Dr. Mercola says to eat NO FISH?

[goodsamaritan]

I just bought a kilo of swordfish for sashimi this evening for the entire family.

The ocean is a whole lot bigger than land masses.

I'd bet more on ocean creature nutrition than land animal nutrition any time.

I say ocean creatures are the last frontier.

Will enjoy my sword fish and my sea urchin this evening with my family.

[Iguana]

Well, good luck.

Thanks, Michaelwh: it's good to have another point of view. I've eaten tuna quite often and I will continue to do so, but of course not every day and I prefer the small ones. I'm more wary about swordfish because it contains in average as much as 4 times more mercury than tuna. It doesn't mean that we should never eat it, but eating some everyday during a whole live is certainly not advisable! On the contrary, having a large piece of raw swordfish once in a way or even regularly during a short period is not likely to be dangerous; on the contrary it can be very beneficial.

[TylerDurden]

Actually, the only vaguely reliable study that mercury-in-fish activists can cite is the Faroes study. The trouble is that the Seychelles study has, according to reports, far more solid data by comparison to the Faroes study and it has been going on for many years as well. The Faroes study was of a much shorter duration and only cited a 0.25 IQ-point difference which is so tiny that it is well within standard deviation and is therefore unlikely to be correct.


I back those anti-saturated fat studies as there are just too many of them showing a clear drop in health from consumption thereof. I have already stated that, while their evidence is fine given so many supporting sources, their conclusions are clearly false. They cite saturated fat as the problem when it is actually the heat-created toxins in foods high in cooked saturated fats, which are the real problem.

[KD]

I don't think what I cited was particularly unique to aajonus. If somone is on a conventional diet, they likely won't have any kind of system in place for removing mercury or other toxins from their body. This can become an issue for lots of things from bacteria to parasites to environmental stuff. I think this is fairly agreeable.

I believe Aajonus has stated that fish and seafoods will aid directly in removal of mercury where perhaps other foods would not, but I can only have a suspicion that this cold be true and wasn't presenting that as an idea really. More or less all I was saying was that a healthy diet should be a better starting point to not worry about excess mercury, and that seafoods themselves could still be part of this healthy diet.

As to even high levels of mercury being acceptable as shown in a few isolated peoples, this I think ironically does point to the negative dependability of studies, as you can pick people all around the globe that have high this or that or habits deemed 'good' or 'bad' and still maintain reasonable levels of health. I think it its pretty safe to say that a build up of mercury is not that desirable. The issue then for me would be making sure I'm not building up large quantities of mercury, but not necessarily micromanaging my intake towards 0.

[Hanna]

but it's just something to think about before deciding to "eat plenty of raw swordfish, as often as possible"

I doubt that the mercury will make things worse in Tyler´s case.

[TylerDurden]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AxBxpB-fEw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism's_False_Prophets

[Hanna]

Hanna, what do you want to show me with your links? They don't work as they are, here it is http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3-Fetts%C3%A4uren#Vorkommen

The article states that more than about 500 g tuna a month is potentially toxic because of its mercury content.

[sabertooth]

What about someone who is six months pregnant? I'd be grateful if you guys would give your opinions on pregnant ladies' intake of fish.

I'm "Sabertooth's" ( ) wife... I am almost 25 weeks pregnant. I've been craving fish like crazy for the past two days, but the OB-GYN I am seeing says that pregnant women should severely limit their intake of fish, unless it's farm-raised, to be "safe". But I've been craving all kinds of fish so badly... I think I need it, for sure.   

It's rather interesting to read these studies you guys linked to... 

[TylerDurden]

The evidence against the mercury notions is pretty damning, so you don't need to worry re this scare. Indeed, there are plenty of studies showing benefits for pregnant women eating fish eg:-

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607602773/fulltext

(the irony of the above study is that it showed that those who consumed the least seafood during pregnancy had children with the lowest IQs).

Her advice to eat farmed fish is insane as farmed fish contain harmful chemicals. Plus, if the absurd mercury-in-the-environment notions were true, then farmed fish would be just as contaminated with mercury(that is, unless fish-farmers have some artificial means to remove mercury).

[RawZi]

What about someone who is six months pregnant? I'd be grateful if you guys would give your opinions on pregnant ladies' intake of fish.

I'm "Sabertooth's" ( ) wife... I am almost 25 weeks pregnant. I've been craving fish like crazy for the past two days, but the OB-GYN I am seeing says that pregnant women should severely limit their intake of fish, unless it's farm-raised, to be "safe". But I've been craving all kinds of fish so badly... I think I need it, for sure.   

It's rather interesting to read these studies you guys linked to... 

    Hi Mrs Sabertooth.  I'm a woman, a mom, I've been pregnant, given birth (no drugs) etc.  Yes there are more toxins in the world than there used to be and more in the water.  Do you eat marrow?  How are you with edible seaweed?  If I were you I would not eat cooked fish and I would not eat most farmed fishes.  Pregnant women can have some of the best intuition.  If you are craving fish, it might be that fish is the best food for you and for your little one.  Maybe its the fetus that's "calling" for it.  I would also avoid raw fresh water fish.  Otherwise, it might be best that you just go with your instincts.  Of course a medical OB-GYN will tell you to do everything the straightlaced way.  He could lose his position otherwise.  This is your child though, and if his advice hurts your child, it's not him that's going to pay.  It's your child, and you experience this child in a way the doctor does not.

[Iguana]

Exactly, well said, RawZi and Tyler. And not only farmed fish contains harmful known chemicals and pollutants: worse they heavily loaded with an innumerable number of unknown new chemical species produced by heat in the fodder they are fed. 

[sabertooth]

It's the wife here again! Thanks Tyler, RawZi, and Iguana. I appreciate your opinions/advice... I think I will go ahead and eat fish and other seafood as I wish - and definitely not the farmed variety!

RawZi - I'm just beginning to open my mind (and mouth) to a raw diet, therefore I've never eaten much raw foods. I am just sticking my toe in these new and uncharted waters, so to speak. I do think that I will eat the fish/oysters raw, though. I'm ready to try... It will be a long road for me, though. On top of a chronic illness (Type 1 diabetes), I also have a lot of addiction problems with carbohydrates/sugar, and it began in babyhood. I believe it is yeast overgrowth as well as conditioning, and it's so hard to break free from.

For instance, after I had our first child in 2006, I asked my mother if I could look through my baby book to compare pictures since our son looks so much like me. While leafing through, I stumbled across a page in it about the baby's firsts. Under "First Food" my mother had written, "Chocolate ice cream, 4 months old, May 1988. Loved it".  Me:    My mother couldn't see "the big deal" and thought it was "funny" how much the 4 month old me had gobbled up. Growing up I had McDonalds once a week for dinner throughout childhood, and anything else was canned or from a frozen bag - when I met my husband, I had never eaten a grapefruit in all my life and looked at him puzzled when he mentioned buying some tilapia for dinner, because I had no idea what tilapia was. Fish to me was the breaded, nameless kind from Wal-Mart's freezer section or handed over the counter at a fast food place. And surprisingly, I got Type 1 diabetes at age 9. I'm just thankful that I don't have obesity/digestive problems, too!  

I'm off to ask Mr. Sabertooth ( ) to bring home some raw oysters for me.

[Iguana]

I am just sticking my toe in these new and uncharted waters, so to speak.

Don’t worry, those water have been charted since the 60s by the pioneers (our member GCB, family and friends) and I’m sailing on it since January 87. 

On top of a chronic illness (Type 1 diabetes), I also have a lot of addiction problems with carbohydrates/sugar, and it began in babyhood. I believe it is yeast overgrowth as well as conditioning, and it's so hard to break free from.

Don’t confuse cooked carbohydrates and processed sugars (especially refined white sugar, which is chemically pure saccharose) with raw, natural ones found in a wide array of different plants and fruits. Sugars and carbs are essential components of life! When their intake is instinctively regulated, wild sources of sugars don’t cause any problems, even in case of diabetes, and are very suitable nutrients. 

[CHK91]

A person who is malnourished will have a body incapable of handling heavy metals. Ironically, it may be the vegans and vegetarians who are more likely for mercury toxicity than fish eaters. There are protein complexes known as metallothionein in the body that are important in eliminating mercury and other heavy metals from the body. It requires zinc, cysteine, and selenium for proper function and these nutrients would be low on low protein vegan diets without red meat. The rich selenium content in fish along with bioavailable cysteine supports this function. Just make sure you eat red meat too.

I'm wary of Mercola at times because he always wants to sell something to you.

[laterade]

I'm wary of Mercola at times because he always wants to sell something to you.

Last I heard... at "longevity now", he claimed that he believes he will live to be 150.

[Caveman]

I'm not scared of eating any wild fish, and I'm not scared of Mercola either. It was rather irritating listening to him in a clip from the longevity conference.