Authors
Catherine Gabriel, Marta Esteban-López, Sónia Namorado, Thorhallur I Halldorsson, Janja Snoj Tratnik, Achilleas Karakoltzidis, Dayna R Schultz, Elena Anastasi, Ricardo Assunção, Susana Pedraza-Diaz, Argelia Castaño, Anthoula Chatzimpaloglou, Noelia Domínguez-Morueco, Despina Giannadaki, Sara González, Milena Horvat, Eva Jacobsen, Spyros Karakitsios, Marike Kolossa-Gehring, Miguel Ángel Lucena, Carla Nunes, Kristin Olafsdottir, Nafsika Papaioannou, Maria Peres, Ana I Cañas-Portilla, Laura Rodriguez Martin, Maria Rodríguez, Ana Rodríguez, Susana Santiago, Anthi Thoma, Dimosthenis Sarigiannis, Andromachi Katsonouri
Published in
Environment international. Volume 217. Pages 110573. Oct 20, 2026. Epub Oct 20, 2026.
Abstract
Mercury exposure during pregnancy remains a public health concern due to its potential impact on foetal neurodevelopment. The randomised HBM4EU-MOM study (2020-2022) evaluated the effect of harmonised dietary advice on mercury exposure among 654 pregnant women from five European coastal countries. Total mercury concentrations in hair were measured at Phase 1 (baseline) and Phase 2 (follow-up). At baseline, mercury exposure varied substantially across countries, with the highest geometric mean (GM) concentrations in Portugal (1.56 μg/g) and Spain (0.90 μg/g), and lower levels in Greece, Iceland, and Cyprus (0.44 μg/g, 0.36 μg/g, and 0.31 μg/g, respectively). The primary adjusted analysis (n = 600) showed no evidence that the dietary intervention reduced follow-up hair mercury concentrations compared with the control group (adjusted geometric mean ratio [GMR] = 1.028, 95% CI 0.955-1.107; p = 0.455). Between baseline and follow-up, the GM mercury concentration across pooled participants with paired measurements decreased from 0.59 μg/g to 0.55 μg/g (-6.79%, p = 0.002), with statistically significant temporal reductions observed in Spain and Portugal, while no statistically significant temporal changes were observed in Greece, Iceland, or Cyprus. The proportion of women exceeding the EFSA exposure benchmark (1.8 μg/g) decreased from 12.5% at baseline to 7.5% at follow-up. Country-specific temporal reductions in Spain and Portugal were observed in both intervention and control groups with similar magnitudes. These findings indicate that the observed temporal decline in mercury exposure during pregnancy cannot be attributed specifically to the harmonised dietary intervention and is likely to reflect factors operating beyond the intervention itself. Although the intervention did not produce a measurable reduction in mercury exposure compared with standard care, the country-specific temporal patterns and reductions in the proportion of women exceeding health-based exposure benchmark highlight the importance of understanding the behavioural, dietary, and contextual factors influencing mercury exposure during pregnancy.
PMID:
42933281
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 27 Oct 2026.
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