Mercury in tuna

[Quiver0f10]

Is there really a lot of mercury in tuna or is that a myth?

[Jean in Newcastle]

Dh has high levels of mercury in his system from a leaking root canal where the filling broke down. He had the tooth and filling removed. But the Dr. has also told him to not eat any canned tuna, so obviously he feels like it can be a source of mercury.

[OrganicAnn]

I read a lot about this when I was pregnant which was 6 years ago, so my info might be out of date. Yes tuna should be considered as having enough mercury to avoid eating too often. They came out with a list of fish that you should not eat too often (not weekly or monthly, but okay to each once in awhile). Due to intense lobbying from the tuna industry, tuna was not put on the list with swordfish and such. This is just my memories of the topic. I'm sure if you google tuna and mercury you'll find a lot of information.

[Sandra in FL]

The kids eat Brunswick with olive oil and dh eats Brunswick in Spring water. I can't stand the smell!!! I think it's cheaper than tuna too.

 

HTH,

Sandra

[Mejane]

We really like tuna and believe the health benefits outweigh the ill effects. However, after buying solid white for years, I learned that chunk light has less mercury, so that's what I buy now.

[Annie Laurie]

http://www.ewg.org/tunacalculator

[milovany]

We really like tuna and believe the health benefits outweigh the ill effects. However, after buying solid white for years, I learned that chunk light has less mercury, so that's what I buy now.

 

:iagree:

 

You'd *think* the higher priced one would be better for you (how's that for logic? :D), but it's nice to know the less expensive one is.

[Quiver0f10]

Thank you all. We used to eat it a lot years ago but it's been so long I wasn't sure what the new recommendation was.

[Mermaid Mama]

.....chunk light has less mercury, so that's what I buy now.

 

Same here.

I LOVE tuna. So sad about the mercury....but I just can't give it up.

[cillakat]

It appears that the high selenium content of tuna offsets any mercury related risk and that the benefits absolutely outweigh the risks for everyone - including, and perhaps especially, pregnant women, their fetuses and young children.

 

Here is the link to a summary of the Seychelles Child Development Study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8714875

 

You can also find the entire study online. It is *absolutely* worth reading in it's entirety.

 

It's likely that all of our fear about mercury and fish, which came from the Farhoe Islands study is irrelevant to those that eat fish with a high selenium content. Farhoe Islanders eat almost exclusively whale meat, which has unusual amount of mercury (the highest of all marine animals) and very little selenium.

[mchel210]

My dd was eating a lot of tuna when she was little...she had a test done and found out she had very high levels of mercury in her system. Needless to say...we dont eat much tuna any longer! I had no clue. The dr. asked me out of the blue if she ate tuna...and did the test on his own. I believe she was eating it about 3-4 times a week.