This morning the CBS Early Show did a short segment with Dr. Jennifer Ashton that mentioned seafood and eating fish while pregnant. While Ashton came pretty close to getting the FDA advice on seafood consumption basically right, she did something that Doctors often do– lump “tuna” in with higher mercury fish like Shark and Tile Fish. She said:

• “…things like Tuna or Shark or Tile Fish can contain mercury. So if you’re talking about foods that have high levels of mercury in them you want to limit them to 6 to 12 ounces a week.”

The federal advice, which these days is more and more being viewed by researchers and dietitians as out of date and out of step with the latest research, says women should avoid “Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel, or Tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury.” While they should strive to eat “up to 12 ounces (2 average meals) a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury,” it goes on to note that “five of the most commonly eaten fish that are low in mercury are shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish.” It even notes that pregnant woman can eat “up to 6 ounces (one average meal) of albacore tuna per week.”

Suggesting that tuna, with an average mercury level of 0.353 ppm (canned albacore) and 0.118 ppm (canned light), has “high levels of mercury” and lumping it in with Shark (0.988 ppm) or Tile Fish (1.450 ppm) is a mistake that’s made all too often.