Table of contents:
- What is mercury?
- Do all marine fish contain mercury?
- Who should be susceptible to the impact of mercury content from seafood?
- It is safe, how often can we eat seafood?
Do you and your family like to eat sea fish or other seafood such as shrimp, crab, squid, etc.? If so, then you have to be careful with any chemicals that may be present in it seafoodthat you eat. One of the most harmful substances to both the body is mercury.
What is mercury?
Mercury is a chemical substance that is a waste product from various human activities, such as burning, agriculture, and waste from factories that use mercury. Household waste and waste from factories, usually discharged into rivers and ends up in the sea. In water, mercury turns into a substance called methylmercury. Then the methylmercury binds to the proteins present in fish muscles
If you eat fish or seafood which contains mercury, the mercury will also be consumed and cause various adverse health effects. Mercury that is ingested will accumulate in the body, and can even affect breast milk in breastfeeding mothers. The amount of methylmercury that has accumulated can be toxic to the nervous system which can cause health problems and even impair the growth and development of fetuses whose mothers eat fish contaminated with mercury.
Do all marine fish contain mercury?
In fact, almost all fish and other seafood sources have been contaminated with mercury. However, basically seafood is a good food source and is high in protein and various other nutrients such as minerals, unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids. For healthy people, eat fish or sea fish seafood contaminated with mercury will not cause a problem. For example, in America, it is known that people who frequently eat sea fish have levels of mercury in the blood which are considered safe, which is less than 5.8 mcg per liter.
A study has reported that there are people who eat sushi twice a day for a decade, who then feel symptoms such as numbness in several parts of the body and disturbances in balance and coordination, actually have mercury levels of 72 mcg per liter in their blood, where This figure is 12 times higher than the safe limit that has been determined. The more fish or seafood that is contaminated with mercury, the more mercury will collect in the blood. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the age group that is very vulnerable to the impact of mercury contamination. One of them is babies and fetuses in the womb, because mercury can, interfere with the growth and development of the child's nervous system.
Who should be susceptible to the impact of mercury content from seafood?
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends reducing the consumption of various food sources from the sea for several groups that are vulnerable to mercury, such as:
- Women planning to become pregnant
- Women who are pregnant
- Mothers who are breastfeeding
- Baby
This group is very vulnerable to mercury, so they should not eat fish that is high in mercury and can only eat seafood that is low in mercury a few times a week.
It is safe, how often can we eat seafood?
The process of preparing and cooking seafood will not reduce the mercury levels in the food. Therefore, you must know what types of fish are low in mercury and are not harmful to the body. Here are tips for consuming seafood safety:
- For seafood that contains high mercury, namely sharks, king mackerel, tuna bigeye, swordfish or swordfish, yellowfin tuna, these are best avoided. Especially for groups that are prone to mercury, it is not advisable to eat this fish.
- Consume a maximum of 340 grams in one week. Fish that can be consumed as much as 340 grams or about two servings per week are salmon, shrimp, sardines, canned tuna, pollock, anchovies, trout, and herrin.
- Consume a maximum of 170 grams or one serving per week. To avoid mercury poisoning, it is recommended to consume 170 grams of fish a week, except for fish that are known to have high mercury.
If you are already consuming one serving of one type of fish or seafood per week, you should not eat any other seafood sources in the same week. However, consuming more seafood than the recommended amount in one week will not directly change the methylmercury levels in the body. The recommendation is only a benchmark for safe portions to eat, you may not consume it seafood the following week if you've consumed a lot seafood the week before.
