Canned Tuna?

TZE731

Canned tuna is great becasue it's cheap and fast, but it is loaded with sodium. Does the total sodium content include the water that I drain off or just the actual tuna? I also usually rinse the tuna with water in hopes of reducing the sodium even more, but I'm not sure that actually helps. Thanks for any input!

melsinct

Rinsing will get rid of some of the sodium but you can't really say how much. Tuna is a great source of protein but make sure you eat it in moderation due to mercury issues. The FDA recommends no more than 6 oz. per week of albacore tuna.

714rah714

All living things contain sodium, tuna is no different, and looking at the nutritional facts for canned white tuna in water it doesn't seem all that high.

bizco

Cheap? Hardly. When you drain all the water and weigh the tuna on a digital scale there's about 3 ounces of fish. I buy Chicken of the Sea (lower sodium version) and it costs $1.05 per can (more expensive than full sodium version). This equals $5.60 per pound. I don't consider that cheap compared to chicken, beef, pork.

To answer your question, rinsing helps to reduce some of the sodium but it's difficult to know how much.

jrodx2

Tuna is a great source of protein but make sure you eat it in moderation due to mercury issues. The FDA recommends no more than 6 oz. per week of albacore tuna.

6 oz seems really low. Here's a link I use that goes buy your weight and the type of fish to see what your your max intake numbers should be http://www.howmuchfish.com/. I typically have tuna for lunch 4-5 days a week and I am still way under the recommendation.

As for the sodium, I eat the canned white tuna and my sodium numbers are still usually under my limits. I never looked at just the tuna alone to see the sodium. Is the tuna causing you to go always go over your sodium? If not, I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's a great and quick source of protein.

mrsdizzyd84

I buy the Starkist low sodium chunk light in the pouch not the can. It is a bit more expensive, but it tastes better, and doesn't have the salt water that needs to be drained. They also have a low sodium albacore in the pouch as well, but I don't care for the taste of albacore (too dry).

amyup

I buy it from trader joe's and it has significantly less sodium.

suaku

When it's on sale, I stock up on StarKist Selects® Very Low Sodium Chunk White Albacore Tuna in Water (they recently renamed it). Only 70mg of sodium in a 4.5 oz. can (vs. 340 mg for the kind I regularly to buy).