How safe is our tuna?

[Daryl]

~~ from Self magazine - by Lawrence Goodman ~~

Money was tight, what with a baby boy in the house and another one on the way, so Teri Curtis cut costs. The 22-year-old bartender in Bentonville, Arkansas, saved on gas by making fewer trips to see her mother, who lived about an hour away. She and her husband stopped eating dinner out. And for lunch, she almost invariably had a plain tuna sandwich. “It was a cheap meal,” she remembers. “And I thought it would be nutritious.”

Curtis’s second son, Ryker, was born in June 2005, three weeks early. The doctors helicoptered him to a bigger hospital, where he was put in an incubator. The IV the nurses hooked up to his arm kept popping out every time he wriggled, so they inserted one through his scalp. Curtis was able to hold him for only a few hours a day. “On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say I was terrified at an 11,” Curtis says. “That poor kid.” It was a month before Curtis was able to take him home.

There were new problems, though. At 8 months, Ryker wasn’t responding to his name. And he didn’t look at Curtis when she talked to him.

It turned out that Ryker was nearly deaf. His adenoids, clusters of tissue toward the top of the throat, were swollen to the size of an adult’s, clogging up his hearing passageways. What the heck was going on with her child? Curtis wondered. She sat down with her ob/gyn, who ticked off some possible explanations. They could be seeing the health effects of Ryker’s prematurity. Or perhaps it was genetic.

But Curtis had heard something on the news that troubled her. Might mercury be a cause? “It’s unlikely, and we’ll never know for sure,” the doctor told Curtis. “But that might be it.” The toxin is found in certain varieties of seafood — including tuna, which Curtis had eaten at least three times a week for virtually her entire pregnancy. When a pregnant woman consumes mercury, it passes through the placenta into the brain of the fetus, where it can linger for years.

read the rest of the story - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19441470

[Dodger]

Why does the tuna sandwichs get the suspicion when the woman was a bartender. Alcohol and cigarette smoke are not good for pregnant women.

[Aeryn]

This article may draw unfounded connections between tuna and developmental problems in children, but two things that are beyond dispute are 1) the incredibly high levels of mercury in tuna now; and 2) the fact that mercury is incredibly damaging to the human system.

I love tuna. Love it love it love it. I grew up eating it at least three times a week. But I've made myself cut back dramatically. In fact, more than once a month and I start to feel very uneasy about my intake. It's really sad.

I have some canned salmon I thought I would try as a replacement, but the very idea of it just seems so gross that I've left it sitting on my shelf now for four months. Not sure why I find it so off-putting -- it's the same concept as canned tuna! I guess I'm just not sure what to do with it. With tuna, I'd just add mayo and red onion and voila, deliciousness. But salmon seems a bit more challenging.

[HairOnFire]

I agree with you, Aeryn. I also love tuna, grew up eating tuna sandwiches several times a week. I limit myself to two 2-ounce cans per week, those teeny tiny cans. I think the strict limits are really for pregnant and nursing women, though. But I like the albacore tuna, and they say that's higher in mercury levels, so I limit it, but I do miss it.

[Nancy LC]

Canned salmon is easy. I use it plain and add to salads. It tastes very mild. I've also made salmon patties out of it, adding spices, scallions, lemon juice, coconut flour or something low carb to bind it. Then you pan fry it or bake it. Make a nice Aioli to go with it.

You could also make a Thai curry with it (same as Tuna).

Costco has a big stack of salmon for about $9.00 for 5 or so cans.

[Nancy LC]

Why does the tuna sandwichs get the suspicion when the woman was a bartender. Alcohol and cigarette smoke are not good for pregnant women.
In my city you aren't allowed to smoke in bars and I'd hope a bartender wouldn't be imbibing.

What I wondered was why don't they just test the baby for mecury? Seems like that'd answer the question, wouldn't it?

[Dodger]

A recommended maximum amount of tuna that can be safely eating for a given body weight is shown in a table here (http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/tuna.asp).

[ysabella]

Even if her son's problems are from mercury, is it from the tuna? There are some places in the US where mercury is abundant in the environment, from various sources.

Mercury map of US (http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/models/maps/images/map-big.jpg)

US map showing where Bentonville, AR is (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=bentonville,+ar&ie=UTF8&ll=37.509726,-95.537109&spn=30.656622,88.59375&z=4&om=1)

At least the article mentioned coal power as a source of mercury. Fluorescent bulbs are, too, including compact fluorescents. People are just throwing those away in the trash...bad idea.

[relliott1]

Wow, I always thought albacore was better than the regular chunk tuna! Guess I will have to go back to Bumble Bee.

[Daryl]

A recommended maximum amount of tuna that can be safely eating for a given body weight is shown in a table here (http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/tuna.asp).

Thanks for that link, Mike.

I've eaten two cans of the albacore per week for awhile now :help: , I'm shifting over to the chunk light, and salmon.

Use the salmon in salads, just like tuna, or add crushed pork rinds and fry it, umm, good.

[mike_d]

Just mix in some cilantro, it will chelate heavy metals from the body-- I keep it frozen and just dice some on foods.

[theoldlady]

Even if her son's problems are from mercury, is it from the tuna? There are some places in the US where mercury is abundant in the environment, from various sources.

Mercury map of US (http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/models/maps/images/map-big.jpg)

US map showing where Bentonville, AR is (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=bentonville,+ar&ie=UTF8&ll=37.509726,-95.537109&spn=30.656622,88.59375&z=4&om=1)

At least the article mentioned coal power as a source of mercury. Fluorescent bulbs are, too, including compact fluorescents. People are just throwing those away in the trash...bad idea.Great research, Ysabella.

[LC FP]

Whenever I see stories slamming natural sources of fish oil, I always suspect drug companies. Reliant is heavily promoting it's prescription capsule Omacor. It's currently "FDA indicated" for people with triglycerides > 500. Reliant is spending millions on studies to show it helps people with TGs 200-500, which would increase its potential market probably by a factor of 20. Plus distributing scare stories about the perils of fish could also increase sales.

Getting mercury out of kids may be as simple as removing thimerosal from their shots.

[ysabella]

Getting mercury out of kids may be as simple as removing thimerosal from their shots.
Actually, it was removed from kid's shots years ago (in the States - it was removed in the UK and Canada and I think Denmark even earlier). Some flu shots have it, but you can get flu shots without it.

http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm#t1

Also, the mercury in fish is methylmercury. The mercury in thimerosal (thiomersal to Brits, btw) is ethylmercury, and is not as well understood. If you're worried about ethylmercury, please read the label on eye and nose drops (http://www.anapsid.org/cnd/diffdx/mercurysources.html).

[ysabella]

Great research, Ysabella.

Thanks. :) I remembered those mercury maps from looking something up awhile back.