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A model, actress, environmental activist, and--most important--mom, Amber Valletta finds it tough to keep track of all the advice you hear on keeping your kids healthy. Still, as the spokesperson for Oceana's Campaign to Stop Seafood Contamination, Valletta says she's learned a thing or two about mercury in fish.
Here are some of her tips for feeding your kids seafood, which can be part of a healthy diet, without feeding them a hefty side portion of mercury--a neurotoxin that can be unhealthy at certain levels--at the same time.
1. Choose low-mercury fish: In other words, those that are small and low on the food chain. Because mercury bioaccumulates as it goes up the marine food chain, small fish, like tilapia and cod, as well as shellfish, like shrimp, crab, and oysters, have low mercury levels. To help people remember this, the Washington State Department of Health has made a very handy pocket guide to mercury levels in fish.
2. Limit fish consumption to 12 oz. a week for kids and young women, especially those of us that might consider becoming pregnant: Because mercury is a neurotoxin that can affect children, babies and fetuses at lower doses than adults, it's most important for kids and women who are pregnant, nursing, or may become pregnant to avoid high-mercury fish and limit fish consumption. Keep in mind that your body can take a while to eliminate the mercury that you consumed before you got pregnant, so if there's any chance you may become pregnant soon, it's best to be cautious about mercury in fish.
3. To help keep all of our kids mercury-free, donate to causes such as Oceana's Campaign to Stop Seafood Contamination: Oceana is working hard to reduce the amount of mercury pollution released to the environment and to educate the public about mercury in seafood.
4. Choose "chunk light tuna" or canned wild Alaskan salmon over "solid white albacore tuna": The average level of mercury in cans of chunk light tuna, usually skipjack tuna, tested by the Food and Drug Administration was about one third the average mercury level in the cans of albacore they tested. If your family can adjust, you might try switching to canned salmon, instead of tuna, which is even lower in mercury and higher in Omega-3s. For more info, check out Oceana's page about mercury in canned fish.
5. Tell your grocery store to post signs containing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advice about mercury for women of child-bearing age and children at their seafood counters: Oceana has already gotten 30 percent of major U.S. grocery companies to post this information, but they're still working to get even more on board.
Difficulty level: Moderate
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