Like clowns out of a VW Bug, a ridiculous parade of celebrities, quack TV doctors, and fringe environmental activists have been insisting for years that eating seafood is dangerous.Peoples brains and bodies are being damaged by mercury, so the story goes, although not a single case of mercury toxicity from the normal consumption of commercial seafood has ever been documented in any peer-reviewed U.S. medical journal.

But obstacles like facts and science havent stopped environmental groups, celebrities or TV docs including Kim Kardashian, Jeremy Piven, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and Megan Fox from sounding their anxiety that American lives are in danger from the tuna fish sandwich.

As if to say enough is enough, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a thorough, definitive and public rebuke of these alarmists in March after Got Mercury?, Turtle Island Restoration Network and the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the FDA for more stringent regulations on commercial fish. In 40 instances, the FDA cited the petitions insufficient evidence or deemed the activists assertions inaccurate or inconclusive. In the FDAs words:

• You present no evidence that mercury levels in ocean fish are rising or will rise as a consequence of increasing mercury in the ocean
• Your petition failed to provide sufficient data or information, such as specifics relating to actual injuries within the general population or estimates of risk
• The petition does not identify any case studies of possible individual injuries from prenatal exposure to methylmercury in the U.S., nor are we aware of any
• In your petition, you devote considerable attention to canned tunaThe FAO/WHO assessment estimates that these products are beneficial — and thus pose no reasonable possibility of injury through at least 24.5 ounces per week.

In other words, agenda-driven activists have no basis for scaring the public about seafood.

Such sanity is needed now more than ever. As the FDAs letter underscores, Americans dont eat nearly enough fish.The North American diet now contains the second-lowest percentage of fish in the world 7 percent second only to the Sudan.

The harm caused by seafood deficiency and a lack of omega-3s are as serious as a heart attack.Literally. A recent Harvard study found that some 84,000 lives could be saved every year if Americans ate more fish.Other studies have also shown that eating seafood protects adults from developing Alzheimers disease and diabetes and encourages optimal cognitive and ocular development in babies.

Thats why it was so critical that the FDA soundly rejected the activists petition. The FDA stood up for science and stood tall against hyperbole.

Yes, reason won the day. And all Americans are better off because of it.

Serious doctors dont tell patients to pop silver bullet weight loss pills, endure juice detoxes and take all-natural extracts to melt their fat. Theyd be putting their medical practice and their medical license at risk.

Yet celebrity TV doc Dr. Mehmet Oz has preached such quackery for years on his daytime talk show, The Dr. Oz Show, but hes faced no repercussions. Quite the opposite, in fact. He has enjoyed sky-high ratings for hyping quick-fix, sensationalized tips and has become a mega-celebrity.

His viewers have fared much worse. According to the New York Daily News, Dr. Ozs solution for insomnia a knapsack heated rice footsie caused a man to suffer from third-degree burns on his feet and [remain] confined to his bed for weeks. How did this happen? Dr. Oz didnt give any proper instructions or proper warnings.

But Dr. Ozs bad advice doesnt end there.

For years, Dr. Oz has urged people to limit their fish intake because of mercury concerns. But researchers have shown seafood is the single most important food Americans can consume for good health, a fact reflected in the USDAs Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in abundance in fish, help to keep brains and hearts healthy throughout a person’s life. Limiting fish is the last thing that Americans should be doing.

Weve repeatedly pointed this out to Dr. Oz but hes refused to set the record straight. Fortunately, reporters are starting to question Dr. Ozs pseudoscientific and downright wacky advice:

• The New Yorkers Michael Specter observed that Dr. Oz has been “criticized by scientists for relying on flimsy or incomplete data, distorting the results, and wielding his vast influence in ways that threaten the health of anyone who watches the show. By freely mixing alternatives with proven therapies, Oz makes it nearly impossible for the viewer of his show to assess the impact of either; the process just diminishes the value of science.”
• Slates Julia Belluz and Steven J. Hoffman criticized Dr. Oz for endorsing treatments “backed by the barest of evidence or none at all” and that “beyond potential damage to peoples health and purses, [his] kind of peddling can also foster doubt and mistrust of science.”
• Forbes Trevor Butterworth implored readers to trust the FDA and ignore Dr. Oz after Oz told his viewers that apple juice is unsafe. Butterworth expressed deep concern over this trust a TV-doc lunacy, stating, “the disheartening part is that too many people will still choose to believe a television doctor over the massed ranks of PhDs and toxicologists at the Food and Drug Administration. Its time to see Dr. Oz as having crossed the canine rubicon and having abandoned science for a barking role in the theater of the absurd.
• The Los Angeles Times Chris Woolston criticized Dr. Oz for wander[ing] off the mainstream medical path. Dr. Ozs evidence-averse approach includes telling people to use grape seed extract to lose weight and examine their tongues to figure out whats wrong with their bodies.

The best prescription for Dr. Oz viewers: Change the channel.

Disgusted with environmental and eco-lifestyle activists scaring you with phony warnings about mercury in seafood? So are we.

Thats why the National Fisheries Institute launched a new platform The Truth About Fish and Mercury on About Seafood. It is a space dedicated to distinguishing the willful deception of environmental and lifestyle activists who ignore research about seafoods health benefits despite extensive independent scientific documentation.

The heart of the Truth About Fish and Mercury microsite is the Tackle Box blog where well expose the bankrupt statements and baseless warnings of misguided activists like Dr. Oz, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Mercury Policy Project (MPP) to name a few and do it in real-time . Well also call out celebrities who make bogus health claims instead taking advantage of their unique position to educate their fans. And, as always, well challenge reporters both on the Tackle Box blog and in our media blog who collude with activists or lazily pass on information to the public without fact-checking it.

The science about the importance of eating seafood is too powerful to ignore, which is why were exposing these zealots for their rhetoric and cheap publicity stunts. So please check out our new site and add the Tackle Box blog to your list of frequent reads.

And of course, keep coming back to the Media Blog where NFI documents the offenses of often lazy or sympathetic journalists who are quick to cut and paste rather than try and separate rhetoric from science-based reality. We still have our work cut out for us over here.

In addition to delivering about 20 grams of protein for around 150 calories per serving, seafood is among the only natural sources of special omega-3s called DHA and EPA. DHA is a building block of brain development and helps keep the brain healthy as it ages. DHA and EPA also protect the heart.

The Benefits of a Fish-Rich Diet During Pregnancy

Plant foods like soybean oil, canola oil, flaxseed, and walnuts are sources of different omega-3s called ALA. ALA is not linked to the same brain and heart health benefits as DHA and EPA. Our bodies do not make omega-3 fatty acids so it is important to include fish in our diets. U.S. health organizations recommend a daily EPA and DHA intake of 250 mg for the general population and 1000 mg for people with heart disease.

Seafood Deficiency in the American Diet

Whether fish have higher or lower levels of omega-3s, they help you meet your omega-3 needs. Eat a variety of seafood.

Rhetoric:Eating too much fish can cause mercury poisoning.

Reality:The World Health Organization estimates that “a billion people rely on fish as their main source of animal proteins.” Even though they consume abundantly more commercial seafood than Americans, they do not suffer from adverse effects or face mercury poisoning epidemics. Rather, they realize greater health benefits.

According to Dr. James McGregor of the USC Keck School of Medicine, “where most fish is eaten … Northern Europe … the Mediterranean area, Japan and the shoreline of Asia, there are different positive trends. … There’s less diabetes … depression … less heart attacks … less stroke.” Meanwhile, declining seafood consumption, and consequently, worsening public health, in Japan is so worrisome to the nation’s government and fishing industry that they are desperately working to reverse the trend.

In America, seafood deficiency is having real and negative consequences for our health. Low seafood consumption is the second-biggest dietary contributor to preventable deaths in the U.S., taking 84,000 lives each year. Although 20 percent of the protein we eat should come from seafood, only 7 percent does. In fact, the average American eats 15 pounds of seafood per year, or less than on meal per week. That puts us at having “one of the lowest [omega-3] DHA levels … in the world. The Sudan in Africa is below us … we’re in comparison to some severely deprived groups,” according to Susan Carlson, Nutrition Scientist at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

It’s time Americans catch up to the rest of the world; our health is at stake.

Rhetoric:Larger fish like albacore (white) tuna used in canned tuna are major sources of methylmercury in the diet. Everyone, but especially children, should stop eating canned albacore tuna and consume less canned light tuna. Instead, people should enjoy low-mercury seafood options like shrimp, sardines and salmon.

Reality:The Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) found that canned tuna “products are beneficial – and thus post no reasonable possibility of injury – through at least 24.5 ounces per week in both their central and worse case calculation.”

Packed with omega-3s, low-fat protein, selenium and other nutrients, canned light and albacore tuna are optimal, safe choices of fish. Both kinds are low in mercury, falling well below the FDA’s action limit of 1.0 parts per million (ppm); canned light tuna has an average of 0.13 ppm while albacore has an average of 0.35 ppm. More reassuring, the FDA’s 1.0 ppm action level has a built in safety factor of 1,000 percent “to limit consumers’ methylmercury exposure to levels … lower than the lowest levels associated with adverse effects.”

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) are clear that everyone should eat a variety of seafood, including canned tuna. While the general population has no restrictions, pregnant and breastfeeding women and children can have up to two servings of fish per week, including canned light tuna and up to one meal per week of albacore tuna.

Canned tuna is a nutritional powerhouse that, according to dietary guidelines, should be eaten more often by the general population, children, and pregnant and breastfeeding women to meet our need for two seafood meals a week.

Rhetoric: Pregnant and breastfeeding women need to be careful about eating seafood because the trace amounts of mercury found in almost all seafood is also a known neurotoxin that could result in neurological problems, lower IQs and compromised immune systems for their children. To protect themselves from methylmercury’s harmful effects, they should minimize or eliminate their fish intake.

Reality: Seafood is indispensable for pregnant and breastfeeding women. Suggesting otherwise “could actually be detrimental” because “risks from the loss of nutrients [are] greater than the risks of harm from exposure to trace contaminants” according to a peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet.

Omega-3 fatty acids (DHA and EPA) found in fish are integral parts of a developing baby’s brain. In fact, they “make up more than one-half of a newborn baby’s brain, and the DHA content on the brain triples during the first 3 months of life.” Omega-3s also boost babies’ eye development, help them sleep well and lead to “more favorable child development,” including higher IQs. Likewise, pregnant and breastfeeding women experience positive health outcomes. They have less risk of depression, which “ appears to be virtually absent in countries with high seafood intake.” And they have a reduced possibility of heart disease, the number one cause of death for American women.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) urge pregnant and breastfeeding women to eat at least 2-3 servings (8-12 ounces) of a variety of commercially caught cooked seafood; the only four fish to avoid are shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish. But this group isn’t meeting the DGA recommendations. The FDA found that the median seafood intake is 1.89 ounces for pregnant women and 2.17 ounces for postpartum women.

As Dr. Gary Myers, found in a years-long University of Rochester study of pregnant women and children in the Seychelles Islands, “If somebody who eats fish twice a day does not show effects from mercury exposure, it’s unlikely that somebody who eats fish twice a week will be affected.”

Exaggerated claims about the potential for harm to unborn children are based on industrial poisonings 50 or more years ago in Japan and Iraq where fish became polluted and toxic, not from naturally occurring mercury found in trace amounts in all fish.

There is no parallel between industrial accidents involving mercury and the normal consumption of commercial seafood. Fish is brain food and you can’t build a baby’s brain without it.

Rhetoric: The risks of methylmercury far surpass the health benefits of consuming even the minimum recommended amount of fish.

Reality:“It is striking how much greater both the amount of the evidence and the size of the health effect are for health benefits, compared with health risks. Seafood is likely the single most important food one can consume for good health,” explains Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian of the Harvard School of Public Health.

This conclusion — that the health benefits of eating fish far outweigh the hypothetical risks associated with trace amounts of organic methylmercury in all commercial seafood — is reaffirmed by theInstitute of Medicine (IOM), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) and countless other institutions. Seafood protects against heart disease , depression,dementia and premature death . Conclusive evidence even shows that not eating enough fish can cause dangerous health consequences.

Still, environmental organizations continue to willfully ignore scientific consensus, instead advancing fear-based risk narratives that [depress] “fish consumption” and diminish “the potential health benefits derived from [omega-3] EPA + DHA.”

 

The real risk to your health is not eating fish at least two times a week to benefit from the protein, omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients found in fish.

Scan the websites of deep-pocketed environmental groups and youll see dire warnings and ominous watch lists warning consumers about seafood. Comb through your favorite health and fitness magazines and youll see cautionary advice about canned tuna. Watch the news and youll see scary tales of rising mercury levels in the ocean due to coal pollution.

But all of those warnings about danger and risk-based reporting are utterly at odds with what the leading medical institutions and government authorities have firmly established: Fish is safe, and Americans should be eating plenty more of it.

Thats why were launching Reality Check: the Real Story About Fish and Mercury and this blog, Tackle Box. Here well correct the latest false claims about mercury in seafood, expose the collusion between activists and journalists, and hold the media accountable for failing to fact-check and clearly communicate scientific research.

Experts have long known that its tough to get Americans to eat healthier. And its nearly impossible when activists spread distorted, alarmist and inaccurate information even though it jeopardizes peoples health by causing them to eat less of or eliminate one of the healthiest foods on the planet.

People tend to be more frightened by the threat of a harm than encouraged by the promise of a benefit, said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian of the Harvard School of Public Health, People get confused; they get the wrong message.

Were here to change that. Come back to our blog for the latest updates.

Rodale, publisher of Prevention, Mens Health and Womens Health, wants to make it simple for readers:

The news can be confusing and contradictory. … We take the confusion out of understanding your health [and] your environment. And we add a level of common sense and moderation that has been sadly lacking in the current sensation-seeking news landscape.

Yes, health news certainly can be confusing and contradictory when it comes from Rodale. Its seafood articles (here, here and here) are sensationalized, deceptive and sometimes downright wrong. Inflammatory headlines (The Biggest Problem with U.S. Fish) and misleading photos and captions (A moment on your plate a lifetime of insulin shots?) further contribute to Rodales faulty reporting.

It appears editors Emily Main and Leah Zerbe have let their green agendas trump their journalistic duties to convey factual, objective information. Worse, they have refused to correct their errors when we pointed them out. Here are some jaw-dropping examples:

• Tuna poses a mercury threat.
• Its a lose-lose when you put orange roughy on your plate. Its one of the most mercury-packed fish on the market.
• You want to limit lobster meals to fewer than six a month.
• Mercury is building up in some of Americas favorite seafood dishes as ocean pollution reaches unprecedented levels.
• “Freshwater fish make up about half of the fish eaten in the U.S. each year.”
• Mercury contamination can lead to lowered IQ in children, but its also bad for adults.
• “Choosing sustainably caught, contaminant-free fish could help you stave off diabetes, according to a new study in the journal Diabetes Care.”

Clearly, Rodale prefers scaremongering (to attract more readers, undoubtedly) to educating. Which is why well clarify its bungled seafood advice with the facts:

Tuna is safe. The FDA maintains that canned tuna is beneficial and thus pose[s] no reasonable possibility of injury through at least 24.5 ounces per week. It is also notable for the net effects it produces relative to other fish.

All commercial fish, including tuna, contain mercury in at least trace amounts. The vast majority of the methylmercury found in commercial seafood is organic and caused by underwater volcanic activity; it has been this way for millennia. Still, to ensure that American families do not need to be concerned, the FDA enforces a mercury limit of 1.0 parts per million (ppm), which includes a built-in safety factor of 1,000 percent. Canned light tuna, which contains 0.13 ppm, and canned albacore tuna, which contains 0.35 ppm, are on the FDAs list of fish and shellfish low in mercury.

Mercury levels in fish have remained unchanged over the years. According to the FDA, there are no measurable differences over time in mercury concentrations in commercial fish generally, nor does the FDA database on mercury concentrations in commercial fish reveal a trend toward increasing concentrations. In fact, levels of mercury in commercial seafood are just as they were nearly 100 years ago. As expected, there has also been no change in exposures to organic mercury, e.g., methylmercury in pregnant women over a period of time.

The vast majority of wild-caught commercial seafood comes from the ocean. When activist groups raise concerns about fish safety, theyre referring to fish recreationally caught in local rivers and streams which make up less than one percent of the fish and seafood that Americans consume annually not the commercial ocean fish you order in restaurants and buy at supermarkets. More than 86 percent of the seafood we eat in the U.S. is imported. The seafood that does come from America is primarily from the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and New Englandfisheries that are not primarily fresh water.

Experts recommend that Americans eat more seafood, not less. The USDAs 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) urge the general population to increase the amount and variety of seafood consumed by choosing seafood in place of some meat and poultry.

Fish is essential for babies, children, pregnant women and adults. The omega-3s, selenium and vitamins in fish protect against heart disease, dementia and premature death in adults and boost babies eye development and lead to more favorable child development, including higher IQs. Conclusive evidence even shows that not eating enough fish can cause dangerous health consequences.

Eating seafood could save your life. Fish will protect your heart. Researchers at Harvard University found that some 84,000 cardiac-related deaths could be prevented each year with proper servings of fish in the diet. The American Heart Association has also demonstrated that eating two servings of fish a week contributed to a 36 percent reduction in deaths from a sudden heart attack. And a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine proved that a reduced incidence of major cardiovascular events would occur if people followed a Mediterranean diet, which includes fish loaded with omega-3 fatty acids.

The new study in Diabetes Care is by no means conclusive. But it did find that that the potential adverse effect of mercury exposure, presumably derived from diet, may be attenuated by other nutrients, in particular [omega-3s] and magnesium. Other evidence points to less risk of diabetes with greater fish consumption.

If you really want to make it simple, heres some sound advice: Eat more fish.

And if you want to add a level of common sense? Avoid Rodales articles.