Daily HealthBeat Tip

Eating fish

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I�m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Mercury is poisonous. Fish is good. But some fish contain mercury.

Now what?

Researchers who�ve been trying to figure that one out have come to a conclusion: We can eat the fish, provided we choose right and don�t overdo it.

Dariush Mozaffarian of the Harvard School of Public Health, and his colleagues, looked over hundreds of studies, in research supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Mozaffarian says the levels of mercury are small compared with the benefits of the fish:

"A modest intake of fish, about one or two servings per week, was enough to reduce the risk of dying from a heart attack by about 35 percent, which was a considerable effect." (9 seconds)

But women of childbearing age, nursing mothers, and young children, should avoid shark, swordfish, golden bass and king mackerel, which can be higher in mercury.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: November 14, 2006

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