I love how people will avoid tuna because of mercury, but some of those same people have no problem stopping at McDonald’s
this thread is a direct result of to much daytime TV and sensationalist news. eat your tuna, build your muscle.
end thread.
I’m resurrecting this old thread because I’m curious if anything new has emerged that we should know about.
I’m sure you can find it somewhere, but I remember reading that drinking Black or Green Tea with the fish will dramatically reduce the amount of mercury you absorb from it. So that might be an option if you eat a tremendous amount.
Aside from the mercury, couldn’t 4-8 cans per day lead to an allergic reaction?
[quote]Larfox wrote:
Hey, I’m having a hard time finding studies that show eating Tuna on a regular basis is safe and will not give you mercury poisoning.[/quote]
Good rule of thumb: don’t spend too much time worrying about things like this until you have strong reason to suspect it to be a point of real concern.
[quote]The3Commandments wrote:
[quote]Larfox wrote:
Hey, I’m having a hard time finding studies that show eating Tuna on a regular basis is safe and will not give you mercury poisoning.[/quote]
Good rule of thumb: don’t spend too much time worrying about things like this until you have strong reason to suspect it to be a point of real concern.[/quote]
Well, while some T-Nation contributing authors for example say don’t worry about it, there are a couple who say avoid it all together.
Then there’s the should I eat farm-raised (supposedly lower mercury, but otherwise less nutritious) or wild fish if I’m going to eat fish?
You go to a site like http://www.mercuryfacts.org/mercuryMyths.cfm and you’d think the mercury scare was a conspiracy, on the other hand most mainstreamish sources suggest severely limiting your intake and suggest that heavy metal remain in your body so long that essentially making the decision to eat fish means that at some point over your lifetime you’ll get to toxic mercury levels.
My tendency would be to dismiss that… but I also really like cold-water fish…
the mercuryfacts site is also an advocacy site, though, sponsored by a group which gets most of its support from food/restaurant industry.
I’m not judging the quality of their argument, just saying to take it with the same grain of salt as if you were reading a granola hippie vegan site.
Personally, i think it is a point of concern and went from 1-3 cans a day to zero 3 year back. i just think unless your broke or highly inconvenienced, there are infinitely better sources of protein to go with. This is coming from someone who used to practically abuse the stuff. I did read a few articles with ref studies a few years back which were what persuaded me but cant remember which. Sorry. It wasnt easy but it made perfect sense. Why risk using an inferior food source when so many superior are available?
[quote]lock_solid wrote:
Personally, i think it is a point of concern and went from 1-3 cans a day to zero 3 year back. i just think unless your broke or highly inconvenienced, there are infinitely better sources of protein to go with. This is coming from someone who used to practically abuse the stuff. I did read a few articles with ref studies a few years back which were what persuaded me but cant remember which. Sorry. It wasnt easy but it made perfect sense. Why risk using an inferior food source when so many superior are available?[/quote]
I’m less interested in canned tuna than like salmon or tuna steak, which are what I’d consider to be super-foods if it weren’t for the mercury concern… my cheap protein is eggs…
[quote]Katiekate wrote:
Aside from the mercury, couldn’t 4-8 cans per day lead to an allergic reaction? [/quote]
No one can be or get allergic to protein.
This is a summary from a December 2010 Consumer Reports Article -
For the cliffnotes - they reviewed current research from the FDA and others and say adult men and women who are not of childbearing age should limit intake to 14.5 ounces of light chunk, or 5 ounces of the Albacore. That’s intake per week. Albacore has more mercury than chunk light. Of course, chunk light is also cheaper. Too bad it doesn’t taste as good.
"Children weighing less than 45 pounds should limit their weekly intake to 0 to 4 ounces of light tuna or 0 to 1.5 ounces of white tuna, depending on their weight.
Children weighing more than 45 pounds should not eat more than 4 to 12.5 ounces of light or 1.5 to 4 ounces of white tuna, depending on their weight.
Women of childbearing age should limit tuna to 12.5 ounces of light or 4 ounces of white a week.
Older women and men should limit tuna to 14.5 ounces of light or 5 ounces of white a week, but if they eat fish more often should stick to low-mercury varieties.
Eating fish is healthy, the report stresses, as it provides protein, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s have been shown to reduce heart attack and stroke risk and may help prevent certain cancers, cognitive decline, and some eye diseases. During pregnancy, omega-3s help in developing the fetal brain and visual system, the authors write."
I first got concerned about the mercury content in tuna after reading an article in the Wall Street Journal back in 2005. This got a lot of press. They told the story of a 10-year-old boy who loved tuna and ate between 3-6 ounces per day. He started having neurological problems, clouded thinking, lethargy, coordination problems, bent fingers, tingling in the extremities. Teachers said he started looking learning disabled at school. They did test and found he had mercury poisoning. He had 12 times the blood mercury levels considered safe by the FDA. They took him off tuna and within a year he was back to normal.
Granted, this is a child who has a much lower body weight than people on this forum, and an immature neurological system, and he may be an individual who’s body has a particularly difficult time with mercury. These anecdotal stories are just that - one person’s experience. Just some food for thought.
Personally, I still eat tuna but try to eat no more than three cans per week.