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Men with higher amounts of mercury in their body are more likely to develop heart disease than men with lower levels.
While the source of the mercury isn't entirely clear, the researchers suspect that men with high levels consumed large amounts of mercury-contaminated fish.
Dr. Jukka T. Salonen, of the University of Kuopio in Finland, measured the mercury content in the hair of more than 2,000 men, aged 42 to 60 years, who had no evidence of heart disease at the start of the study. Men whose hair mercury content was in the top 25% had nearly twice the risk of developing heart disease as men with lower hair mercury content.
This is comparable to the risk of smoking.
The high mercury levels were primarily the result of ingestion of lean fish with relatively low levels of substances known as omega-3 fatty acids -- predatory fish such as Northern pike and wall-eye or perch pike that are found in the waters of eastern Finland.
The author has a study previously published in Circulation also demonstrating this concern.
American Heart Association's Asia Pacific Scientific Forum in Honolulu, Hawaii April 24, 2002
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