Only a couple of tuna sandwiches a week exceed EPA's guidelines of mercury exposure

I saw this article and I couldn't believe it. I def. thought that a couple sandwiches a week was fine. had to pass it along....

"A 161-pound woman - the average weight of women ages 18-45 - who ate a couple of sandwiches a week of that kind of light tuna would exceed the Environmental Protection Agency's guidelines for mercury exposure."

Link

Mon. Jan 23, 12:11pm

Thanks for posting. I've started buying lemon peper chunk light tuna in a pouch to put on top of salads, but was worried about the amount of mercury. I'll restrict my intake to 1 pouch per week for now.

I'm wondering though, how much of this is just hype? Kids gr0w up eating tuna fish sandwhiches 3-4 times a week and they are fine. Is the mecury threat new? Why should we be concerned about it now but not 20 years ago?

Monday, January 23, 2006, 1:14 PM

Mercury has always been a slight threat, but with pollution as bad as it is now (industrial waste) the mercury is a much higher risk than ever. Twenty years ago it may have been okay to eat that much tuna - today it isn't. When I was a kid (oh, 10-15 years ago) it was more PB&J. That's probably because PB&J is cheaper though. =)

Monday, January 23, 2006, 2:14 PM

I agree that there's a higher risk now because of continued pollution, but also there's more research on what the situation is. There's also the bioaccumulation, which means that although all fish may be exposed to/ contaminated with mercury, but when a medium fish eats a small fish, it ingests that small fish's mercury. Then a big fish eats the medium fish, and it gets all the mercury from the small fish and the medium fish... It all adds up - and tuna is one of the larger fish.

Monday, January 23, 2006, 3:32 PM

I know... it really is disheartening to hear that fish isn't as good as you would think.. If I remember correctly, lake fish is worse than ocean fish as well... Canned may be worse, since the fish shrinks a bit when cooked...

Monday, January 23, 2006, 9:44 PM

Oh, yes, and if you are a woman of child-bearing age, you are supposed to really limit your intake of fish due to the pollutants.

Monday, January 23, 2006, 9:45 PM

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