Promoting Healthy Seafood Choices in Asian Communities

 描述(申请人提供)：全球水道的环境污染已导致鱼类受到甲基汞和其他持久性毒物的污染，如多氯联苯。通过摄入受污染的鱼而暴露于甲基汞和多氯联苯可能会导致行为和认知异常、动脉粥样硬化和癌症。也有强有力的证据表明，食用鱼类有助于改善神经发育，并可以防止因omega-3脂肪酸导致的心肌梗死和中风死亡。由于经常食用鱼类，美国亚洲人的汞水平高于其他种族/民族，但关于导致这种暴露增加的具体鱼类消费做法的信息很少，更没有关于暴露于多氯联苯等其他污染物的风险的信息。这项建议的目的是与服务于芝加哥亚裔人口的社区组织合作，深入描述鱼类消费对汞和多氯联苯的暴露，然后利用这些结果为已确定的高危亚群量身定制公共卫生信息，从而减少他们对这些污染物的暴露，同时保持或改善他们对鱼类健康营养的消费。在芝加哥、中国人、韩国人、越南人和菲律宾人代表的东南亚和太平洋沿岸前四大亚裔社区，是这项“从研究到行动”提案的重点。我们将从这个社区开展专题小组，收集头发样本进行汞测试，并调查鱼类消费、首选品种和鱼类切割物以及制作技术的数据。我们将购买经常消费和/或没有出现在公布的污染物清单上的鱼类，并对它们进行汞和多氯联苯测试。我们将根据种族、文化适应和人口因素以及计划行为理论所提供的健康行为变化措施，评估汞摄入量超过1微克/克(相当于EPA参考剂量0.1微克/公斤/天)的流行率。我们的分析将确定头发汞升高以及从鱼中摄取汞和多氯联苯的风险因素，并创建群体级别的鱼类风险概况，显示可能因食用鱼类而面临不利健康影响的亚洲人的亚群。然后，我们将开发针对这些亚群的健康信息。一项针对育龄妇女的定制短信干预将使用随机对照整群设计进行测试，主要结果为头发汞。我们的社区合作伙伴将设计一项公共宣传活动，以解决健康的鱼类消费，这将在项目的最后几年进行。随着项目的进展，我们将遵循以社区参与为重点的逻辑模型，并将进行持续的过程评估。该项目将针对暴露于鱼类污染物高风险的亚洲社区开发有效的健康信息。在个人干预中和通过社区范围的推广使用信息，可能会导致减少接触鱼类中的污染物，同时保持健康的鱼类消费和改善社区的健康。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Environmental pollution in global waterways has resulted in the contamination of fish with methylmercury (MeHg) and other persistent toxicants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Exposure to MeHg and PCBs via ingestion of contaminated fish can lead to behavioral and cognitive abnormalities, atherosclerosis, and cancer. There is also strong evidence that fish consumption promotes improved neurodevelopment and can prevent mortality from myocardial infarctions and stroke due to omega-3 fatty acids. Asians in the United States have higher Hg levels than other racial/ethnic groups due to frequent fish consumption, but little information is available on specific fish consumption practices that result in this elevated exposure, and even less about risk for exposure to other pollutants such as PCBs. The objective of this proposal is to perform an in-depth characterization of exposure to Hg and PCBs from fish consumption in partnership with community based organizations who serve the Asian population in Chicago, and then to use these results to tailor public health messages to the identified subgroups at risk, thereby decreasing their exposure to those contaminants while maintaining or improving their consumption of healthy nutrients from fish. The top four Southeast and Pacific Rim Asian ethnic communities represented in Chicago, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Filipino, are the focus of this "Research to Action" proposal. From this community, we will conduct focus groups, collect hair samples for Hg testing and survey data on fish consumption, preferred species and cuts of fish, and preparation techniques. We will purchase fish that are commonly consumed and/or that do not appear on published contaminant lists and test them for Hg and PCBs. We will evaluate the prevalence of Hg intake above 1 µg/gm, equivalent to the EPA reference dose of 0.1 µg/kg/d, by ethnicity, acculturation and demographic factors and health behavior change measures informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior. Our analysis will identify risk factors for elevated hair Hg and intake of Hg and PCBs from fish, and create group- level fish risk profiles that show subgroups of Asians who may be at risk of adverse health effects due to fish consumption. We will then develop health messaging aimed at those subgroups. An intervention of tailored text messaging for women of childbearing age will be tested using a randomized controlled cluster design with hair Hg as the primary outcome. Our community partners will design a public outreach campaign addressing healthful fish consumption, which will be carried out in the final years of the project. We will follow a logic model focused on our community engagement as we progress through the project, and we will conduct on-going process evaluation. This project will develop effective health messaging targeted to Asian communities with high risk of exposure to contaminants from fish. Use of the messaging in individual interventions and through community-wide outreach will potentially lead to decreased exposure to contaminants in fish while maintaining healthful fish consumption and improving the health of the community.