (European or common carp), Oncorhynchus mykiss Walb. (rainbow trout), Platichthys flesus L. (European flounder). and Clupea harengus L. (bream) from the Polish market were investigated. The total mercury was processed with AAS. The fatty acids were analyzed by gas chromatography. The concentration of mercury in muscles varied from 0.006 to 0.138 mg/kg and decreased as follows: perch ≈ ide > flounder > herring ≈ bream ≈ rainbow trout > carp (p ≤ 0.05). There were only significant positive correlations between body weight and mercury content in muscle tissue of carp (r = 0.878), flounder (r = 0.925) and herring (r = 0.982) (p ≤ 0.05). The atherogenic index (AI), thrombogenicity index (TI) and flesh-lipid quality index (FLQ) were calculated as follows 0.33-0.70 (IA), 0.16-0.31 (IT) and 13.01-33.22 (FLQ). Hypocholesterolemic (OFA) and hypercholesterolemic fatty acids (DFA) in muscles of fish ranged from 18.26 to 23.01 and from 73.91 to 78.46, respectively. In most cases, there were not significant correlations between size (body weight and total length) and fatty acids in the muscles of the examined fish (p > 0.05). The Target Hazard Quotient (THQ) values were below 1, which shows that there is no non-carcinogenic health risk to the consumer by consuming the examined fish.