How much tuna is safe?

[Clarissa]

I am trying to lose my pregnancy weight. I have 5-8 lbs left now I think. I am trying to really do good on my diet. How many times per week do you think is safe to eat tuna from a can? My DH ate it everyday when he went to Kuwait (after Iraq right before he came home) and lost a lot of weight. He liked it better than the crappy meals they served in pouches that were all sodium based.

Keep in mind that I am not nursing, so eating the tuna will not affect my baby. I just want to know what you all think.

Thank you all!!!

Clarissa

 

[Clarissa]

Haha! I just saw another similar post about fish - sorry about that! I am not on very often anymore!

Anyway, if there are any thoughts about the tuna thing, I'd appreciate it!!



Clarissa

 

[buckeyegirl]

I think I read somewhere no more than 2 cans per week. I also think I recall some tuna being better than others - can't remember exactly.

Heidi

 

[Runcrazy]

I think I read somewhere no more than 2 cans per week. I also think I recall some tuna being better than others - can't remember exactly.

Heidi

This is what I've read also - 2 cans a week is safe.
Jo

 

[kathryn]

One thing to think about is that larger fish, like tuna (though I never thought they were big, since I was basing my perception on how small the cans were!), eat other fish, concentrating whatever toxins are in the fish in their own bodies. The farther up the food chain you eat, the more concentrated toxins you ingest.

 

[NY25]

The oilier the fish the more concentrated the toxins, as well. (they like the oil). Generally, you should not eat any one type of fish more than twice a week. A really good resource for this, and for keeping on eye on what to eat/not eat environmentally is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They monitor the populations, so you can eat without killing off an entire species due to overfishing. The website is www.montererybayaquarium.com. Just click on the link to the Seafood Watch list. You can learn all about all of the different kinds of fish we eat. It's very cool.

p.s. Kathryn, you'd be surprised - tuna are huge, aggressive fish.

 

[pink_fortitude]

I am trying to lose my pregnancy weight.

Clarissa

Clarissa, CONGRATULATIONS!!! I am so happy for you!

Best wishes,
Missy

 

[MRSchultz]

Apparently, I've been living under a rock! I didn't know that tuna was so bad for you. I can easily go over 2 cans a week. I better change my diet. Thanks for this post Clarissa!

Marcia.

 

[hotdogsaregross]

I read that eating Light tuna is the best choice. The light version refers to the type of tuna they use, smaller fish, smaller younger tuna with a milder taste. Not light as in packed in water instead of oil.

 

[SassyLady7]

As far as the concern of mercury exposure, it was aimed at children, pregnant & lactating women as well as women planning to become pregnant. Outside of those demographics, tuna is relatively safe to eat (again in regard to mercury exposure only). Albacore tends to have more mercury than light tuna & tuna packed in oil also has mercury. Here is the FDA link for more info.

http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/mercury/backgrounder.html

 

[kathryn]

As far as the concern of mercury exposure, it was aimed at children, pregnant & lactating women as well as women planning to become pregnant. Outside of those demographics, tuna is relatively safe to eat (again in regard to mercury exposure only).

I don't know about anyone else, but if something isn't safe for children or pregnant and lactating women, how can it be safe for the rest of us?

 

[jackie7]

So true. I just read this "According to a recent study, canned white tuna samples averaged about 315 percent more mercury than chunk light tuna samples. "

 

[hottiescientist]

I don't know about anyone else, but if something isn't safe for children or pregnant and lactating women, how can it be safe for the rest of us?

Because our bodies can handle different thresholds of different toxins. Think relative concentrations. 1g out of 100g is only 1% but 1g out of 10g is 10%. If an adult is 10x times bigger than a child, they can take a bigger a hit pretty much because the effect is diluted. Also, children are developing and mercury (as well as any heavy metal ion) really screws up in basic protein folding. A fully developed adult would be better protected against this since their body is not in the mode of more development. So, lots of tuna is bad for an adult too (I think the OP said her husband ate a can every day) -- and some adults can exhibit the signs of heavy metal poisoning from that especially if the rest of the diet doesn't do anything to competitively inhibit the mercury from screwing around in our bodies. Its just different thresholds. Does that help?

 

[pixiesis]

I think Kathryn's point was why would anyone eat anything deemed harmful for certain people. Even if we can "take a bigger hit", why take the risk when we can easily avoid eating mercury-contaminated fish altogether?

Amy

 

[hottiescientist]

I think Kathryn's point was why would anyone eat anything deemed harmful for certain people. Even if we can "take a bigger hit", why take the risk when we can easily avoid eating mercury-contaminated fish altogether?

Amy

Mostly because there are a lot of fish (not just tuna) that have the mercury contamination and there are a lot of benefits to eating a fish too. In this country, we have a ton of options for food but not everyone's wallets can afford it so if someone wants to have some fish in their diet, they can just not huge portions. In other parts of the world, particularly near the ocean, where fish can feed the poor, they don't have the luxury of choosing non-mercury contaminated fish sometimes too (though I guess it wouldn't matter to them the level of mercury but my point is that they drive the production as well).

But there are thousands of things that we eat and drink that have toxins in them...even tap water has small traces of sodium cyanide that if you were to take a small powder amount and put it in your throat, you'd die very quickly but in water its so dilute that it hardly as the killing effect. And there are bunch of foods that are prone to contamination more than others. But the threshold I was talking about is the more important -- its really not that bad if you don't overload your system with it. If someone doesn't want to risk it sure, but I certainly still eat tuna every once in a while knowing all of this.