HELP!!! DOES TUNA = POISONING?

Margy82

So, I thought I found an amazing food, i can of PC tuna in water has 140 calories, 2g of fat and 30g of protein. I have been eating it dry with a bit of pepper on 2 pieces of dry multigrain toast with a no lettuce salad (1 cucumber, 1 tomato, 1 green onion, 1/3 green pepper, 2 mushrooms & 1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese) everyday for about two weeks now. I LOVE THIS LUNCH, it's my favorite, (had to share with everyone)

Anyways, I was reading my Oxygen magazine, learning the best moves to get tight buns, when all of a sudden, this article mentions in passing, that you should only eat chunky can tuna twice of month to avoid mercury poisoning.

Is this true? I have never heard anything about mercury poisoning before! Is my FAVORITE lunch a hit and miss? HELP HELP HELP! Please, can some one verify these allegations, Thanks everyone!

Margy82

So, I thought I found an amazing food, i can of PC tuna in water has 140 calories, 2g of fat and 30g of protein. I have been eating it dry with a bit of pepper on 2 pieces of dry multigrain toast with a no lettuce salad (1 cucumber, 1 tomato, 1 green onion, 1/3 green pepper, 2 mushrooms & 1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese) everyday for about two weeks now. I LOVE THIS LUNCH, it's my favorite, (had to share with everyone)

Anyways, I was reading my Oxygen magazine, learning the best moves to get tight buns, when all of a sudden, this article mentions in passing, that you should only eat chunky can tuna twice of month to avoid mercury poisoning.

Is this true? I have never heard anything about mercury poisoning before! Is my FAVORITE lunch a hit and miss? HELP HELP HELP! Please, can some one verify these allegations, Thanks everyone!

kerrilucko

Its true, you shouldn't have tuna everyday. There are lots of other fishes including swordfish and shark in that group too. Just cut back a bit, I wouldn't worry much.

lietee

i would like to know 2 i eat tuna almost every day

lietee

If you weigh: Don't eat more than one can every:

IF you White
weigh Albacore Chunk Light

20 lbs 10 weeks 3 weeks
30 lbs 6 weeks 2 weeks
40 lbs 5 weeks 11 days
50 lbs 4 weeks 9 days
60 lbs 3 weeks 7 days
70 lbs 3 weeks 6 days
80 lbs 2 weeks 6 days
90 lbs 2 weeks 5 days
100 lbs 2 weeks 5 days
110 lbs 12 days 4 days
120 lbs 11 days 4 days
130 lbs 10 days 4 days
140 lbs 10 days 3 days
150+ lbs 9 days 3 days

Source: Food and Drug Administration test results for mercury and fish, and the Environmental Protection Agency's determination of safe levels of mercury.

GravyGurl

The FDA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have posted information on mercury poisoning. They recommend that pregnant women, women of childbearing age, nursing mothers, and young children limit the amount of fish they eat, because of the danger of mercury poisoning.

As of March 2004, the FDA and the EPA advised that women in the above categories avoid Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel, and Tilefish altogether because they contain high levels of mercury. They also recommend not eating more than 12 ounces— or two meals on average— of fish or shellfish that are lower in mercury, per week and no more than one six ounce can of Tuna per week, or 6 ounces of Lobster, Halibut, or Orange Ruffy.

According to the FDA and the EPA, the following are the five most commonly eaten types of fish, and have low mercury levels:

Shrimp
Canned light tuna – NOT albacore tuna
Salmon
Pollock
Catfish
The FDA has a good list of frequently asked questions posted on their Website – including information about mercury content in fish sticks. In brief, they say that the fish used in fast food sandwiches and fish sticks contain fish that are low in mercury. And Tuna steaks? The FDA/EPA recommended allowance is six ounces per week.

Currently, there are no guidelines for people who aren’t women of childbearing age, nursing mothers, or children. But if the FDA/EPA guidelines are good enough for these folks, they’re good enough for me – until the FDA or a similar body comes out with scientifically based guidelines for the rest of us.

If you would like to know more about mercury poisoning from fish and shellfish, and other sources, visit the Website for the U.S. Center for Food Safety and Nutrition at:

www.cfsan.fda.gov - go to the Search bar – select ‘mercury’ and click on ‘Go’.



Here are a couple of sites for you to read on that subject and also how often they recommend you eat Tuna and such...

http://knowitallhealth.com/2007/05/12/mercury-rising-are-you-eating-too-much-tuna/

http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/tuna.asp

Margy82

My problem is that the tuna is so easy to prepare ( open the can and drain the water and Voila! It's done), it's cheap, it's easy to find anywhere and I like it. I'm kinda picky about fish.

L:ietee, I don't understand your chart, does it mean if I weight 150+ then I should only eat a can of tuna every 9 weeks and 3 days?

GravyGurl

The chart means that you should only eat white albacore every 9 days and chunk light every 3 days

kerrilucko

albacore every 9 days, chunk lite every 3 days

filergirl

So, I thought I found an amazing food, i can of PC tuna in water has 140 calories, 2g of fat and 30g of protein. I have been eating it dry with a bit of pepper on 2 pieces of dry multigrain toast with a no lettuce salad (1 cucumber, 1 tomato, 1 green onion, 1/3 green pepper, 2 mushrooms & 1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese) everyday for about two weeks now. I LOVE THIS LUNCH, it's my favorite, (had to share with everyone)

Anyways, I was reading my Oxygen magazine, learning the best moves to get tight buns, when all of a sudden, this article mentions in passing, that you should only eat chunky can tuna twice of month to avoid mercury poisoning.

Is this true? I have never heard anything about mercury poisoning before! Is my FAVORITE lunch a hit and miss? HELP HELP HELP! Please, can some one verify these allegations, Thanks everyone!

Obviously you're Canadian if you're eating President's Choice, so I'd recommend looking up Health Canada's advice on this. I'd also recommend visiting www.oceansalive.org, which has plenty of info, including a chart that tells you how much of each fish you can safely consume.

lietee

oh my chart is if you weigh 150+ you can eat one can of the Albacore every 9 days or one can of the chunk light every three days the albacore tuna is worse for you

RKJR925

I was in the seafood business for 4 years in Miami. This included dealing with fresh fish from all over the world everyday.

While the government post all of these warnings most of the testing has shown that to have issues related directly to mercury poisoning from fish you would have to eat it 3 times a day 7 days per week for about 20 years.

I know that many may find articles and disagree but there are many articles to dispute all these findings just like many other debates

The talk of mercury poisong is often called a conspiracy theory to help with the overfishing of certain species like swordfish


If I die from Mercury poisoning after eating seafood my entire life I will die happy

MrsSorenson

I happen to know a bit about mercury. I work for a company who handles it. There is mercury in fish but as long as you eat in moderation you don't have many worries. I personaly eat Tuna 3 times a week.

Hope I eased your fears a little!

ali106

If you don't mind my opinion based on what I have learned....here goes....I think Tuna is great and in moderation even better.

BUT! if you are a pregnant or considering to become pregnant...I would HIGHLY recommend not having any tuna in your diet, I know they say light is okay, but from a mom of a child w/ Autism...I'd rather be very safe than sorry and I think the future we'll unfortunately find out more and more about things like this and be shocked....

Now, I'm not sure if they tell you to stay away from it now but when I was prego 7 years ago...they didn't tell me....and ah that really makes my blood boil!!!

Thankfully I did NOT crave it then!!!

hugs!
Ali