Your Health is Everything

How to Reduce Levels of Mercury from Seafood

Mercury is a natural occurring element that is harmful if ingested in higher, regular concentration. We cannot escape it. It is found in the air, water, and ground and in all living organisms. Mercury in seafood should not keep you from eating the seafood. The nutrients in seafood outweigh the possibility of mercury concentrations by far. Seafood is full of nutrients, is low in saturated fat and has the all-important omega3 fatty acids, and almost all seafood contains very small trace amounts.

However, there is still concern with the levels of mercury found seafood, both in haul fish and shellfish. While the levels are most always very low in all seafood, there are three tips put together by the FDA and EPA to keep mercury exposure to a minimum.

1. Avoid king mackerel, tilefish, shark and swordfish from the Gulf of Mexico and limit the intake of these fish found in other waters to no more than 6oz per week. These are the very large fish we eat. The live longer lives, and therefore, accumulate more mercury over time.
2. Limit your seafood to 12oz per week. You can eat up to 12oz of most seafood per week, especially if you choose seafood that consistently tests low in mercury. Examples include shrimp, catfish, salmon, pollock, and canned light tuna. 12oz of seafood per week is equivalent to 3 nice-sized, 4oz portions per week.
3. Check local advisories for seafood that either you catch or your friends and family catch from local waters. You can check with your local and state health department, and you can check with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If there isn’t information for an area, then simply consume up to 6oz of that seafood in a given week.

These are the three tips. However, if you are trying to get pregnant, are pregnant or nursing a baby, limit mercury intake as much as possible. While trace amounts are not harmful to older children and adults, they can be harmful to a developing baby, particularly with a developing nervous system.

Lastly, remember to keep in mind that the older the fish, the higher the mercury levels may be only due to the fact that the fish have lived longer. Therefore, a younger or not fully grown fish will have less mercury levels.

image credit – photo by Lynn Gardner titled “Salmon and Asparagus”