Should You Eat Mercury Contaminated Fish To Get More Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids?
ByThere is now little doubt about the health benefits of Omega3 oils. These have been well publicised recently and more and more people are becoming aware that the vast majority of us are deficient in our Omega3 fatty acid intake. Of course these essential fatty acids are found in fish oil which comes from fish, but how do we increase our intake of omega 3 when fish is contaminated with Mercury?
There has been a study published this year which has looked at Mercury contamination of fish in the North Pacific Ocean. It found that the level of Mercury in the North Pacific has increased 30 percent over 10 years from 1996 to 2006.
Not only that but it also concluded that around 40 percent of all Mercury exposure of people in the US came from tuna consumption from tuna caught in the Pacific.
This is seriously worrying, because you do not want to be eating too much Mercury. It is a neurotoxin and it has serious health implications for adults, but in particular for the fetus and for infants.
Atmospheric production of Mercury as well as Mercury leakage from Asia were the major ways that it was found that Mercury made its way into the oceans. It is found in the oceans as methylmercury, and is found in our tuna because it starts at the bottom of the food chain and works it's way up right up to fish at the top of the food chain like shark and tuna. And we eat shark and tuna.
This creates a dilemma for people who recognise our inadequate levels of Omega3 intake in our diets and you wish to increase their intake of fish to increase their intake of omega3 oils. By eating more fish, whilst increasing your intake of essential fatty acids, you also increasing your exposure to Mercury.
Fish is expensive and is also a declining resource. Is there a better way of increasing your intake of essential fatty acids other than eating expensive fish? Yes there is.
A much better way that is both more cost-effective and safer than eating more fish is by daily supplementation with omega3 supplements. These can be called fish oil supplements, and the best fish oil supplements are much more cost-effective than eating fish and are also free of contamination with Mercury. Large numbers of people now recognize this and the sales of omega3 supplements are increasing faster than any other nutritional supplement in history.
However if you like eating fish, you recognize the expense involved from eating fish and that you may be increasing your Mercury levels then eating fish is a good way to increase your intake of Omega3 fats. But if you don't like fish, if you don't want to undertake the extra expense of buying fish and you prefer not to take more Mercury in your diet then there is a much more cost effective and safer alternative, namely fish oil supplements.
But it's worth saying that there are big variations between the different brands of omega 3 supplements, with the best fish oil capsules having more than 2 1/2 times as much omega 3 fats as average fish oil supplements.
If you'd like to find out how to compare the different omega3 supplements available then you can do so on my website.
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