Why I don't eat saltwater fish

[cooked]

… she gets around to Fukushima radioactive pollution towards the end.

[atomicspacebunny]

This is interesting:

[1] “…A common concern when choosing seafood is mercury. And for good reason: mercury binds up selenium, an essential mineral that’s vital to the developing brain and nervous system. But here’s the good news: eating ocean fish that contain more selenium than mercury protects against mercury toxicity. …” …More

[2] 5 Reasons Why Concerns About Mercury in Fish Are Misguided: “…#5 Ignoring the protective effects of selenium underestimates the risk of eating some fish: Although most ocean fish contain far more selenium than mercury, the selenium status of freshwater fish is much more variable. Mercury tends to accumulate in fish, in lakes where selenium availability is limited. That leads to a double-whammy where some freshwater fish have relatively high mercury levels along with low selenium levels. This may explain why adverse effects were observed in a study of freshwater fish consumption in Finland, a country notorious for its poor selenium status, and was so low that it became the first nation to add selenium to its fertilizers. (13) …” …More

This stuff is so freaking good

Tuna is good but not nearly as good for you as the smaller oilier fish like sardines, herring, mackerel and anchovies. They are rich in omega 3 fatty acids and their low position in the food chain means they haven’t got concentrated levels of methyl mercury in them. I do eat salmon and yellowfin (ahi) though along with their mercury . I love seared ahi steaks. And I eat canned tuna occasionally. I wouldn’t abandon your beloved herring though! I only recommend wild caught fish and I pe…

[Meerkatsandy]

When it comes to fish, I’ve accepted the fact that I have no idea what I’m eating. Maybe I feel a bit safer eating sardines in Pula, but who knows what’s floating around in our Adriatic sea.

Some say that farmed fish are better, some say that they aren’t, no one can guarantee where the fish is from, how it was fed and/or how it ate… It’s something I can’t control, a calculated gamble.

[David_Stilley]

@cooked Interesting video David.

@atomicspacebunny Nice links
I had never heard about the relationship between selenium and mercury.

[atomicspacebunny]

I thought these were also interesting:

[1] Rethinking mercury: the role of selenium in the pathophysiology of mercury toxicity.

[2] Severe elemental mercury poisoning managed with selenium and N-acetylcysteine administration

[3] The role of selenium in human metabolic processes

[Keto6468]

Eat smaller salt water fish. Their lifetime is much shorter and they don’t incorporate as much Mercury. Probably a good idea to pass on tuna

[daddyoh]

This is correct. Bio-accumulators are the fish at the top of the food chain. That makes us bio-accumulators. So don’t be canibal.

[collaroygal]

Maybe I feel a bit safer eating sardines in Pula, but who knows what’s floating around in our Adriatic sea.

Off topic comment.

I loved Pula, such a beautiful spot and the food there was amazing.

Back on topic, I eat some salmon, ahi tuna, and love all the smaller fishes. I don’t think I eat any of them in such amounts that mercury poisoning is a real issue. But good to know selenium can counteract it.

[Meerkatsandy]

We were in Pula over the weekend and attacked our usual combo - sardines and tuna. Croatia has a tuna farm and all of their fish are sold to Japan while we eat the few tuna that “escape” and are caught by local fishermen and/or Indian tuna…we really have no idea what we’re eating when it comes to fish.

@collaroygal I’m glad you like it, it’s my other home when were you in Pula?

[collaroygal]

when were you in Pula?

In the 80s when Yugoslavia was behind the “iron curtain” era. Shortly after things started changing. The whole country was wonderful… Gondolas in the rice patty area, beautiful beaches, and everyone was so friendly and kind to us. We were on a month long trip and it was my favorite part of the whole experience.

Also it is interesting that Lida Bastianich, the PBS Italian chef was born there. That area went back and forth from being Italian to Yugoslavia several times. The Roman ruins there are amazing too.

[CFLBob]

In 2016, I remember an article said that juvenile salmon in the Puget Sound area, around Seattle, contained,

Prozac, bug spray, cocaine, Zantac, ibuprofen and 77 other drugs.

Salmon Caught Near Seattle Are Full Of Cocaine And Antidepressants

This was from sampling water near sewage treatment plants in the estuaries of the Seattle area, during a two day period in September 2014. I remember this because I remember reading it about an hour after a salmon dinner. It was sold as Alaskan salmon, but does that matter in fish that swim thousands of miles?

What they don’t talk about is what I consider the important the stuff. Nobody eats salmon fingerlings from Puget sound, they eat adult fish. I did a quick lookup of the life cycle of the Chinook salmon to learn some basics about the fish. They’re born in freshwater streams and live in those streams for as much as 18 months before moving down into the Puget, where they can spend another few months before moving out to sea. If they’re getting that drug cocktail while in the Puget Sound, they could be absorbing it for as much as six months. An average of three to four years later, they return to the same streams to spawn passing through the Sound again.

The article doesn’t address if those chemicals are upstream, just what was in the water around Seattle, but I think stuff tends to flow downstream, not upstream, and it doesn’t talk about what’s in the offshore waters, so my immediate question is whether those chemicals are metabolized - broken down and gotten rid of - during the years of growth in the open ocean. Do they get flushed out? Or is there some way they get concentrated - bio-accumulation?

Anything I could say would be pure speculation, so I won’t. As they used to say on that TV show: “offered for your consideration”.

[SomeGuy]

Some say that farmed fish are better, some say that they aren’t, no one can guarantee where the fish is from, how it was fed and/or how it ate… It’s something I can’t control, a calculated gamble.

We eat fish occasionally (sardines, salmon, canned tuna) but, given all the conflicting guidance, we think of it more as an un-calculated gamble. Hard to make sense of it all.

Which brings me around to fish oil supplements (not cod liver oil) … I’ve read that mercury content is virtually non-existent, they’re high in Omega-3, and there’s no risk of bones

[FishChris]

When it comes to fish, if I like it, I eat it. And that’s that. Bring on the farm raised Salmon. Mercury ? When I die, maybe they can turn me into a giant thermometer lol
I keep saying it, but you guys worry too much, and your all going to die anyway.

Deep fried in Keto crust is the bomb ! Then with some Jalepeno tarter sauce from Trader Joe’s… (just gotta’ watch out for that guy… he’s a trader

[daddyoh]

Bring on the farm raised Salmon.

Yes, same for me.

[Meerkatsandy]

It’s both un-calculated and calculated - you know you’re eating questionable fish, but you hope it’s not as bad as you think.

Those bones really are a b****

We do have an option of wild salmon at our fishmonger, but it’s very expensive and I don’t know where it came from, how it traveled and if really is good for me. Farmed salmon is fresher, but I don’t know what the omega 3:omega 6 ratio is… Tuna is probably from India, local sea brass and sea bream are farmed, I’ve heard different stories on the feed quality, etc.

I’ll trust sardines and pretend my salmon is good for me .

In regards to omega 3 supplements - who knows what’s in them and if it’s rancid

Soooooo many rabbit holes…

[Meerkatsandy]

Croatia really is beautiful, you should visit again, see how different it is now
I’m from Slovenia, but my grandma was from Pula, so it’s my home away from home.