: Fish:

Fish provide quality protein and are rich in omega-3 fatty acids: EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), essential for hormone production, brain function and vision.

Avoid fish from unknown source or from polluted waters. Pollution with mercury and PCBs is a problem in many waters on earth today, especially in the Atlantic Ocean and near industrial and population centers.

Factor:	Avoid:	Emphasize:
Aroma	Fishy smell	Free of odor
Appearance	Milky sunken eyes	Gleaming bright eyes and scales, bright red gills
Palpation	Flesh stays indented on touch	Firm flesh
Integrity	Separation in layers of meat	No separation in layers of meat
Presentation	Cooked and raw fish in same case or piled high	Frozen, canned, or whole fresh fish in ice
Source	Farm fish (most Atlantic salmon is farm) except Hawaii	Pacific: Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Alaska or deep water ocean fish away from coastline & industry best
Size	Large (higher on food chain; bioaccumulation of Hg, PCBs)	Small, young, low on food chain
Temperature		Cold water fish: salmon (wild sockeye), trout (wild rainbow), herring, albacore and skipjack tuna (best: small fresh 'ratfish'), mackerel, cod, sardines, pollock, flounder, halibut
Fresh water fish	Radioactive pollutants are a potential problem for fresh water fish. Ocean water is generally better than fresh.	High elvation or latitude fresh water, mountain stream, alpine lake
Species	Shark (Hg & PCBs), swordfish (Hg & PCBs), large yellowfin and bigeye tuna (Hg), large king salmon (Hg & PCBs), bivalve mollusks: clams, oysters, mussels & scallops (pesticides & Pb), white fish	Orange roughy (cleanest but nearly extinct), pink & sockeye salmon (low Hg), pink shrimp (Hg), Alaskan king crab (low Hg), arrowtooth flounder (low Hg), halibut, sole, pollock, small tuna: skipjack lower Hg than albacore, herring, sardines
Bind heavy metals & PCBs		Chlorella, Klamath Lake blue green algae
Bind heavy metals (e.g. Hg)	Avoid sea vegetables from unkown or polluted source waters	Dulse, nori, kombu, hijiki, wakame & kelp
Blood type A	Brown trout, flounder, sole, halibut
Blood type B	Salmon, tuna
Blood type AB	Brown trout, flounder, sole, halibut, salmon, tuna
Blood type O	Sole, flounder, halibut

Commercial fish oil supplements are usually free of heavy-metals. Fish oils tested at Harvard Medical School did not have significant amounts of mercury.

Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2003 Dec; 127(12):1603-5

A 1989 study of 22 brands of fish oil in Germany found negligible amounts of heavy metals.

Z Ernahrungswiss. 1989; 28(1):76-83

Fish oil prolongs gestation and minimizes the occurrence of premature birth.

Int J Epidemiol 2001 Dec; 30(6):1272-8

A baby's nervous system requires omega-3 oils found in fish. About 3000 mg of supplemental fish oil is recommended per day during pregnancy.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that pregnant women, women of childbearing age, and young children avoid eating shark, swordfish, mackerel, and tilefish.

J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs. 2002

National Institutes of Health investigated in the Seychelle Islands where mothers consume fish about 12 times per week. Fish in Seychelles contain about the same concentration of mercury as commercial ocean fish. Language, memory, motor, perceptual-motor, and behavioral development was normal at 9 years of age.

Lancet. 2003 May 17; 361(9370):1686-92

In French Guiana, mercury from gold mining did not produce major nervous system problems, but gold is also an antidote for mercury.

Environ Res. 2002; 89(1):1-11

Fish-eating Brazilian Amazon women reduce mercury levels by eating more fruit.

Environ Res. 2003 Oct; 93(2):123-30

Japanese and Eskimos that consume the most fish are among the healthiest people on Earth.