Restricted fish consumption due to elevated contaminant levels may limit the intake of essential omega-3 fatty acids, such as eicosapentaenoic (EPA; 20:5n − 3) and docosahexaenoic (DHA; 22:6n − 3) acids. We analyzed lake- and length-specific mercury and EPA + DHA contents in Walleye (Sander vitreus; Mitchell 1818) from 20 waterbodies in Ontario, Canada, and used this information to calculate the theoretical intake of EPA + DHA when the consumption advisories are followed. The stringent consumption advisory resulted in decreased EPA + DHA intake regardless of the EPA + DHA content in Walleye. Walleye length had a strong impact on the EPA + DHA intake mainly because it was positively correlated with the mercury content and thereby consumption advisories. The highest EPA + DHA intake was achieved when smaller Walleye (30–40 cm) were consumed. The strong relationship between the consumption advisory and EPA + DHA intake enabled us to develop a more generic regression equation to estimate EPA + DHA intake from the consumption advisories, which we then applied to an additional 1322 waterbodies across Ontario, and 28 lakes from northern USA for which Walleye contaminant data are available but fatty acid data are missing. We estimate that adequate EPA + DHA intake (> 250 mg day^− 1) is achieved in 23% of the studied Ontario lakes, for the general population, when small (30–40 cm) Walleye are eaten. Consumption of medium- (41–55 cm), and large-sized (60–70 cm) Walleye would provide adequate EPA + DHA intake from only 3% and 1% of the lakes, respectively. Our study highlights that mercury contamination, which triggers consumption advisories, strongly limits the suitability of Walleye as the sole dietary source of EPA + DHA to humans.

由于污染物水平升高而限制了鱼类的消费，可能会限制必需的ω-3脂肪酸的摄入，例如二十碳五烯酸（EPA； 20：5n-3）和二十二碳六烯酸（DHA； 22：6n-3）。我们分析了角膜白斑（Sander vitreus）中特定于湖泊和长度的汞和EPA + DHA的含量; Mitchell（1818）来自加拿大安大略省的20个水体，并在遵循消费建议后，使用此信息来计算EPA + DHA的理论摄入量。严格的食用建议导致无论Walleye中EPA + DHA含量如何都减少了EPA + DHA的摄入量。角膜白斑的长度对EPA + DHA的摄入量有很大影响，主要是因为它与汞含量呈正相关，因此与消费建议呈正相关。当食用较小的角膜白斑（30–40厘米）时，可以达到最高的EPA + DHA摄入量。消费咨询与EPA + DHA摄入量之间的密切关系使我们能够开发出更通用的回归方程，以估算消费咨询中的EPA + DHA摄入量，然后将其应用于安大略省的另外1322个水体中，和来自美国北部的28个湖泊，这些湖的角膜白斑污染物数据可用，但脂肪酸数据却缺失。我们估计有足够的EPA + DHA摄入量（> 250毫克/天^{− 1}）在食用了小（30–40厘米）角膜白斑的安大略湖中，占总人口的23％。食用中型（41–55厘米）和大型（60–70厘米）的角膜白斑分别可从仅3％和1％的湖泊中获得足够的EPA + DHA摄入量。我们的研究强调，汞污染会触发消费建议，这极大地限制了Walleye作为EPA + DHA唯一饮食来源对人类的适用性。