Have you tried sorting out the information on fish? Which kind can you eat without worrying about mercury, PCBs, chlorinated pesticides, dioxins, furans, PBDEs, and other nasty contaminants? You would think there is one central place with all that info, neatly packaged into one pocket size guide. There is. Actually, there are, and that’s the problem. Several sources, all with different recommendations:
To be safe, I guess I will just stick to the ones they all agree on: anchovies, catfish (farmed), clams (farmed), crab (Dungeness), crawfish (domestic), mackerel (Atlantic), oysters (farmed), salmon (wild, Alaska), sardines (Pacific, domestic), scallops (bay, farmed), squid (Pacific, domestic), tilapia (farmed, domestic), trout (fresh water, farmed).
La Marguerite 
The nutritionist we use recommends the CHEC list
http://www.checnet.org/healthehouse/education/quicklist-detail.asp?Main_ID=716
He also points out that labeling is suspect on a lot of fish and the FDA has very hazy and poorly enforced standards.
I’m a vegetarian, so this isn’t an issue for me, but Sukie eats meat and the nutritionist stresses that she needs to keep her meat consumption low and with some types of meat (particularly fish) pay attention to serving size and frequency. Some of the stuff (PCBs and heavy metals) need to be treated as toxic substances that accumulate. There are levels that are ok, but one should be careful.
We’ve looked in to this repeatedly over at Healthy Child Healthy World (previously CHEC- glad to see people are still using our older resources!). Like Steve mentions above, the FDA guidelines are much looser than the EPA. We rely on EPA standards bolstered with a little prevention.
I think the issue is much more important for pregnant women and small children as the contaminants can be so much more damaging. It’s an awful irony that fish contain those great fatty acids necessary for healthy brain development, but we’ve contaminated them with potent neurotoxins that do the reverse.
My daughter absolutely loves fish, but I’m leery of feeding it to her very often. It’s unfortunate because when I was growing up, fish was the bedrock of a healthy diet. I want my daughter to have all of the health benefits, but each time I watch her eat fish, all I can think is “Please don’t compromise her intelligence.” As if I can beg the molecules of mercury to redirect themselves to a more benign activity like bonding with the molecules my daughter’s body chooses to excrete.
A recent study published in Environmental Research (K.R. Mahaffey et al. Methylmercury and omega-3 fatty acids: Co-currence of dietary sources with emphasis on fish and shellfish), offers new insights on the fish paradox of health and risk. The authors tested a wide variety of fish to find which had the highest amounts of the omega-3 fatty acids our brains thrive on and which had the lowest levels of mercury. By knowing these levels we can make wise fish choices that offer us the greatest benefit with the smallest risk.
Their findings?
#1 – The fish with the highest amount of Omega-3 fatty acids and the lowest amount of mercury is herring. Herring has the added benefit of not storing other toxins like PCBs and dioxin, so it’s all around the best fish choice for the health conscious consumer.
#2 – Second on their list is mackerel, but be vigilant of species, because the King Mackerel is extremely high in mercury. Look for the little guys (N. Atlantic, Chub).
#3 – Third is one of our household favorites, salmon, but farmed salmon tend to have high levels of carcinogenic PCBs, so look for wild.
I would also encourage people to use the Smart Fish Calculator found here:
http://www.iatp.org/foodandhealth/fishcalculator/index.cfm
You can enter your weight and fish types and it will recommend personalized consumption advice.
Bon Appetit!
I love Blue Ocean’s text message service. I’m extremely busy and it’s not realistic for me to memorize the information about every single fish or to take a list with me to the store. Instead, when standing in the grocery store, I can text 30644 with the message FISH and the name of the fish I’m thinking about buying. They send you a text right back with some info on the fish and, if there are environmental concerns, suggest some alternatives. Pretty nifty.
http://www.blueocean.org/fishphone/index.html
Thank you for this because I love fish…all fish.
I’ve been confused about the Dos & Don’ts of fish for many years and the release of every new report make it worse.
Because I love it all, I just need real facts to do what’s best.
THANK YOU!
I use the Seafood Watch guide by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx
They have detailed information on their website, and have a “pocket guide” that you can print out and take with you. I like that they break up the fish into green, yellow and red categories. Something to check out if you haven’t already!
Thanks all for your contributions. I may be a bit more confused, but at least, now I have more complete information 🙂