Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40082655›Full record

ArticleNature food2025

Global seafood production practices and trade patterns contribute to disparities in exposure to methylmercury.

Qinqin Chen, Qingru Wu, Yuying Cui, Shuxiao Wang

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature food, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Toxicological evidence that methylmercury exposure amplifies bone destruction and systemic impact associated with apical periodontitis in rats.Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Qinqin ChenSchool of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Qingru WuSchool of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. qrwu@tsinghua.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3381-4767
Yuying CuiSchool of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0004-5481-7806
Shuxiao WangSchool of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. shxwang@tsinghua.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9727-1963

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) 22222604National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) 42407138
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Seafood consumption is a major pathway for exposure to methylmercury (MeHg), a globally pervasive neurotoxin. Yet, how upstream processes in the seafood value chain influence MeHg exposure remains poorly understood. Here we quantified MeHg in seafood production, trade and consumption in 2019 around the world. We found that countries with seafood-MeHg exposures beyond the recommended threshold by the World Health Organization were predominately high-income countries. These countries experienced a tenfold increase in exposure levels compared with low-income countries, due to greater consumption and long-overlooked higher MeHg concentrations in seafood inherited from production. Notably, 43% of seafood MeHg in production was redistributed through seafood trade, marked by inequality, as exports from high-income to lower-income countries contained higher seafood-MeHg concentrations. These exposures may have resulted in 61,800 global premature deaths and economic losses of around US$2.87 trillion, underscoring the need to change seafood production practices and trade patterns.

Indexed as

CommerceDietary ExposureFood ContaminationMethylmercury CompoundsSeafoodHumansMethylmercury Compounds

Identifiers

PMID40082655

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.