Overview
This review paper proposes a model in which dietary mercury exposure, in combination with nutritional deficiencies in zinc, selenium, methionine and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, disrupts neuronal plasticity and may impair learning in children. The authors identify high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as one dietary mercury source, citing the same group’s concurrent pilot measurement study (Dufault et al. 2009, Environmental Health). This paper does not report new HFCS concentration measurements; all HFCS mercury values used in its exposure estimates are sourced from that pilot study.
A Crossref correction notice exists for this paper; it is not a retraction. The correction has not been verified against the full published errata, so values derived solely from post-correction additions should be treated as B-tier pending further review.
Key claims relevant to HFCS mercury
- Citing Dufault et al. 2009 (Environmental Health), the authors note that HFCS manufactured with mercury-cell chlor-alkali caustic soda may carry residual total mercury.
- The review estimates daily mercury intakes from HFCS of up to 28 micrograms per person, calculated from the FDA-collected samples reported in the companion paper and US per capita HFCS consumption data (p. 5). This is a derived estimate, not a new measurement.
- The proposed exposure pathway: mercury-cell chlor-alkali plants use mercury to produce caustic soda and hydrochloric acid; HFCS manufacturers have used these reagents to adjust pH during corn wet-milling; residual mercury carries through to the finished syrup.
- The review also notes that HFCS consumption may promote zinc loss, and zinc deficiency reduces the body’s capacity to clear mercury via metallothionein.
Methods (brief)
Narrative review. No original food concentration data are reported for HFCS. Exposure estimates use per capita HFCS consumption from USDA data and mercury concentration data from Dufault et al. 2009 (Environmental Health).
Evidence Fitness
B-tier. This is a narrative review, not a measurement study. The HFCS mercury concentration data it draws on come entirely from the companion pilot study (cite_key: dufault2009-hfcs-mercury-chlor-alkali), which is A-tier for the measurement itself. The daily intake estimate (up to 28 micrograms) is a calculation from that pilot study data and US consumption statistics; it is not independently validated. The zinc-mercury interaction hypothesis is biological context, not food concentration evidence.
Related evidence
- High-fructose corn syrup
- Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: measured concentrations in food product sugar
- Mercury
Update history
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