High-mercury fish harmful

Mercury Contamination

There was a time when eating fish could be considered healthy. Unfortunately, that time has passed, thanks (or rather, NO thanks) to mercury contamination.

In recent e-Alerts I’ve told you about studies that showed how fish consumption may help prevent ischemic stroke and some types of cancer. But if you want to increase your fish intake, which fish should you choose?

In the e-Alert “Let the Sun Shine” (7/8/04) I told you about fish that are considered low in mercury content. But an HSI member named Jam wondered if I was on the wrong track. Jam writes:

“You said that ‘farm-raised catfish and trout, haddock, salmon, and flounder’ are the best for low-mercury fish; I thought deep-ocean fish was the lowest in mercury. Are you sure you wrote that right?”

Jam has his info switched around a bit. The fish listed above tend to have the lowest mercury content. In general, the deep-ocean fish are the ones to avoid.

Mercury gets into water primarily through solid-waste incinerators, mines and power plants. Algae absorbs the mercury, tiny zooplankton animals eat the algae, small fish eat the zooplankton, and from there the mercury works up through the aquatic food chain, with the large, deep-ocean fish at the top of the chain carrying the highest mercury concentration.

Here’s a list, compiled by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), of high-mercury fish:

* swordfish
* tuna
* king mackerel
* halibut
* sea bass
* tilefish
* pike
* walleye
* largemouth bass
* white croaker
* marlin
* shark
* Gulf coast oysters

Mercury contamination varies from one place to another, so there are waterways far from any ocean (such as the Elkhorn River in Nebraska) that are known to have mercury-contaminated fish.

If you live in the U.S., you can go to the EWG web site to find information about what fish are best to avoid in your area. You can access the “Fish advisories of mercury by state” at this address: ewg.org/reports/BrainFood/advisory/.