Wellness

[Mindy D]

[Mindy D]

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Yes, but if you are going to eat fish, at least don’t let it poison you. If you don’t eat fish then you are probably OK as far as mercury toxicity. There are farming soils with high levels of mercury, so it is possible that plant foods absorb some of this. I’ll have to check on this. EDITED TO ADD

OK, I checked. Where foods are grown is of utmost importance as far as mercury content of veggies. Try to determine where your vegetables were grown and avoid any grown near coal-fired factories. The further from coal-fired factories, the better.

See below. From a a recent study: https://www.nature.com/articles/srep46545

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep46545

“Vegetables, grains, and soil (0–15 cm deep) samples were collected in six open field locations (A1, A2, B1, B2, B3, and B4) close to Power Plants A and B (Fig. 1) in 2015. We sampled lettuce, amaranth, and water spinach as typical leafy vegetables; tomato, eggplant, pepper, cucumber, and cowpea as typical fruit vegetables; and rice and maize as typical grains.”

“Mercury contamination in food can pose serious health risks to consumers and coal-fired power plants have been identified as the major source of mercury emissions. To assess the current state of mercury pollution in food crops grown near coal-fired power plants, we measured the total mercury concentration in vegetables and grain crops collected from farms located near two coal-fired power plants. We found that 79% of vegetable samples and 67% of grain samples exceeded the PTWI’s food safety standards. The mercury concentrations of soil samples were negatively correlated with distances from the studied coal-fired power plants, and the mercury contents in lettuce, amaranth, water spinach, cowpea and rice samples were correlated with the mercury contents in soil samples, respectively. Also, the mercury concentrations in vegetable leaves were much higher than those in roots and the mercury content of vegetable leaves decreased significantly after water rinses. Our calculation suggests that probable weekly intake of mercury for local residents, assuming all of their vegetables and grains are from their own farmland, may exceed the toxicologically tolerable values allowed, and therefore long-term consumptions of these contaminated vegetables and grains may pose serious health risks.”

[Carmie]

We eat fish several times a week at our house in addition to lots of different types of seafood. This is our main source of protein.

When buying fish, I pass on fish that do not have scales.  Scales help fish avoid the mercury absorption.  The fish on the list that are considered high in mercury don't have scales. 

Humans also eat kelp and other seaweeds and plants.  They too, contain mercury as do  most plants grown in the soil.  You can't escape it, but can only reduce your consumption of it.

[kitcat51]

I eat fish or chicken everyday. Fav fish are salmon, ruby red rainbow trout, tuna & I don't worry about mercury. All the injuries & illnesses, I see everyday volunteering at hopitals are what I worry about so try my best to be careful, eat well, don't smoke, don't drink & take only needed prescription & over the counter drugs. Everyone can make their own decision about mercury, what I'm sharing applies only to me...I'm not a nanny goat.

[Mindy D]

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@Carmie wrote:

We eat fish several times a week at our house in addition to lots of different types of seafood. This is our main source of protein.

When buying fish, I pass on fish that do not have scales.  Scales help fish avoid the mercury absorption.  The fish on the list that are considered high in mercury don't have scales. 

Humans also eat kelp and other seaweeds and plants.  They too, contain mercury as do  most plants grown in the soil.  You can't escape it, but can only reduce your consumption of it.

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Tuna, cod, pollock, marlin, mahi-mahi, king mackerel and skip jack all have scales. 

[Anonymous032819]

I don't eat fish all that often, and when I do, I eat wild caught, sustainable fish.

All this Paul Revere like crying over mercury is overdone, imho.

I don't think that there is anyone who thinks that mercury is actually good for you, and that too much of it is bad.

[Mindy D]

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@Anonymous032819 wrote:

I don't eat fish all that often, and when I do, I eat wild caught, sustainable fish.

All this Paul Revere like crying over mercury is overdone, imho.

I don't think that there is anyone who thinks that mercury is actually good for you, and that too much of it is bad.

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Could you clarify “and that too much of it is bad” please.

I don’t think anyone here is crying over mercury in fish. As for me, I’m just trying to be mindful of my intake of tuna, because I eat albacore tuna, which is high in mercury, and I would likely eat it everyday if I wasn’t mindful that it’s not a good idea to have such a high mercury intake. The effects of long-term low-dose exposure to mercury are unclear.

This post is not about preventing people from eating fish or scaring people with needless fear.

[ItsME]

Good information.  Thank you for posting!

[SilleeMee]

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@Carmie wrote:

We eat fish several times a week at our house in addition to lots of different types of seafood. This is our main source of protein.

When buying fish, I pass on fish that do not have scales.  Scales help fish avoid the mercury absorption.  The fish on the list that are considered high in mercury don't have scales. 

Humans also eat kelp and other seaweeds and plants.  They too, contain mercury as do  most plants grown in the soil.  You can't escape it, but can only reduce your consumption of it.

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I thought fish get contaminated with Hg by eating things that contain it and not by simply absorbing from their environment through their skin. The higher up on the food chain, the more likely it is to contain higher levels of Hg. I've never heard that scales protect a fish from Hg contamination. Scales are permeable and porous.