Tuna Market Takes Nosedive
Tuna industry sales are down 10 percent over the last year, primarily as a result of consumer concerns about the mercury content of the fish.
A recent Consumer Reports analysis found that canned light-chunk tuna, often believed to be a safer, lower-mercury choice, may actually have at least as much of that metal as albacore (or white-chunk) canned tuna.
The contamination of the fish is certainly not the tuna industry’s fault. The mercury enters the environment primarily through other industries (e.g., coal-fired power plants, cement plants) that release the metal into the air. It then settles into bodies of water, small organisms (e.g., plankton) absorb it and are eaten by larger organisms (e.g., fish), and it accumulates as it moves up the food chain.
That said, based on the mercury levels and the potential risk, especially among children, pregnant women, and women of child-bearing age, it makes sense to avoid/minimize consumption of fish that may be high in mercury and other potential contaminants.
An easy-to-use mercury in fish calculator can be found at GotMercury.org.
(Note: Relying on the calculator alone may not be such a good idea. The calculator uses mercury levels in fish as provided by the FDA. For some fish, the number of fish sampled is very small and/or the samples were drawn many years ago. A good example is light-chunk tuna, which shows an average level of ~0.12 ppm. Yet, as the Consumer Reports analysis showed, the actual level of mercury could be three or more times that.)
In general, I would:
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Steer clear of large, predatory fish such as tuna
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Choose safer forms of seafood, such as wild salmon, tilapia, sardines, herring, shrimp, and clams
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Supplement the diet with tested, contaminant-free fish oil to get adequate amounts of healthy Omega-3 fats on a regular basis
