mercury in fish

[mamatoady]

Does anyone know the pregnancy rules for eating fish? Specifically mahi mahi, shrimp, and lobster? I know fresh water fish from Michigan (where I live) is a BIG no-no,the mercury level is TOXIC.

thanks!
Sarah

[flyingspaghettimama]

This is a handy guide:
http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp

where you can look up specific fish. They do not specifically have health issues in mind, but if you cross check against lists for pregnancy, there is usually a pretty good correlation.

http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_regional.aspx is for the midwest in particular.

This is a website that's fairly alarmist but it probably has the most conservative approach to the seafood - important to me because it's the only source of meat protein I eat.

http://www.mercola.com/2001/apr/25/mercury_fish.htm

[mamatoady]

thank you for those sites. Everything was listed except for lobster tail. Any idea on that?

[wawoof]

Here's a really good and well-researched site with recommendations and criticisms of inadequate government recommendations:

http://www.ewg.org/reports/brainfood/sidebar.html

[flyingspaghettimama]

Here's a new site for calculating your mercury intake:
http://www.gotmercury.org/

[emomama]

wow, thanks for posting the gotmercury site... holy crap. i've been totally craving tuna but have been holding back because i wasn't sure about the mercury levels... now i'm really glad i did! i put in just two cans of tuna a week thinking that's what i'd eat if i could and it came out to be 170% which is extremely high! man... guess i'll have to tell my body to crave something else... :p

[PicnicBear]

I'm wary of the mercury in seafood. I have been taking Cod Liver Oil instead. I do eat some seafood if I know it's OK, like wild caught salmon. I've read so many great things about CLO and pregnancy/nursing: the omega 3's are important for brain development and it can also prevent you from getting PPD, or so I've read. I take it as a supplement anyway and my husband said he thinks a lot clearer on it, although I haven't noticed that effect. Also, it has lots of natural vit. A and D.