Canned Tuna: Avoid if Pregnant?
Stronger health warnings about the dangers of eating tuna while pregnant have recently been issued by Consumer Reports magazine. According to Urvashi Rangan, PhD, toxicologist and senior scientist at Consumer Reports, an analysis of the data used by the FDA in their earlier recommendations shows that 6% of cans of light tuna contained at least as much mercury as white tuna. The 2004 FDA study recommended that women and young children eat no more than 12 ounces of light tuna or 6 ounces of white tuna per week to minimize mercury risks. The full Consumer Reports article is available at Canned Tuna: Avoid if Pregnant?.
The chief medical officer of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, David Acheson, MD, does not dispute the calculations by Consumer Reports. He agrees that mercury consumption by pregnant women is not good, but says that there is little danger in an occasional meal containing tuna or other canned seafood.
In strong disagreement with the Consumer Reports conclusion is Joshua T. Cohen, PhD, a lecturer at the Institute for Clinical Research at the Tufts New England Mecical Center in Boston. He charges that Consumer Reports has misled individuals by using incomplete facts. He is the author of a major study on the risks and benefits of fish consumption funded by the US Tuna Foundation.