If you’re a woman who weighs less than 200 lbs, eating just one can of albacore tuna a week puts you over the FDA’s recommended limit for mercury.
Not a lot, huh? Unbeknown to most tuna eaters, albacore tuna contains 3 times the amount of chunk light tuna. Since the amount of mercury in different types of fish differs very widely, health-conscious pescatarians should keep mercury levels in mind when picking what to have for dinner.
Oddly, even though the FDA does have an established daily limit for mercury, the agency doesn’t distinguish between different types of fish (or fish products). Instead, the FDA simply recommends up to 12 ounces a week of a variety of fish.
The confusions and problems this broad recommendation creates is pretty obvious. If a 200-pound woman chose albacore tuna for the 12 ounces of fish recommended by the FDA, she’d consume DOUBLE the mercury limit recommended by the FDA.
That’s why the nonprofit Environmental Working Group’s come up with its tuna calculator. This handy web app lets people figure out exactly how much canned tuna they can eat a week to stay under the FDA recommended mercury limit — while also educating them about the limited and conflicting information the FDA’s giving out.
Just plug in your age and gender to find out how much tuna you can eat safely. And remember that the predator fish that eat smaller fish — like swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish and shark — also contain a lot of mercury. To enjoy your fish safely, eat lower on the ocean food chain!
Update, 1/16/09: On Jeremy Piven and mercury poisoning.
Image via EWG.org
Scary. I ditched the canned tuna awhile ago and started using canned wild pacific salmon for sandwiches and ‘tuna’ melts. Even tastier. It’s pretty inexpensive at Trader Joe’s.
Comment by Summer — December 12, 2008 @ 9:50 pm
I do find it a bit odd that mercury content isn’t identified in that nutritional info box –
Comment by Siel — December 16, 2008 @ 12:35 am
While canned tuna as a culinary food is questionable at best, for some of us (hi there!) it’s a comfort food.
However, part of the solution is easier than you think: chunk light tuna in olive oil is better than water-packed albacore. It tastes better, and it’s healthier. Canned albacore is flavorless.
So switch to chunk light, and be happy.
Comment by peterb — January 19, 2009 @ 8:54 am
Of course, eco-foodies also worry about the BPA in most canned food too :P
Comment by Siel — January 21, 2009 @ 6:35 pm
hey guess what? the mercury content depends on where the tuna is caught. Most big fisheries catch their tuna off the Asian coast which has a higher mercury content than tuna caught along the North Pacific shore of the US.
Comment by mythandra — February 15, 2010 @ 10:25 am