If there’s one message to get throughout to information shops, like Newsweek and The New York Instances, it’s this: you’re lacking the purpose. 

Your current articles about research that present mercury ranges in seafood have remained the identical for the previous 30 to 50 years could also be correct however they’re a floor degree look. What isn’t reported is that in the course of the previous 30 to 50 years, American shoppers haven’t gotten sick due to mercury in seafood. The fish aren’t dying of mercury poisoning— and neither are shoppers… isn’t {that a} good factor? There’s one thing at play right here that reporters are lacking or ignoring.  

People are merely not uncovered to ranges of mercury in seafood that warrant concern. Not solely is seafood consumption woefully low, however the 10 hottest sorts of seafood in the US signify greater than 75% of all fish eaten and none of them are thought-about excessive in mercury. 

So, why all this theoretical handwringing about mercury ranges that haven’t modified for many years? Right here’s one other unreported reality; there aren’t any instances of mercury toxicity as a result of regular consumption of business seafood present in revealed, peer-reviewed journals… within the final 30 or 50 years for that matter. 

Hint quantities of mercury present in business fish are by and enormous naturally occurring. The presence of mercury and the truth that it’s naturally occurring was confirmed within the California courts when America’s canned tuna corporations fought towards mischaracterizations that canned tuna was polluted by artifical contaminants and required labels to warn shoppers. 

The California courts had been clear within the authentic case all the best way again in 2006, a verdict upheld on attraction by the California Lawyer Normal in March 2009, that the mercury in canned tuna is of course occurring and in quantities too small to be of any well being consequence. Subsequently, it didn’t meet the usual for labels underneath that state’s Protected Consuming Water and Poisonous Enforcement Act of 1986, generally often called Proposition 65. 

Any media messaging that might flip folks away from consuming a meals they’re strongly inspired to eat extra of requires eyebrows to be raised and inquiries to be requested. 

Medical professionals encourage shoppers to eat extra, not much less, seafood. Not solely can it dramatically fight main causes of dying—the Journal of the American Medical Affiliation discovered low seafood/ omega-3 fat account for 7.8% of coronary heart illness, stroke, and sort 2 diabetes deaths, making it a prime 5 contributor to those preventable situations—however the Dietary Pointers for People have established that consuming seafood throughout being pregnant contributes to “improved toddler well being outcomes, similar to visible acuity and cognitive improvement.” 

Let’s face it: seafood is nice for you and mercury ranges staying the identical as they had been 50 years in the past is just not a dietary concern. The one concern that must be written into the narrative is supported by well being professionals: People aren’t consuming sufficient seafood.