Mercury in Fish NOT Harmless, Regardless of Cysteine, Selenium, EPA or DHA! Plus: No Cardioprotective Effect of Omega-3 in Men With Higher Hair Mercury Levels
Image 1: Nice! Luckily nothing you will catch everyday, because if you ate this little bastard, a Tile Fish from the Gulf of Mexico, everyday, you could - in the worst case - be consuming 933µg of mercury with every 250g serving! "Mercury from fish is not a problem, because you get plenty of selenium to counter it... moreover it's mostly protein bound, already..." - Another Myth Busted!? I must admit, I did believe (without ever checking scientific references) the common mantra that the mercury (Hg) content of fish would not actually be a problem, as long as there is enough selenium (Se) in the fish to "buffer" the Hg load. Now, this certainly makes sense and even very recent studies confirm that the effective uptake is reduced with higher Se:Hg ratios (e.g. Calatayud. 2012). Moreover, the notion that selenium exerts a protective effect is bolstered by data from various indigenous populations in the Brazilian Amazon (Lemire. 2011). Cysteine, Omega-3 ...
