Younger women and children should limit the amount of tuna they eat and pregnant women should not eat tuna at all, because of mercury levels found in the canned and packaged fish, says new report in the January 2011 issue of Consumer Reports.
Albacore or white tuna usually contains far more mercury than light tuna, according to Consumer Reports , and canned tuna is the most common source of mercury in our diet.
In order to test current levels, investigators for the periodical tested 42 samples from cans and pouches of tuna bought mostly in the New York City area. They found all the samples contained measurable levels of mercury, ranging from 0.018 to 0.774 parts per million. Samples of white tuna had 0.217 to 0.774 ppm of mercury and averaged 0.427 ppm. According to Consumer Reports, if a woman of childbearing age ate about half a can of any of the tested samples, she would exceed the daily mercury intake the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe.
The Food and Drug Administration and the EPA guidelines indicate women of childbearing age and young children may eat up to 12 ounces a week of light tuna or other "low in mercury" seafood, including, within that limit, up to 6 ounces per week of white tuna. But Consumer Reports believes that may be too much. Because mercury can cause defects to the nervous system during fetal development, Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, advises pregnant women, as a precaution, to avoid eating tuna. It also advises that children who weigh more than 45 pounds limit their intake to 12.5 ounces of light tuna or 4 ounces of white tuna per week, and children who weigh less than 45 pounds consume no more than 4 ounces of light tuna or 1.5 ounces of white tuna.
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