Contents:
- Medical Video: How Does Mercury Get Into Fish?
- What is mercury?
- Do all marine fish contain mercury?
- Who should be susceptible to being affected by the mercury content of seafood?
- Safe, how often can we eat seafood?
Medical Video: How Does Mercury Get Into Fish?
Do you and your family like to eat sea fish or other seafood such as shrimp, crabs, squid, etc.? If so, then you must be careful with chemicals that may be present inside seafoodyou eat. One of the body's most dangerous substances is mercury.
What is mercury?
Mercury is a chemical that is the product of waste from various human activities, such as combustion, agriculture, and waste from factories that use mercury. Household waste and waste from factories are usually dumped into rivers and end at sea. In water, mercury is transformed into a substance called methylmercury. Then methylmercury binds to proteins in the fish muscle
If you eat fish or seafood containing mercury, the mercury will also be consumed and cause various adverse effects on health. The inedible mercury will accumulate in the body, it can even affect breast milk in mothers who are breastfeeding. The amount of methylmercury that has been accumulated can be toxic to the nervous system which can cause health problems and even disruption of growth and development of fetuses whose mothers consume fish contaminated with mercury.
Do all marine fish contain mercury?
Actually, almost all fish and other seafood sources have been contaminated with mercury. However, basically seafood is a good source of food and high in protein and various other nutrients such as minerals, unsaturated fats, and omega-3 fatty acids. For healthy people, eat sea fish or seafood contaminated with mercury will not cause problems. For example in America, it is known that people who often eat sea fish have mercury levels in the blood that are considered safe, ie less than 5.8 mcg per liter.
A study has reported that there are people who consume sushi twice a day for a decade, who then feel symptoms such as numbness in some parts of the body and impaired balance and coordination, it turns out it has a mercury level of 72 mcg per liter in its blood, where the figure is 12 times higher than the prescribed safe limit. The more you eat fish or seafood contaminated with mercury, the more the amount of mercury accumulates in the blood. Therefore, it should be noted that age groups are very vulnerable to the effects of mercury contamination. One of them is a baby and fetus in the womb, because mercury can, disrupt the growth and development of the child's nervous system.
Who should be susceptible to being affected by the mercury content of seafood?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommend reducing consumption of various food sources from the sea for some groups that are vulnerable to mercury, such as:
- Women who plan to get pregnant
- Women who are pregnant
- Mothers who are breastfeeding
- Baby
The group is very susceptible to mercury, so they may not consume fish that contain high mercury and may only consume seafood that is low in mercury several times a week.
Safe, how often can we eat seafood?
The process of preparing and cooking seafood will not be able to reduce the mercury levels in these foods. Therefore, you must know what types of fish are low in mercury and not harmful to the body. Here are tips for consuming seafood safety:
- For seafood containing high mercury, namely sharks, king mackerel, tuna bigeye, swordfish or sword, yellow fin tuna, it is better to avoid these types of fish. Especially for groups that are vulnerable to mercury, it is not recommended to consume these fish.
- Maximum consumption of 340 grams in one week. Fish that can be consumed as many as 340 grams or about two servings per week are salmon, shrimp, sardines, canned tuna, pollock fish, anchovies, trout, and herrin fish.
- Maximum consumption of 170 grams or one serving per week. To avoid mercury poisoning, it is recommended to consume as much as 170 grams of fish in one week, except for fish that have been known to have high mercury.
If you have consumed one portion of fish or seafood in one portion a week, you should not consume other types of seafood in the same week. However, consumption of seafood beyond the recommended amount in one week will not directly change the levels of methylmercury in the body. These recommendations are only just a portion that is safe to eat, you may not consume it seafood the following week if you have consumed a lot seafood the previous week.
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