I just found an article about the mercury levels in tuna (here it is: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2007/02/19/tuna-testing.html )
Sardine has a little less omega-3 than tuna but on the other hand it is very low on mercury. I’m thinking about ditching tuna from my diet and starting to eat sardine.
What do you think?
Well, first off, that article is referring to albacore which has the highest mercury content. You should be eating chunk light.
Here’s what tnation has to say on the subject.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=753983
what tuna has more omega 3s than sardines the brand i eat has.4 grams per tin i have never seen tuna with those kind of numbers
I eat the chunk light walmart brand all the time. I seem to be fine and its cheap
Is it just me or are sardines higher in sodium than tuna?
Eat skipjack tuna! It has the lowest mercury levels and is cheaper than the albacore kind. Sardines rule! Well, brisling sardines rule! Mmmmm…they’re the really small ones. You get a lot in one can. I also recommend canned herring. They’re usually flavoured in hot sauce or smoked and they taste damn good in my opinion. They’re a smaller fish so they don’t contain large amounts of mercury.
Variety is key. Eat both (but albacore in moderation, because of the mercury).
And I agree with the previous poster about the omega-3s. I’m pretty sure that sardines have more…
[quote]FlavaDave wrote:
Well, first off, that article is referring to albacore which has the highest mercury content. You should be eating chunk light.
Here’s what tnation has to say on the subject.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=753983
[/quote]
Thanks for the link. Seems like this site has an article on everything I need to know.
About the Omega-3 content… I got these numbers from the Ultimate Omega-3 Diet by Evelyn Tribole:
Fish(3 ounces) EPA DHA
Sardines(Atlantic) 400 430
Tuna(Bluefin) 310 970
Tuna(White, caned) 200 530
Ok, this doesn’t even mention light tuna, and it’s probably because it’s not a good source of omega-3.
So it looks like you guys are right, and even if I don’t have to worry about the mercury if I buy light tuna, sardine is a better omega-3 source (and a better source of sodium too :-)).
Besides higher sodium are there any other disadvantages of sardines?
Oh, the search function rules.
I just found another thread about the big sardine vs. tuna debate:
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=1821457&pageNo=0#bottom
Sardines are nutritionally superior all the way around which isn’t to sat that Tuna’s bad, but sardines have more EFA’s and the bones are great food not mention that have practically no mercury. I do eat tuna, but sardines more. Not to mention that I can get 2 cans for a buck around here.
It should be noted that most canned canned tuna is skinless and has little Omega 3’s. Just look at the nutritional facts…practically all protein.
Yeah if it’s only got a gram of fat in the whole can, how could it possibly have many grams of fish oil (fat)???