MERCURY CONTENT IN THE BLOOD IN RELATION TO DIETARY HABIT OF THE WOMEN WITHOUT ANY OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO MERCURY

The dietary record for two weeks from 15 women was arranged according todefined food items. The individual's average daily intake of each food item correlated with the mercury content in the red cell and plasma. A stepwise regression analysis was carried out.By correlation and stepwise regression analyses, only the intake of fish, mainlymarine, was found to be significant in determining the mercury level in the red cell and it explained 80% of the total variance. No significant correlation and regression coefficients were found for the mercury level in the plasma.