A study published on Monday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that children with autism have similar levels of mercury in their blood as the average child.
Conducted by researchers at the University of California-Davis MIND Institute, the study looked at blood-mercury levels in children who have autism and children who do not.
“The bottom line is that blood-mercury levels in both populations were essentially the same,” said Irva Hertz-Picciotto, the study’s lead author.
The researchers clarify, however, that the study is not an examination of whether mercury plays a role in causing the disorder.
The study looked at a wide variety of sources of mercury, including fish consumption, which researchers identified as the biggest and most significant predictor of blood-mercury levels. Personal-care products, vaccinations and dental fillings were also examined.
However, the children with autism appeared to have a much lower blood-mercury levels than the children who were developing normally. The lower levels may be due to the observation that children with autism are picky eaters and may eat less fish. When controlling for the difference in fish consumption, however, the two groups had similar levels of blood mercury.
The research was conducted as part of the California-based Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) Study, of which Hertz-Picciotto is the principal investigator.
CHARGE study participants include children between 24 and 60 months old who are diagnosed with autism, as well as children with other developmental disorders. Of the 452 participants in the research, 249 were diagnosed with autism, 143 were developing typically and 60 had other developmental delays, such as Down syndrome.
