Heavy metals in fish?

Question

I would very much like to cut down on my consumption of red meat. I'm interested in adding more fish to my diet, but my boyfriend and I are concerned about the levels of heavy metals in fish. How can I minimize the incidence of heavy metal in the fish that I buy? What should I do to make sure that the fish I eat will be good for me? Are there specific places in the world from where the fish is more "pure" than other places? What types of fish are usually affected most by heavy metals in the environment? Is there a chart or graph somewhere online that I could look up?

Answer 1

I'm not sure why you are asking this question in the Vegetarian section. Vegetarians do not eat fish.

Answer 2

Well first of all congradulations on keeping heavy metals in mind because those are pretty bad for you. I took a class and for part of it we talked about fish contamination and PCBs, which are polycarbonatebyphenols or something. She had a pamphlet that had a list of lakes and if it was okay to eat out of them. Some lakes it's only okay to eat the fish if your not pregnant. Some you had to be male to eat the fish. When you buy fish at the store they have to be able to say, when asked, where the fish came from, how long it's been and other info like that. I'm not sure where she got that pamphlet, but you should be able to find something like that on the net. Be careful though. I also understand fish farms are a pretty bad place to get fish from as well. I wouldn't trust it just cuz it's not next to a nuclear power plant. Levels were minimal 30 years ago. Now? I would do some research if I planned on eating a lot of fish. Don't forget anything that can be washed into a lake by runoff will.

Answer 3

I have never heard of this problem within fish.

I eat fish regularly for the past 25 yrs and have had no problems or have had no warnings of 'heavy metal content'.
If you are still worried, Buy wild Atlantic fish or wild North Sea fish. Norwegian fish enjoy the cleanest water, and Norway has the largest supply of Cod in the world. Also, Irish wild Salmon and shell fish are good quality...(from the Atlantic NOT the Irish sea, Sellafield has destroyed that channel)
Farmed fish are force fed with colouring pellets to make their flesh look more appealing....avoid farmed fish if possible. All this information should be available either on the packaging or from the fishmonger.
You could also take omega3 supplements if you cannot stick to your new fish lifestyle.

It is still important to have some red meat in your diet. Try and eat red meat once a week, it is great as a protein source.

Answer 4

First of all, stay away from farmed fish. "We" thought we'd solve the problem of heavy metal contamination by breeding our own fish in "safe" environments.

Studies have shown farmed fish to be the worst.

Avoid fish from Chile, Canada, Gulf of Mexico and China.

Fish from Alaska seems to be pretty safe as far as mercury goes. But they haven't done much testing for Cadmium which is at higher levels in most fish than mercury.

Shell fish should pretty much all be avoided. Shell fish filter toxins from their environment so that other animals can live safely. So ingesting shellfish means ingesting high levels of toxins.

For the person who said "eat tuna" - tuna is NOT recommended. It contains very high levels of mercury. As does shark, swordfish, King Mackerel and tilefish. Chilean sea bass is one of the worst. Avoid grouper, halibut, Spanish mackerel, monkfish (a popular replacement for lobster), snapper, as well as most tunas.

While albacore has become a favorite because it's the ONLY true "dolphin safe" tuna - albacore has the highest concentrations of mercury.

Wild caught salmon and pollock are good. Both from Alaska if you can. Fresh water trout seems to be ok too. Skipjack tuna is not too bad. Anchovies are pretty safe. Atlantic Croaker and Atlantic Mackerel are ok. Sardines are one of the safest. Also very good for your skin.

The FDA recommends not eating more than 6 ounces of local caught fish per week.

Answer 5

Unless these fish are spawned next to a nuclear plant, you really have nothing to worry about. even if you were to eat fish 5 times a day for 30 years, the amount of heavy metal in the fish is somewhat minimal. Anything packaged in your local supermarket should suffice.

Answer 6

yea there is no metal in fish, you can like tell if you hold a magnet next to it, if the fish don't stick to mangnet then you're fine, fish don't usually contain mercury and heavy metal, fish don't rock

Answer 7

Avoid Canned Tuna.
Lately have tested High in Mercury.

Answer 8

get tuna
and any other kind of ocean fish