Elemental Compositions and Fatty Acid Profiles of Bogue Fish (Boops boops) From Mediterranean Coast: A Comprehensive Evaluation of the Potential Effects on Human Health

Approaches to risk-benefit assessment of seafood consumption: lessons learned from an evidence scan

Qualitative and quantitative risk-benefit assessments (RBA) can be used to support public health decisions in food safety. We conducted an evidence scan to understand the state of the science regarding RBA in seafood to help inform seafood dietary advice in the United States. We collected published RBA studies assessing seafood consumption, designed inclusion and exclusion criteria to screen these studies, and conducted systematic data extraction for the relevant studies published since 2019. Our findings indicate the selection of health risks and benefits does not generally follow a systematic approach. Uncertainty and variability in RBAs is often not addressed, and quantitative RBAs making use of a single health metric generally have not been leveraged to directly support published regulatory decisions or dietary guidance. To elevate the role of RBA in supporting regulatory decision-making, risk assessors and risk managers must work together to set expectations and goals. We identified the need for a prioritization phase (e.g., multicriteria decision analysis model) to determine the risks and benefits of greatest public health impact to inform the RBA design. This prioritization would consider not only the degree of public health impact of each risk and benefit, but also the potential for risks and benefits to converge on common health outcomes and their importance to subpopulations. Including a prioritization could improve the utility of the RBAs to better inform risk management decisions and advance public health. Our work serves to guide the United States Food and Drug Administration's approaches to RBA in foods.

Accumulation of Heavy Metals in Long-Evans Rat Through Feeding Fishes of Buriganga River and Their Histopathological Evaluation

The study was conducted to evaluate the impacts of industrial discharges, including from tanneries, in terms of heavy metal loads in fin-fish of the Buriganga river, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and to find out the ultimate effects of feeding those heavy metal-contaminated fishes to Long-Evans rats to examine rats' heavy metal accumulation along with viable architectural alterations on various organs through histopathological screenings. Being the most edible by the populace, Labeo rohita was chosen for this purpose. Labeo rohita was collected from five different spots in the river close to the industrial outlets, covering three seasons: monsoon, winter, and summer throughout the year. Experiments unearthed that the deposition of heavy metals inside fishes always surpassed the standard margin, implying a pernicious aquatic milieu. The empirical data suggests that the mean concentrations of Cu, Pb, Cr, and Cd were higher than the permissible limits of WHO and FAO after feeding heavy metal-contaminated fishes for a period of 120 days. Seasonal variations were also taken into account, and it was noticed that rats fed with fish collected in winter had the highest heavy metal concentrations (P < 0.05). Significant architectural changes were observed during histopathological screening of rats' livers and kidneys characterized by necrosis, inflammation, and congestion. After gauging the obtained data, it might be concluded that consumption of heavy metal-contaminated fish entails accumulation of heavy metals, which causes histopathological changes in rats' livers and kidneys, including necrosis and severe structural deformational changes compared to those of control groups.

Assessment of Heavy Metal Concentration in Water, Sediment and Common Fish Species of Dhaleshwari River in Bangladesh and their Health Implications

The present study emphasized on evaluating the extent of pollution of Dhaleshwari River in Bangladesh due to the discharge of heavy metals from tanneries and other industries along with the health risks associated with the consumption of the heavy metals accumulated fish. For this purpose, three spots of Dhaleshwari River which are in the vicinity of the industrial outlet were selected for evaluating the seasonal status of heavy metals in water, sediment, and organs of three common fish species. Average concentrations of metals in water and sediment were in the order of Cr > Cd > Pb > Cu > As and Cr > Pb > Cu > As > Cd respectively. The average HM concentrations in water and sediment exceeded WHO and USEPA standards suggesting serious pollution to the aquatic environment. In fish organs, metal concentrations were in the order of Cu > Cr > Pb > Cd > As. Accumulation was highest in gills and lowest in muscles. Fish muscles had a relatively higher concentration of heavy metals (except As) exceeding the safe limits of FAO and WHO. Seasonal variation was also observed in water for all metals (p < 0.01), in sediment for Cu and As (p < 0.05), and in fish for Cr, Cd, and Cu (p < 0.05); higher concentrations were observed in winter. Bioconcentration factor analysis indicated that Cu, Pb, and Cr were more concentrated in fish. Health risk assessment reveals that the carcinogenic risk of Cr is associated with the consumption of contaminated fish species of the studied area.