Rhetoric: The risks of methylmercury far surpass the health benefits of consuming even the minimum recommended amount of fish.

Reality:“It is striking how much greater both the amount of the evidence and the size of the health effect are for health benefits, compared with health risks. Seafood is likely the single most important food one can consume for good health,” explains Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian of the Harvard School of Public Health.

This conclusion — that the health benefits of eating fish far outweigh the hypothetical risks associated with trace amounts of organic methylmercury in all commercial seafood — is reaffirmed by theInstitute of Medicine (IOM), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) and countless other institutions. Seafood protects against heart disease , depression,dementia and premature death . Conclusive evidence even shows that not eating enough fish can cause dangerous health consequences.

Still, environmental organizations continue to willfully ignore scientific consensus, instead advancing fear-based risk narratives that [depress] “fish consumption” and diminish “the potential health benefits derived from [omega-3] EPA + DHA.”

 

The real risk to your health is not eating fish at least two times a week to benefit from the protein, omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients found in fish.