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

Farm raised fish are a safe bet. They live in a controlled environment with filtered water and a strict diet. Its important to note that what the fish are fed affects the health benefits for your heart (fish that are fed corn and meal pellets have lower omega 3 levels than fish fed pellets made from other fish http://www.abc.net.au/ra/innovations/stories/s1749226.htm - I'm assuming the fish from which the pellets are made are tested for heavy metals).

Additionally, heavy metals bio-accumulate, which correlates to accumulating with age, so younger fish are always preferable to their adult counterparts especially to fishes of the mackeral family. My personal recommendation is Mahi-Mahi (AKA Dorado or Dolphin). These fish are extremely prolific and are very fast growers - within 6 months of birth these fish are of harvestable size and breeding. This also is important to off-set overfishing.

If you're interested in canned tuna, I saw a report concerning heavy metals (mercury) levels by where the tuna was harvested. I don't remember the results of the study, but I do recall the difference is notable.

A lot of data about cold water fish here too. http://www.dec.state.ak.us/eh/vet/heavy_metals.htm
However, this article is from the alaska state site so keep in mind that they want to increase consumption of their leading export. In NC they wanted to generate a market in barracuda, so at a fisheries banquet they served barracuda while they had addresses about how healthy juvenile barracuda are (adult barracuda, of the mackeral family, have very high levels of mercury). The event backfired as everyone who ate the fish got sick!

Answer 2

Pl. check out www.mercola.com for answers to such questions, esp. if you are in USA. An excellent site and gives a lot of information relevant to US.

I am in India and have no financial or other interest in that website, but found it informative.