46
RESULTS
Median (5 and 95 percentile) blood lead concentration in
the participants was 16.6 µg/l (7.5 and 39 µg/l). An optimal
multivariate linear regression model for log-transformed
blood lead indicated that cervid game meat consumption
once a month or more was associated with approximately 31%
increase in blood lead concentrations. The increase seemed
to be mostly associated with consumption of minced cervid
meat, particularly purchased minced meat (Figure 1). However,
many participants with high game meat intake over a long
period of time had low blood lead concentrations. Cervid meat
together with the number of bullets shot per year, years of
(A) Age-adjusted blood lead by frequency of game consumption.
(B) Age-adjusted blood lead by tertiles of intake of mincedmeat
frommoose or deer, separately for men and women. Blood lead
means in the three men tertiles were 15.5, 23.0 and 26.7 μg/l, while
the correspondingmeans for women were 13.7, 15.7 and 18.4 μg/l,
respectively. Minced cervidmeat intake was associated with total
game intake at low andmoderate game intakes, but not at the
highest intakes.
(C) Age - adjusted blood lead by tertiles of intake of meat fromgame,
except for mincedmeat frommoose or deer, for men andwomen. No
corrections have beenmade for intake of mincedmeat. Men in the
highest tertile had slightly lower blood lead levels than those in the
middle tertile, 26.7 vs.24.7 μg/l, but the differencewas not significant
(0.1<P<0.2). FromMeltzer et al. (2013).
game consumption, self-assembly of bullets, wine consumption
and smoking jointly accounted for approximately 25% of the
variation in blood lead concentrations, while age and sex
accounted for 27% of the variance. Blood lead concentrations
increased approximately 18% per decade of age, and men
had on average 30% higher blood lead concentrations than
women. Hunters who assembled their own ammunition had
52% higher blood lead concentrations than persons not making
ammunition. In conjunction with minced cervid meat, wine
intake was significantly associated with increased blood lead.
The proportion of participants with blood lead levels exceeding
the EFSA BMDLs (Table 1) is illustrated in Figure 2.
Figure 1: Age-adjusted blood lead by frequency of consumption
Helle K. Knutsen, Anne-Lise Brantsæter, Jan Alexander & Helle M. Meltzer