The papers presented during the first session have provided a useful introduction and a review of several important points that have been established during the past decade. Many carefully studied near shore marine environments and freshwater lakes are polluted with chemicals as indicated primarily by measurements of certain organics and metals in sediments. Fish and shellfish, including bivalv...

To the Editor: The globalization of food production and trade has increased the potential risk for infectious foodborne diseases. Hepatitis A virus (HAV) and norovirus (NoV) constitute the most important foodborne pathogens of humans in terms of numbers of outbreaks and persons affected in industrialized countries (1,2). In these countries, improvement of health conditions and development of sp...

Introduction Phycotoxins ([phyco = seaweeds and algae] plus toxins) are a diverse group of poisonous substances produced by various aquatic plants in marine and fresh waters throughout the world. Not all aquatic plants produce toxins; and among those that do, not all, even from the same genera and species, produce toxins at all times and under all circumstances. In addition, problems with toxin...

The increased consumption of fish and shellfish has resulted in more frequent reports of adverse reactions to seafood, emphasizing the need for more specific diagnosis and treatment of this condition and exploring reasons for the persistence of this allergy. This review discusses interesting and new findings in the area of fish and shellfish allergy. New allergens and important potential cross-...

Low vitamin B-12 concentrations are frequently observed among older adults. Malabsorption is hypothesized to be an important cause of vitamin B-12 inadequacy, but serum vitamin B-12 may also be differently affected by vitamin B-12 intake depending on food source. We examined associations between dietary sources of vitamin B-12 (meat, fish and shellfish, eggs, dairy) and serum vitamin B-12, usin...

The counting of bacteria in water has been a critical element in protecting public health in the last century. In the early part of the century scientists were able to grow many species of bacteria and differentiate them from each other using biochemical tests. They also had observed that certain bacteria were always found in the faeces of humans and other warm-blooded animals and that signific...

Methylmercury is a hazardous substance that is of interest with regard to environmental health, as inorganic mercury circulating in the general environment is dissolved into freshwater and seawater, condensed through the food chain, ingested by humans, and consequently affects human health. Recently, there has been much interest and discussion regarding the toxicity of methylmercury, the correl...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES This study was performed to investigate the association between the dietary intake of fish and shellfish, and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in the middle-aged Korean female patients with Type 2 diabetes (T2D). SUBJECTS/METHODS A cross-sectional analysis was performed with 356 female patients (means age: 55.5 yea...