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Experts meeting in Portland this week say mercury fears are real, but 'not all fish are equal.'

By JOSIE HUANG, Staff Writer July 24, 2007

It may be the biggest irony in food nutrition: Fish is one of the best sources of Omega-3 fatty acids, a heart-healthy answer to cardiovascular disease, the No. 1 killer of Americans.

But fish also contain traces of mercury and other pollutants that are particularly damaging to the neurological development of fetuses and young children.

That is enough to make some parents and pregnant women cut back on fish, or avoid it altogether. Health experts, however, are saying you can have your fish and eat it, too -- simply by being smart about what kind you buy.

"All fish are not created equal," said Kathryn Mahaffey, a senior scientist at the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection, during the agency's conference on contaminants in fish taking place in Portland this week.

Shark and mackerel are among those that are high in mercury but low in Omega-3. Larger fish tend to have greater concentrations of toxins because they are higher on the food chain and store chemicals that have been passed along from prey to predator.

Other fish, such as swordfish and tilefish, have more nutrients but not that much less mercury.

Then there are the superstars that are high in Omega-3 but low in mercury, with wild salmon leading the list.

It's not a cheap option. King salmon is going for as much as $13 a pound in fish markets locally.

Not to worry, said Eric Frohmberg, a toxicologist with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Frohmberg said farm-raised salmon is also high in Omega-3, is typically cheaper and, unlike its wild counterpart, it is available year-round.

The drawback is that farm-raised salmon eat feed that is high in contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs; but Frohmberg said one portion a week is safe.

"You get all the Omega-3 you need from one meal of farm- raised salmon," he said. "Any more is not a real benefit."

For other species of fish, Frohmberg suggested two portions would be needed to get enough Omega-3.

Such recommendations are outlined in a brochure produced by the state health agency and updated for the first time since 2000.

More than 20,000 copies have been printed and are stocked in Hannaford grocery stores and the offices of doctors and midwives.

It can also be viewed at http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/ eohp/// fish/documents/MeFFGuide.pdf.

The brochure also addresses fish caught from Maine's lakes and rivers. Pregnant women are advised to avoid catch such as pike, white perch and lake trout.

Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine CDC, said Mainers are surprised to hear about mercury being in fish from here because the surroundings seem so pristine.

"They don't realize that a lot of the mercury is coming from coal-producing plants in the Midwest that (has) been carried here on a jet stream," Mills said.

State officials across the country are increasing their warnings about mercury. Even in Alaska, which is removed enough to avoid the same level of contamination in its fish as the lower states, health officials say mercury's damage has moved them to change their message about fish, which is a big part of the native diet.

"Instead of saying eat all the fish you want, we want to say there is a big difference among fish species, and you can choose wisely," Lori Verbrugge, the environmental public health program manager for Alaska, said at the conference Monday.

For people who do not like to eat fish, scientists have built Omega-3 into eggs, orange juice, peanut butter and cereal, which Mahaffey, the EPA scientist, termed "Omega Puffs."

Mahaffey, who spoke before more than 200 researchers and state environmental employees, convened for the conference at the Holiday Inn By the Bay, noted that a portion of salmon has more Omega-3 than two enriched eggs.

Research presented at the conference, which...