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How much tuna are you eating, and how much should you eat? As you may know, tuna has a certain level of mercury in it. Mercury is a toxic metal that can cause a variety of symptoms depending on what your body’s mercury level is. Extreme exposure can cause severe cognitive decline and dementia.Here’s a little trivia for you: In the old days, mercury was used in the manufacture of the brims of hats. Because “hatters” were exposed to such high levels, they frequently would find themselves in a demented state later in life, hence the term “Mad Hatter”.In lower body mercury levels, other nerve system damage can cause numbness, tingling, fatigue and other “I just don’t feel right” symptoms.

Based on your weight and gender, it is recommended to only eat a certain amount of tuna per week. For example, a 145 pound woman can safely eat 13.2oz of light tuna per week. That’s about 2 and a quarter cans of tuna. The same woman can safely eat only 4.5oz of tuna per week, which is about 3/4 of a can. Albacore tuna has three times as much mercury as light tuna. As a matter of fact, women of childbearing age and children under the age of 5 should not eat Albacore tuna at all due to its toxicity. Keep in mind that this is assuming that you’re not eating any other seafood.

Getting your mercury levels tested is simple and easy. The test is non-invasive and the therapy is reasonable. Contact Desert Naturopathic Health today to get your questions answered!

You can visit the Environmental Working Group’s “Tuna Calculator” to determine how much tuna you can safely eat per week. As a side note, Wild Alaskan Salmon is probably the best fish you can eat that has the lowest levels of heavy metals. It is high in Omega-3 fatty acids which are beneficial for so many things I’d have to do another blog. Maybe I will!

In Good Health,
Jason W. Jensen, NMD