Seafood is a superfood and no public health professional anywhere suggests Americans eat less of it. In fact, there is total consensus in the qualified health space that people need to eat more. The just released U.S. Dietary Guidelines note in its Scientific Foundation Document that consumers should aim for three or more servings of seafood per week. There’s no qualifying or fear mongering, just facts.
A recent article, ostensibly about concerns over the weakening of the Environmental Protection Agency, leans on an old anti-seafood enviro-crusader strategy intended to develop a narrative that intentionally omits fundamental facts and is designed to make people eat less seafood.
The report from an Indiana University biogeochemist tracks how power plant pollution increases mercury levels in rivers, soil, and fish. Functionally the headline delivers a warning that promises to track, “How Poisonous Mercury Can Get From Coal-Fired Power Plants Into Fish You Eat.” The strategic omissions begin almost immediately.
If you are subsistence or recreational fishing on the banks of the White River in Indianapolis perhaps you should be alarmed and dig into this article… if you are anyone else on the planet earth, you can skip it.
Throughout the more than 1,000 word write up the author never pauses to note definitively that this report has nothing to do with commercial seafood whatsoever. So, the “fish you eat” part of the headline is directed at a subpopulation so infinity small that to even qualify as local news might be a stretch.
Here are the fundamental facts that were left on the cutting room floor; there are no cases of mercury toxicity attributed to the normal consumption of commercial seafood found in any published peer-reviewed medical journal. By way of example, the average American eats close to 20 pounds of seafood annually. The average consumer in Japan eats closer to 120 pounds. Even at nearly ten times the amount of seafood consumed, there is no epidemic of mercury toxicity in Japan.
Low consumption of the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish is the second-biggest dietary contributor to preventable deaths in the United States, taking a total of 84,000 lives each year. In fact, regular weekly seafood consumption can reduce the risk of fatal heart attack by 36 percent.
Click bait headlines followed by articles that fail to provide clear facts, intentionally impact people’s perception of a food doctor’s say they should eat more of. These aren’t accidents or editorial oversights, they’re calculated and deliberate. A simple way writers can avoid this indictment is by telling the whole story.
For another recent example of the sins of omission tactic that has become a rinse and repeat approach, you might want to read about the time Consumer Reports was busted for doing the same thing.
