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

Salmon swiming under the ice shelves in Alaska are even found to high levels of toxins in their fat tissues. There's no place where the fish are not swiming in it.

A recent academic paper (I don't recall who published it) stated that the health benefits of the natural fish oils from these fish still far outweighs the risk of toxin exposure.

Answer 2

I am sorry to tell you that most of the fish we today is contaminated with mercury, pcb and alot more cancer causing agents. If you doubt what I am saying take your local frozen or fresh fish and get it tested for toxins. Or maybe just go to the Internet and punch up toxins in fish or toxic fish or contaminated fish and see what you come up with. The government had recently issued warnings on eating canned tuna because the toxic levels were over their safe guidelines. I know about this but I still eat it anyway because I like it and according to the gov. its safe to eat, but they can't guarantee I won't get cancer and get this they still want about 20 dollars for a fish licence, so I guess you get what you pay for.

Answer 3

Check the package to see where the fish came from. Those from the States are less likely to have dangerous levels of heavy metals than those from overseas because the standards are considerably more stringent.