Tuna & Mercury Poisoning
Tuna & Mercury Poisoning
According to a US government advisory panel, pregnant women who include too much tuna in their diet may expose their unborn babies’ brains to possibly harmful levels of mercury.
However, there is no need for the women to exclude tuna altogether from their diet. Two 6-ounce cans of tuna each week is okay if tuna is the only fish they eat. One can, if other seafood is eaten which also can contain mercury.
According to estimates from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 8 percent of U.S. women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their blood to be at risk of having babies with learning difficulties. And eating seafood is considered the main source of mercury contamination.
Nevertheless, fish (especially fish not likely to contain mercury) is still regarded as a highly nutritious food and women are advised to eat up to 12 ounces a week of other cooked fish, including canned tuna, shellfish and other ocean fish.