Sushi Scare?
January 25, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
My son Charlie, as I’ve noted more than a few times, loves sushi. So has my worry quotient gone up in light of the recent reports about high mercury levels in tuna sushi?
Well, no.
First, while Charlie sometimes choose a “waikiki pack” with some tuna sushi, his preference is for salmon, California rolls, shrimp, and eel. In anticipation of someone googling “eel mercury” to point out toxic levels of toxins in other types of sushi, I guess I have to say that I’m not exactly worried about mercury causing autism in Charlie seeing how he has autism, already.
Photo courtesy of aloalosabine via Flickr
Eleanor may like Japanese food as in tofu,teriyaki and tempura, but sushi and sashimi is not something she eats anyway, and we all dislike canned tuna. I stayed away from the raw stuff when I was pregnant because of concern with parasites as much as anything.
I don’t see the data supporting a thiomersal-autism link, but I don’t need to live life too dangerously with the MeHg, so I think my maguro intake is going to be 1X/year.
Well, while I don’t buy the thimerosal autism theory, the fact remains that mercury–in large enough quantities–isn’t a good thing to be eating. That it doesn’t cause autism in the miniscule amounts that used to be in vaccines really doesn’t undermine the fact that it can be toxic! I think I’ll stay away from the tuna sushi for a while…
That is so cool that Charlie loves Sushi. M won’t eat it but she loves Chinese and some Japanese meals. Chinese is her favorite…pineapple chicken.
Fortunately there are many types of fish—-
Mmmmsushi. Salmon is my favorite too.
“Fortunately there are many types of fish—-”
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To be honest, because of professional interests, I looked at the Hg content, among other things, in fish years ago before the Times article came out and continue to do so.You’re right that there are other options; those happen to be the ones that we choose to purchase for table, but I think that it’s prudent to take the metal, PCB and pathogen advisories if the EPA and FDA or a department of health chooses to issue such
http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/fishadvice/advice.html
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/seafood1.html
And inari sushi.
I always eat the smallest fish, only.
Sardines and herring, yay.
I do miss the teeny-weeny sardines we used to be able to get. With the bigger ones, I sometimes find myself gagging a bit on the fins and the vertebrae.
I have to admit: I ate tuna during my first pregnancy, and we had TH, who is diagnosed on the spectrum, either Asperger’s or HFA (depends on what day it is). I was so convinced that maybe that had something to with it that I did not TOUCH tuna or any other fish during my subsequent (two) pregnancies AND I took chelated fish oil supplements during pregnancy 3 because my husband had read some things about that. Our third son may as well be a clone of our first. So much for that idea–at least as far as our anecdotal history goes.
How does Charlie feel about wasabi?
He doesn’t eat it—-loves the pickled ginger.
Somewhere in my childhood, I developed an allergy to shellfish that is atypical to the regular not breathing allergic reaction. No, instead my body just tries to expel it from my system as fast as possible and as thoroughly as possible.