Nature Communications：水稻是人类甲基汞暴露的重要的全球饮食来源

北京大学城市与环境学院王学军教授课题组综合了过去60年的数据及多种模型，发现水稻可能是人类甲基汞暴露的另一个重要的全球饮食来源。相关成果发表于Nature Communications（IF=11.878）。

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Abstract

Protecting the environment and enhancing food security are among the world’s greatest challenges. Fish consumption is widely considered to be the single significant dietary source of methylmercury. Nevertheless, by synthesizing data from the past six decades and using a variety of models, we find that rice could be a significant global dietary source of human methylmercury exposure, especially in South and Southeast Asia. In 2013, globalization caused 9.9% of human methylmercury exposure via the international rice trade and significantly aggravated rice-derived exposure in Africa (62%), Central Asia (98%) and Europe (42%). In 2016, 180 metric tons of mercury were generated in rice plants, 14-fold greater than that exported from oceans via global fisheries. We suggest that future research should consider both the joint ingestion of rice with fish and the food trade in methylmercury exposure assessments, and anthropogenic biovectors such as crops should be considered in the global mercury cycle.

保护环境和加强粮食安全是世界面临的最大挑战之一。目前广泛认为食用鱼类是甲基汞唯一的重要饮食来源。然而，通过综合过去60年的数据及多种模型，我们发现，水稻可能是人类甲基汞暴露的另一个重要的全球饮食来源，特别是在南亚和东南亚。2013年，全球化导致9.9%的人类通过国际大米贸易接触甲基汞，且水稻的衍生品显著加剧了非洲（62%）、中亚（98%）和欧洲（42%）对甲基汞的接触。2016年，有180吨汞来源于水稻，是通过全球渔业而来源于海洋的汞的14倍。本文建议未来的甲基汞暴露评估研究应该同时考虑到水稻与鱼类的摄入和食品贸易，且在全球汞循环研究中应该考虑到作物等人为生物媒介。