Re: What kinds of fish should we eat?

[Guest guest]

here's a good article on fish to eat and avoid. there's lots of other

information on internet too if you search on

fish and mercury.

http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/030206.Santerre.angling.html

[Guest guest]

Hi Robin

I see someone posted a link for you to look at... but I can give a

short list of good/bad fish as far as mercury content.

Avoid the large, predator fish. They live long and have time to

store more toxins in their body. Tuna, swordfish, shark and

tilefish are offenders. Tuna can be eaten occasionally, though (3

oz/week per child). I cannot remember which tuna is the least

contaminated (yellow fin, white, etc). Golden and white snapper are

not good either.

The better seafood to eat are shrimp, tilapia (mild white fish...

worth checking out for your daughter) and WILD Pacific salmon.

The gov't recommends 12 ounces of fish per week for an adult from

the lesser contaminated fish. HOWEVER, they also add that if you

consume at least 2 ounces of cooked fish from a restaurant you

should NOT eat fish anymore that week (you never know about the fish

you eat in restaurants, I guess!). I would actually eat less than

12 ounces per week (gov't standards are usually too cautious for

me).

Pacific salmon is what I eat the most of here in WA. The Omega 3s

are so beneficial. I have started primarily using supplements in

the past 2 years after reading about methylmercury. I also eat

shellfish (scallops, mainly).

I don't know about fresh water fish. I do know that PCBs were high

in Lake Michigan fish for a long time. I wonder if they still

recommend not to eat those fish? Anybody know?

I've read that 1/2 the amount of mercury eaten in fish will be

excreted from our bodies in one month. I guess that is based on a

normally functioning body. If you eat a lot of fish over a span of

a few weeks, then take a few weeks off. I don't think the US has

seen mercury poisoning from fish eating.

I've written too much.

Pam

--- In , " Robin " <slill@n...>

wrote:

> Hello Everyone,

> I was wondering if anyone could tell me what would be the

> best fish to feed my family. I particuarly don't like seafood

> except for shrimp but with all this talk of EFA's and how good for

> you it is, I feel I should be putting it into my family's diet. I

> do not know ANYTHING about fish and their levels of murcury so I

> wouldn't know where to begin. Also, which fish out there is the

> LEAST fishy tasting? If anyone could give me some info on this or

> if you are big fish eaters in your family I would LOVE to get some

> recipes and experiment.

> With much appreciation, Robin Mommy to Cameron 3.4 apraxic and

Cara

> 19 months. (still CAN'T get the oil down her so maybe she'll eat

> some fish!!!)

[Guest guest]

regarding fresh water fish question... I believe farm raised cat fish is

recommended.

Regarding best kinds of tuna... light tuna in can and the tuna found in

foil packages are recommended. This information was on CNN this week. I

think the foil somehow reacts with the mercury to decrease it (or

something like that).

as mentioned, the smaller salt water fishes and crustaceans are better as

they are on the bottom of the chain. Shrimp, crab, lobster, etc can be

eaten in abundance, however, i don't know about their omegas and other

nutrient content.

becky

[Guest guest]

I'd be curious about the fresh water fish. That would be what is

most abundant in the middle of the country: bass, trout, catfish.

I know growing up we ate a lot of bass because my dad and brothers

were fishermen. I just wonder about that.

--- In , " Robin " <slill@n...>

wrote:

> Hello Everyone,

> I was wondering if anyone could tell me what would be the

> best fish to feed my family. I particuarly don't like seafood

> except for shrimp but with all this talk of EFA's and how good for

> you it is, I feel I should be putting it into my family's diet. I

> do not know ANYTHING about fish and their levels of murcury so I

> wouldn't know where to begin. Also, which fish out there is the

> LEAST fishy tasting? If anyone could give me some info on this or

> if you are big fish eaters in your family I would LOVE to get some

> recipes and experiment.

> With much appreciation, Robin Mommy to Cameron 3.4 apraxic and

Cara

> 19 months. (still CAN'T get the oil down her so maybe she'll eat

> some fish!!!)

[Guest guest]

> Hello Everyone,

> I was wondering if anyone could tell me what would be the

> best fish to feed my family. I particuarly don't like seafood

> except for shrimp but with all this talk of EFA's and how good for

> you it is, I feel I should be putting it into my family's diet. I

> do not know ANYTHING about fish and their levels of murcury so I

> wouldn't know where to begin.

Albacore tuna draws a warning

Saturday, March 20, 2004

By LINDY WASHBURN

STAFF WRITER

Go ahead and eat that tuna sandwich, the government told most

Americans on Friday. But if you're a young child or a pregnant or

nursing woman - don't eat too many.

The latest advice on fish consumption for pregnant or nursing women

and young children recommends eating only one meal a week of white,

or albacore, tuna because the mercury it contains may damage the

developing nervous system of the fetus or child. The advisory was

issued by the federal Food and Drug Administration and the

Environmental Protection Agency.

Men, teenagers, and women who have no intention of becoming pregnant

are on their own. The agencies made no recommendations for them.The

guidelines for young children and women who are pregnant, nursing, or

considering having a baby are:

Do not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish.

Eat up to two meals a week (12 ounces in all) of a variety of fish

and shellfish that are low in mercury. Those include shrimp, canned

light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish.

Follow state advisories on locally caught fish. If there are no

advisories, limit fish consumption that week to just 6 ounces of the

locally caught fish.

For young children, follow these same recommendations, but serve

smaller portions.

On the Web

The federal government's fish advisory can be found at

www.cfsan.fda.gov

New Jersey advisories for fish caught in local waters may be found at

www.nj.gov/dep/dsr/njmainfish.htm

Two environmental groups critical of government fish advisories have

created their own recommendations for seafood consumption. The

Environmental Working Group has a " tuna calculator " at its site,

www.ewg.org. The Environmental Defense Fund has a " seafood selector, "

based on human health and ecological considerations, at its site,

www.environmentaldefense.org.

By following the guidelines, " women and young children will receive

the health benefits of eating fish and shellfish and can feel

confident they have reduced their exposure to the harmful effects of

mercury, " said Lester Crawford, FDA deputy commissioner.

Goldburg, a senior scientist and biologist with the

Environmental Defense Fund, criticized the advisory's examples of

fish low in mercury. Those very fish may be high in other

contaminants, she said.

Farm-raised salmon, for example, can contain dangerous levels of

PCBs. " Telling people they can eat two meals a week of farm-raised

salmon will be giving them high doses of PCBs,'' Goldburg

said.Crawford. however, said, " Americans can and should feel

comfortable consuming fish as an important part of the food supply.''

The advisory emphasized the benefits of eating fish: They are rich in

protein, low in saturated fat, and full of heart-healthy omega-3

fatty acids.

Each year, 630,000 babies are born who have been exposed to

potentially toxic levels of mercury in the womb, the EPA says.

Mercury interferes with the development of the brain and nervous

system. It can lower intelligence and slow a child's ability to walk,

talk, remember, and draw. Adults can recover from the effects of

overexposure, but children suffer permanent harm.

Lillo, a third-generation fishmonger and owner of 's

Seafood Market in Glen Rock, said his customers ask a lot of

questions about the fish they buy - about its fat content,

its " alleged'' mercury content, and other things. He finds much of

the government advice confusing.

" If you listen to all of this, you won't eat anything,'' he

said. " They never spell out exactly how much of what you should

eat.''

Lillo buys his fish each morning at the Fulton Fish Market in New

York. " The Number One thing with seafood is freshness, " he said.

His fish sales have increased over the years " because fish is good

for you,'' Lillo said.

Fish become contaminated primarily because of mercury pollution from

coal-fired power plants. The pollution settles in water, and is

transformed by bacteria in the sediments into methylmercury, which is

easily absorbed in animal tissue, and builds up the higher it goes in

the food chain.

Albacore tuna have higher levels of mercury because they are older

than the young tuna harvested for " canned light'' tuna, and thus have

eaten more fish and accumulated more mercury in their tissues. Tuna

steak is also high in mercury, the advisory says.

When fish is high in mercury, no preparation or cooking can reduce

the toxin, said Dr. Acheson, an FDA medical officer.

Fish sticks and fast-food fish are usually made from fish that is low

in mercury, the advisory said.

Others species could have been listed as low in mercury - such as

tilapia and flounder, said Dr. Gochfeld, a mercury expert at

the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute in

Piscataway and head of the state's mercury task force.

He would have changed the " Do not eat'' category to " Do not eat more

than once a month,'' and added yellow-fin tuna steak to that category.

The National Consumers League praised what it called the

FDA's " balanced " approach. With obesity rising in the United States,

people should not be afraid to eat fish, the organization said.

The advisory comes as the federal government is considering a

proposal to limit mercury pollution. The proposal has been attacked

by New Jersey officials, environmentalists, and children's health

advocates for doing too little too slowly to control pollution.

The need to warn consumers about eating fish because of pollution,

while doing too little to control the pollution, troubles Goldburg,

of the Environmental Defense Fund.

The Environmental Working Group, another advocacy group, has filed a

legal challenge to the FDA's guidelines. The group believes if women

followed the advice given Friday, the number of newborns exposed to

mercury would rise. The organization called it a " giveaway'' to the

seafood and coal industries, at the cost of children's health.

The head of the EPA's office on water defended the agency. " We all

recognize that mercury is prevalent throughout the environment,''

Grumbles said. " It is a toxin that needs to be controlled. I

don't think there is a mixed message here.''