Mercury Levels: What if any are acceptable?
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2016 11:18 pm
I'm curious what others are hearing about mercury test results. Mine, self ordered and I think organic rather than inorganic mercury, came in at 7.2 ug/L (0-14.9 for non-occupational exposure). I assumed this was okay, but my doctor investigating CIRS etc, and who's up on Bredesen's work, said that is high and is concerned. She's having me stop all fish and seafood for a month to see if that's behind it, and she said it reflects recent exposure, not old. I think all my mercury fillings from my early years were replaced over time, and it's been years since the last one was.
Fish and seafood are my main animal protein. I eat Norwegian cod (~3x/wk), wild Alaskan salmon (~2x/wk), shrimp and scallops. I vacillate between eating lower amounts per Gundry and thinking I personally need more protein and increasing it again. I've had a great omega 6:3 ratio for about six years running, but maybe I need to cut back. I dropped the low mercury sardines because canned fish raises my histamine too much. I do better with certain frozen sources.
In this article Harvard isn't considering ApoE4's compromised ability to clear toxins, but it suggests I could be getting too much of a good thing? I'll take a month off and retest and then maybe if it goes down try shellfish only with salmon 2x/wk. Fish oil it out again. It keeps increasing my pain by making my laxity worse.
Make smart seafood choices to minimize mercury intake
Here's the paper:
Seafood consumption and blood mercury concentrations in adults aged ≥20 y, 2007–2010
Fish and seafood are my main animal protein. I eat Norwegian cod (~3x/wk), wild Alaskan salmon (~2x/wk), shrimp and scallops. I vacillate between eating lower amounts per Gundry and thinking I personally need more protein and increasing it again. I've had a great omega 6:3 ratio for about six years running, but maybe I need to cut back. I dropped the low mercury sardines because canned fish raises my histamine too much. I do better with certain frozen sources.
In this article Harvard isn't considering ApoE4's compromised ability to clear toxins, but it suggests I could be getting too much of a good thing? I'll take a month off and retest and then maybe if it goes down try shellfish only with salmon 2x/wk. Fish oil it out again. It keeps increasing my pain by making my laxity worse.
Make smart seafood choices to minimize mercury intake
Harvard's safe zone is lower than LabCorp's presumably acceptable upper end. It comes from this in the paper reported on:Most of the participants (95%) had blood levels of mercury in the safe zone—under 5.8 micrograms per liter (μg/L). Not surprisingly, the more fish people ate, the higher the levels of mercury in their blood. Those who consumed swordfish, shark, and other high-mercury fish were the most likely to have blood levels of mercury above 5.8 μg/L. But some who ate only salmon or tuna also had high mercury levels.
This chart shows me that my level is in fact relatively high, as does this:≥5.8 μg/L. This is the concentration that the National Research Council panel identified as the level below which “is likely to be without an appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime” and was adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (10, 11)
Just as one would expect:The percentage of the population with blood mercury concentrations ≥5.8 μg/L was low (4.6%)....
I think I'll need to shift to primarily shrimp, crab and scallops, with salmon 2x/week and hope my omega 6:3 ratio stays good.Shrimp and crab consumption was not associated with a higher odds of blood mercury concentrations ≥5.8 μg/L.
Here's the paper:
Seafood consumption and blood mercury concentrations in adults aged ≥20 y, 2007–2010