Study Links High Levels of Mercury to Type 2 Diabetes Risk

A study published in the journal Diabetes Care states that excessive levels of mercury exposure in young adults elevates the risk of type 2 diabetes in later life by 65 percent. This is the first study of its kind to highlight a strong association between mercury exposure and diabetes in humans.

The main source of mercury in our diet is fish and particularly shellfish. These contain lean proteins and other nutrients such as omega 3 and polyunsaturated fatty acids that make a healthy diet.

To prove the hypothesis, researchers conducted a study on 3,875 men and women. People with high contents of mercury had healthier lifestyles, lower body mass indexes, small waist circumference and also were more energetic. They consumed a lot of fish, which could be the sign of a healthy diet. Keeping in mind the various variants like family history of diabetes, intakes of long-chain n-3 fatty acids and magnesium, it seems the consumption of fish counter-acted the effect of mercury exposure.

The study was led by epidemiologist Ka He at the Indiana University School of Public Health.

In this study, researchers emphasise on the importance of selecting the right fish that has low levels of mercury. This would include fish like shrimp, salmon and catfish. Fish like swordfish and shark, however, have greater levels of mercury.

The FDA and EPA restrict pregnant women from eating fish with high levels of mercury.

"It is likely that the overall health impact of fish consumption may reflect the interactions of nutrients and contaminants in fish. Thus, studying any of these nutrients and contaminants such as mercury should consider confounding from other components in fish. In the current study, the association between mercury exposure and diabetes incidence was substantially strengthened after controlling for intake of LCn-3PUFAs (omega-3) and magnesium," the authors state.