Fishylicious
Public health experts want you to eat more fish. They are that worried repeated reports of toxics in seafood are preventing people from enjoying the health benefits. Omega-3 fats, found in fish and fish oil, are good for your heart, brain and joints. However, toxics such as mercury and PCBs are also found in seafood. Mercury can cause learning and hearing defects in infants and children, but experts have questioned the risks of the types and levels of mercury contained in seafood. The researchers also say that PCBs, while potentially carcinogenic, are probably not present in the body at levels that consumers should be concerned about. When comparing these health benefits to the risks, the experts recommend eating seafood a few times a week as part of a healthy diet. (As a skeptic, I’d still take this with a grain of salt. Or a drop of saltwater?)
When thinking about seafood, my main concern is usually not whether it contains toxic chemicals, but A) whether it was harvested in a sustainable manner, and B) whether it will make me hurl. As far as A is concerned, you can check sustainable seafood solutions here. On the B note, I have only once been able to eat raw oysters. And I didn’t hurl. Maybe if you drink enough alcohol with your seafood, you’ll kill off whatever bacteria are living on your seafood. As a scientist, that sounds highly unlikely. But as an Irishwoman … meh, pass the Jameson.
nizome said,
August 8, 2006 @ 10:35 pm
hehe
—>
As Myers notes, “the entire population of Japan also has methylmercury levels that are above the Environmental Protection Agency’s reference level for methylmercury, and they don’t seem to be having any problems with mental deficits.”
monkey said,
August 9, 2006 @ 10:44 am
Yeah, and:
“Those worried about mercury’s effects in pregnant women often point to a study recently conducted in Denmark’s Faroe Islands. The study found that children born to mothers with the highest levels of mercury had a very slight decrease — just a millionth of a second — in the time it took for a sound to pass from their ears to their brains. Recent findings show that the children who are now 14 years old have persistent attention deficits and score lower on tests that measure motor skills and verbal ability. But often overlooked is that the major source of mercury in the Faroe Islanders’ diet was not fish, but rather pilot whales, which have very high concentrations of the chemical.” (from The Washington Post)
Although here, the higher mercury levels did correspond to some attention deficits.