If you love fish, that is good news as according to nutritionist, Joy Bauer, fish is low in fat, and high in protein. Unfortunately, some types of fish are also loaded with mercury and other contaminants, like PCBs, dioxins, and pesticides. Ms Bauer provides a summary of the specific fish you should try to avoid...and the fabulous fish you can regularly enjoy.
FISH TO AVOID (mercury, pcbs, dioxins, pesticides)
Ms Joy said the main reason mercury is bad is it negatively affects the brain and nervous system. It's worse for foetuses and young children, though, because their brains are still developing and absorbing nutrients very rapidly. In addition, mercury poisoning can adversely affect vision, kidney function, fertility, and blood pressure regulation in people of all ages.
High mercury fish to avoid:
Swordfish
Shark
Tilefish
King Mackerel (little mackerel is FINE)
*Tuna's also not great, so limit your consumption of tuna steaks... and when it comes to canned tuna, you're better off with the chunk "light" versus "albacore or white". That's because chunk light has significantly less mercury.
When it comes to PCBs and pesticides, you want to avoid bluefish, wild striped bass, and American eel. When it comes to "dioxins" you want to limit your intake of farm-raised Atlantic salmon (which can also be high in PCBs and pesticides).
SAFE FISH TO ENJOY!
Here's the good news.... some of the very, very safest and best fish to eat are:
*Anchovies
*Herring
*Atlantic mackerel
*Wild salmon
*Sardines
Crab
Halibut
Scallops
Shrimp
Tilapia
*also contain omega-3 fats, AND they're not over-fished.
For more information, visit "Oceans Alive" -- it's a great website that provides a wonderful seafood pocket guide you can print out for free, and take with you to the supermarket (or restaurant). You'll also find useful information on MANY more fish varieties.
Source: Yahoo! Health
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