Poisoning by Eating 3 Cans of Tuna Per Week?

Not necessarily, most of the research regarding mercury exposure from fish like tuna has been conducted fairly recently (within past 10 years). Also as you pointed out earlier, the sample population of people who consume massive quantities of tuna is pretty small- likely not large enough to draw conclusive results from for a epidemiology study.

I don’t think its a good idea to assume that something is safe because you don’t see a lot of scientific literature on it.

I think that if you need to eat more tuna now because you are broke, that’s fine. It’s not as if you will be eating 6 cans a day for the rest of your life. Our bodies are pretty amazing at what they can take and overcome.

Once your financial hardships are over, you can stop eating it for a while and then bring it back into your diet in smaller quantities.

[quote]dfreezy wrote:
I don’t think its a good idea to assume that something is safe because you don’t see a lot of scientific literature on it.[/quote]

Those were not my words at all, and I didn’t make that assumption/connection.

I’m saying for the hype in the media, and the conventional wisdom that massive tuna ingestion leads to mercury poisoning, I would expect to see more true published case studies.

I’d like to see a reference where more of these studies have been done in the past 10 years. Where are those studies?

Tuna Facts (from TunaFoundation.org)

http://www.tunafacts.com/tunascience/factsvsfiction.html

Not saying there’s not a potential bias here, but it’s a rare rebuttal to ‘conventional wisdom’ and an interesting read.

http://www.fda.gov/fdac/reprints/mercury.html

It seems that the tuna species that are generally canned have lower mercury levels than sushi grade or tuna steaks. The levels are also much lower than swordfish and shark. If you’re not pregnant (or a fetus) it’s perfectly safe to eat several cans a week as long as you’re not eating sushi, swordfish and shark as well.

Methyl mercury damage is neurological and problems can hide for years before manifesting so even if you don’t feel symptomatic (tingly lips and fingers occur first) you may experience trouble later in life.

I’m no doomsayer but I try to limit myself to a can a day or less. I mix it with red beans and brown rice to bump up the protein and fiber content cheaply. It actually tastes pretty good with a dollop of salsa.

FISH ON!