One fish, two fish, bad fish, good fish
Fish is high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids. But fish can also contain mercury and PCBs. How do you figure out what's good for you and your kids and what's not?
By Josephine Marcotty, Star Tribune
Children's nutrition is Vicki Siskin's passion. She goes to conferences, gets daily reports from nutrition online forums and helped launch a nutrition committee at her daughter's school. She's even taught her 10-year-old how to read food labels and eat sardines.
But when it comes to mercury in fish Siskin is as confused as everyone else. Fish is good for you, and fish is bad for you. Some fish is better for you than others, but some fish is so bad that the federal government says pregnant women and kids shouldn't eat it. And then there's the whole tuna thing -- which kind has more mercury? -- not to mention the issue of over-fishing.
"I read so much and study so much, and I'm still not quite sure what to do," said Siskin, 49, of Plymouth. Increasingly, however, there is help. Several environmental groups now produce fish guides with detailed information on contaminants in types of seafood, and which ones are ocean-friendly or not.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also publishes a fish guide, as does the Minnesota Department of Health for fish caught in the state's lakes and rivers. And the groups SeaWeb and Environmental Defense just made it easier by publishing a guide on safe fish consumption for kids at www.kidsafeseafood.org. Beth Trask, program manager at SeaWeb, said the guide uses federal recommendations for fish consumption that are adjusted to children's average body weight.
When all is said and done, experts say, the effort is probably worth it.
Seafood is an important part of the diet for both kids and adults because it is the best source of omega-3 fatty acids. The list of potential benefits from those polyunsaturated fats, which the human body cannot make on its own, reads like the magic formula for longevity. Omega-3s reduce heart disease by lowering inflammation, blood clotting, cholesterol and blood pressure, and may reduce the risks for diabetes, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, some cancers and mental decline.
There is some evidence that infants born to mothers who received omega-3 acids during pregnancy have better vision and brain development. And research is underway to test whether omega-3s improve allergies, ADHD and other childhood conditions.
But because of decades of pollution around the world, fish are also a potentially harmful source of mercury and such cancer-causing dioxins as PCBs. At high exposures, mercury can cause serious health problems in adults, but once exposure stops, their bodies deplete mercury over the course of several months.
The risks are much greater for developing fetuses and young children, experts say. Mercury can cause problems with their developing nervous systems, affecting their ability to learn and process information. In short, it has just the opposite effect of omega-3s.
Parents are confused
Little is known about how much exposure at what ages cause those and other problems. So it's no wonder parents are confused about balancing the good and the bad.
"The clarity is tough," said Marion Nestle, a professor of food studies and nutrition at New York University, and the author of the book "What to Eat."
Some parents just keep it simple.
"We basically eat salmon," said Sarah Senaratna, 30, of St. Paul. "I've heard it's the safest fish to eat, and the healthiest." She relies on her fishmonger to recommend the salmon that is low in mercury, because not all types are. She sometimes buys what is described as organic farmed salmon, but that adds yet another layer of confusion about choices. The United States has no regulations on what makes fish -- farmed or wild -- organic. That is now the subject of intense debate among environmentalists, the fishing industry and the federal Department of Agriculture.
Senaratna is trying to get her 10-month-old daughter to eat salmon, but so far hasn't had much luck.
"She didn't like it ground up in a bowl and fed to her by a spoon," Senaratna said. "Can you blame her?" Now that her daughter is starting to feed herself, Senaratna said she's going to try it again by making it into some kind of finger food for her.
Siskin said she started her daughter on healthy foods and fish when she was quite young, and now her daughter has an adventurous palate and will try most anything. She eats sardines, which are low in mercury and high in omega-3s, mixed with mayonnaise and pickle relish.
"It's still concerning because, really, there are so few different fish sources that are safe," she said. "Everything has a little mercury."
Nestle said that the best guidance so far is the report that came out in October by the Institute of Medicine, the agency that advises the federal government on health and medical issues. After sifting through reams of research reports on omega-3s and mercury, it concluded that the EPA fish consumption guidelines are sound.
The EPA guidelines suggest that pregnant women and young children do not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish. Those are long-lived predatory fish that accumulate high levels of mercury in their fat by eating other fish. Adults should limit consumption of those fish, the EPA says. As for tuna, white albacore has more mercury than the darker skipjack tuna usually found in canned "light" tuna. But all tuna has some mercury in it.
But the American Heart Association and the EPA say that everyone, including pregnant women and children, should eat a variety of fish and shellfish about twice a week that is low in mercury.
And that's where the fish guides come in.
Nestle said that the newest one for kids put out by SeaWeb is a very conservative one that errs on the side of safety. The Kidsafe Seafood guide also includes a short list of six types of fish and seafood that are so low in mercury and PCBs that they can be eaten any time.
Now the trick is to get your kids to eat blue mussels.
Josephine Marcotty • 612 673 7394 • marcotty@startribune.com
©2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
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