By Brian Bienkowski
for the Environmental Health News
For years seafood was Karen Grote’s “go to” when eating out—ordering tuna, shrimp and lobster.
“I travel a lot for work, so was
constantly eating out,” said the 34-year old actuary from the Philadelphia
area.
But her choices changed after Grote had
her hair tested for mercury as part of a study and her levels were elevated.
Now pregnant, she still eats some seafood but is limiting how much to avoid
harming her unborn child with the neurotoxic chemical.
“It was completely eye opening for me,”
Grote said.
After the testing of Grote and other women across the country, an environmental
group warns that eating federally recommended seafood amounts may leave women
with too much mercury and not enough omega-3s.
The report, released by the Environmental Working Group, found that the majority of
mercury in 254 women of childbearing age from 40 states came from fish the
government does not warn pregnant women to avoid, such as tuna steaks and tuna
sushi. Only about 17 percent of the women’s mercury load came from species the
agencies warn about.
And, though the women sampled ate more seafood than an average U.S. woman, about 60 percent still didn’t have the recommended amount of omega-3s for a pregnant woman.
“If you get a little bit of mercury it
can be offset by the omega–3s. But that means you don't get the full benefit of
the omega–3s and other nutrients in seafood,” said Dr. Philippe Grandjean, an
adjunct professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, in a statement.
Medical professionals and officials have
long struggled with balancing seafood recommendations for women who are, or
might get pregnant. Fish are the major source of people’s exposure to mercury,
which can harm developing brains and reduce IQs.
But research has also shown that eating
fish provides vital nutrients, omega-3 fatty acids and protein, for fetal brain
growth, and that children's IQs increased when their mothers had eaten
low-mercury fish.
The report comes a year and a half after
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration made
major changes to their seafood consumption advice: recommending consumption of
at least 8 ounces of low-mercury fish per week.
The changes marked the first time the
EPA and FDA recommended a minimum amount of fish that pregnant women and
children should eat.
Michael Bender, executive director of
the Mercury Policy Project, said the agencies’ changes to seafood advice fall
“way short” in protecting fish eaters.
“We’re always hearing from federal
agencies how we should follow the latest science, this advisory was the
complete opposite,” said Bender, whose organization partnered with the
Environmental Working Group on the recent study.
Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst at the
Environmental Working Group, led the study and said the main point is dietary
guidance needs to be more specific. “The FDA for a long time said too many
details could be overwhelming,” she said. “We’re in the information age … there
are really savvy, informed consumers out there.”
Tuna seems to be a problem. Lunder
pointed out that in their study about 40 percent of the mercury was coming from
eating various forms of it—canned tuna, tuna steaks, tuna sushi.
The advisory “fails to recognize tuna steaks, tuna sushi, and also light canned tuna … this is clearly not a low mercury fish,” Bender said. Lunder added that tuna warnings are especially important, as it’s a common fish that some people eat daily.
Lauren Sucher, a spokesperson at the FDA,
wouldn't comment on the new study but said the agency is revising the 2014
draft advice, adding that they've received more than 200 public comments.
The study confirmed that seafood is the
major route of mercury exposure for people: Mercury levels were 11 times higher
in those who frequently ate fish compared to those who rarely ate it.
Perhaps most concerning: about 29
percent of the women (all of childbearing age) had mercury levels above 1 part
per million, which is what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers
safe.
Bender called the 1 part per million
level, “clearly outdated and very weak.” Many health researchers, including
Grandjean, say that 1 part per million is too high, and that about .58 parts
per million is a more protective upper limit for pregnant women. Sixty-percent
of those sampled exceeded that limit.
Grote said she’s still eating some
seafood, but has completely cut out tuna. She’s trying to include more low
mercury options, such as salmon. The new Dietary Guidelines released earlier this year by
the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and of Agriculture list
salmon, anchovies, herring, shad, sardines, Pacific oysters and trout as fish
high in omega-3s and low in mercury.
“I was a bit ignorant to the risks of
mercury,” Grote said. “I always viewed seafood as healthy.”