Pregnant women should never eat canned tuna due to high levels of mercury, the study says.

A recent study of mercury levels in five popular brands of canned tuna by Consumer Reports advised pregnant women to avoid staple seafood altogether, citing high levels of the neurotoxin in some cans and unpredictable spikes in others.

The study — analysis of canned light/skirt tuna and albacore from Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea, StarKist, Safe Catch, and Wild Planet — found that albacore varieties, regardless of brand, contained on average three times more mercury than alternatives. This, Consumer Reports states, is already well known among scientists and seafood experts, in large part because larger ocean fish take in more mercury over their lifetime than smaller fish, conferring the same toxic traits on other large species. such as swordfish. shark and king mackerel.

“This (large marine fish) should only be consumed occasionally, if at all, and should never be consumed by children or people who are or may become pregnant,” Consumer Reports says.

High levels of mercury can affect a healthy adult’s sensory and motor function, speech ability and ability to sleep, according to Consumer Reports. Fears for pregnant women are higher.

“From jar to jar, mercury levels can rise in unpredictable ways that can compromise fetal health,” said James E. Rogers, Ph.D., director of food safety research and testing at Consumer Reports.

[TRENDING: Become a News 6 Insider]

These concerns were also highlighted in a statement recently provided to Consumer Reports by the Food and Drug Administration, which explains how the government’s position in its own recommendations for fish consumption “protects against the effects of neurological development during a critical period of fetal development during pregnancy.” ”

The Consumer Reports study tested three samples of each product, for a total of 30 samples packed in water.

His results, illustrated by the number of 5-ounce cans (4-ounce servings) that non-pregnant adults could reasonably consume each week, were as follows:

Light tuna | 5 oz canned Albacore tuna | 5 oz cansBumblebee 3 cans (Chunk Light)2 cans (Albacore)Chicken of the Sea3 cans (Chunk Light)1 can (Albacore)Safe Catch3 cans (Wild Elite)1 can (Albacore)StarKist3 cans (Chunk Light)1 can (selects No Salt) Wild Planet 1 can (Skipjack Wild) 1 can (Albacore Wild)

For children, Consumer Reports advises never giving them albacore tuna, instead recommending the following weekly amounts of light tuna or skipjack tuna:

Age 1 to 3 years old 24 to 7 years old 48 to 10 years old 611 years old8

While mercury may naturally occur in the ocean, mercury contamination of fish has a direct link to human pollution, Consumer Reports concluded. In fact, the study notes that although levels of mercury in tuna fished in the Pacific are rising, they are falling in the Atlantic.

“In China and India, they burn a lot of coal for electricity, and when you burn coal, you release a lot of mercury into the air, which ends up raining; so the levels of mercury have increased slightly in the Pacific… While in the Atlantic, as we have shown, the levels have dropped slightly, primarily due to efforts made in North America… to sort of clean the mercury from coal . – plants in the US and Canada,” said Nicholas Fisher, Ph.D., professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University.

Read more in Consumer Reports.

You can listen to every episode Florida Fourth Estate in the media player below:

Copyright 2023 WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.

Content Source

Dallas Press News – Latest News:
Dallas Local News || Fort Worth Local News | Texas State News || Crime and Safety News || National news || Business News || Health News

texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

Related Articles

Back to top button