Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Methodol. Jul 20, 2021; 11(4): 144-159
Published online Jul 20, 2021. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v11.i4.144
Connecting inorganic mercury and lead measurements in blood to dietary sources of exposure that may impact child development
Renee J Dufault, Mesay M Wolle, H M Skip Kingston, Steven G Gilbert, Joseph A Murray
Renee J Dufault, H M Skip Kingston, Steven G Gilbert, Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute, Naalehu, HI 96772, United States
Renee J Dufault, College of Graduate Health Studies, A.T. Still University, Kirksville, MO 63501, United States
Mesay M Wolle, H M Skip Kingston, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA 15282, United States
Steven G Gilbert, Institute of Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders, Seattle, WA 98105, United States
Joseph A Murray, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, United States
Author contributions: Dufault RJ wrote all but one section of the manuscript and created the figure, and supplementary material; Wolle MM wrote the analytical methods section and created the table; Kingston HMS, Gilbert SG, and Murray JA contributed to the format design and revision of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Renee J Dufault, PhD, Doctor, Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute, Ocean View, Naalehu, HI 96772, United States. rdufault@foodingredient.info
Received: January 28, 2021
Peer-review started: January 28, 2021
First decision: May 14, 2021
Revised: May 27, 2021
Accepted: June 16, 2021
Article in press: June 16, 2021
Published online: July 20, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: Connecting inorganic mercury and lead measurements in blood to dietary sources of exposure that may impact child development is a challenge. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses and treatment efficacy may include the collection of the biomarker measurements of selenium, mercury, and lead levels in red blood cells and behavioral checklist data before and after healthy dietary interventions. We discuss the analytical measurement methods for determining mercury and lead levels in blood and how these biomarkers have been used in ASD and ADHD studies with and without dietary intervention.