Mercury and Selenium

Started by Maxed Out, January 03, 2025, 12:42:27 AM

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Maxed Out

 I've recently been doing research about Mercury in our fish. Here a few interesting facts about what I've found

 Selenium is an element that is essential for many functions in our bodies.

 Specifically selenium has been scientifically identified:

 To foster growth and development

 It's a powerful anti oxidant with cancer prevention properties

 As essential for normal thyroid hormone and immune functioning

 Recent studies show selenium especially important for brain, heart, and immune system health

 Compromised selenium dependant metabolic processes have been linked to congenital muscular dystrophy, autism, Alzheimer's disease, down syndrome, diabetes, liver diseases and other conditions of oxidative stress or inflammation, such as rhoumatoid arthritis, pancreatitis, asthma, and even obesity.

 Ocean fish, primarily tuna, are among the richest sources of nutritional selenium in our diet.

 THE SELENIUM MERCURY CONNECTION...

 As it turns out, there is a very high affinity between Mercury and Selenium. Whenever they exist together, they chemically bind, and neither the Mercury nor selenium are then bio-available. The actual process is that selenium acts as an antidote and counteracts any Mercury in the food. As long as the selenium content is equal or greater to the Mercury content.

 Selenium is the key to understanding Mercury exposure risks. Scientists discovered that if a body has sufficient selenium to maintain proper function, the risks from Mercury are mitigated.

 As oceans are rich in selenium, most ocean fish contain more moles of selenium than that of mercury, and therefore the consumption of such fish provide a natural protection against Mercury toxicity, by virtue of their high Selenium content.

 The following graph from NOAA shows relative relationship between selenium and Mercury in various species.

 Eating ocean fish with high Selenium will also provide additional protection against other organic metal consumption exposure
We Must Never Forget Our Veterans....God Bless Them All !!

Keta

#1
Damn, we are going to have to cut back on eating whale.... ;0)

 Good info.

Volcanic soil is void of selenium and we had to give our sheep selenium salt and the lambs selenium injections.
Hi, my name is Lee and I have a fishing gear problem.

I have all of the answers, yup, no, maybe.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

Gfish

Cool and relevant. Sounds like selenium can be a limiting nutrient.
Darn, gonna have to stop eating Pilot Whales.
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

quang tran

I like to eat King and Spanish mackerel but many say I should not because high level of mercury ,how about level of selenium on these fish ?

oc1


MarkT

You can take a selenium supplement!
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

jurelometer

#6
This is an interesting topic!  It would be great if you posted your sources.

I did a bit of quick digging, and as far as I can tell, the jury is still out. The FDA is still sticking to the original guidelines based solely on mercury content, and while there is an argument that this is simplistic, there is also an argument that using the the selenium to mercury ratio is also not sufficient:

Some recent papers now suggest that if the Se:Hg molar ratio exceeds 1:1, the fish is safe and the mercury concentration can be ignored. Such papers suggested that the molar ratio rather than the Hg concentration, should be emphasized in fish advisories. This paper examines some of the limitations of current understanding of the Se:Hg molar ratio in guiding fish consumption advice, Se is certainly an important part of the Hg toxicity story, but it is not the whole story. We examine how Hg toxicity relates also to thiol binding. We suggest that a 1:1 molar ratio cannot be relied on because not all of the Se in fish or in the fish-eater is available to interact with Hg. Moreover, in some fish Se levels are sufficiently high to warrant concern about Se toxicity.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8026698/pdf/nihms-1671970.pdf


The paper is pretty interesting, and well worth a read. It is the only one that I read all the way through, so I am not taking sides, just noting (as this paper does) that this is not settled science at this point.

As laymen, it can be a bit tricky for us to get a good view of the entire debate, and easy to get influenced a bit by confirmation bias.

For me, it makes sense to continue to avoid eating a lot of fish with high mercury content for now. There are a lot of tasty low mercury choices where I live and fish.

-J


jgp12000

I have been taking fish oil for my cholesterol 2-1000mg/day per Doctor orders,sometimes they are hard to swallow though.I just read about Antarctic Krill oil,it's a smaller pill & supposedly better?

Maxed Out

#9
 The article was authored by scientists in British Columbia Canada, and was focused on the northwest coast albacore, that are 2-4 year old fish and have very low amounts of mercury, compared to 5-8 year old albacore that represent most of the tuna found in commercially canned albacore, like starkist

 Merinos seafood in Westport Wa, sells locally harvested canned albacore, and they claim it's ok for pregnant women to eat it 7 days a week
We Must Never Forget Our Veterans....God Bless Them All !!

Rocket Dog

So regular whale is okay?

Interesting that the selenium is so high in skipjack tuna and  flat fish i.e. sole, halibut, and flounder are also top choices. 

Ron Jones

Quote from: jurelometer on January 03, 2025, 08:00:42 AMThis is an interesting topic!  It would be great if you posted your sources.

I did a bit of quick digging, and as far as I can tell, the jury is still out. The FDA is still sticking to the original guidelines based solely on mercury content, and while there is an argument that this is simplistic, there is also an argument that using the the selenium to mercury ratio is also not sufficient:


https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8026698/pdf/nihms-1671970.pdf


The paper is pretty interesting, and well worth a read. It is the only one that I read all the way through, so I am not taking sides, just noting (as this paper does) that this is not settled science at this point.

As laymen, it can be a bit tricky for us to get a good view of the entire debate, and easy to get influenced a bit by confirmation bias.

For me, it makes sense to continue to avoid eating a lot of fish with high mercury content for now. There are a lot of tasty low mercury choices where I live and fish.

-J

This is the reality of almost everything. We are total and complete idiots, know almost nothing, and are dangerously confident that we know far more than we do.

I am going to eat fish because I enjoy it. If mercury poisoning is your primary cause of death, you were either genetically very lucky or lived a very unfulfilling life.

No one in assisted living facilities curses all the mercury laden fish they ate, they curse the fact that they didn't enjoy as much fish.

The Man
Ronald Jones
To those who have gone to sea and returned and to those who have gone to sea and will never return
"

Gfish

#12
Ouuuu! I found a spelling error in the Abstract; there was spelled "thar". A Cardinal sin in a scientific paper. "That 'thar' word ain't "thar"!

Maybe err on the side of caution; eat less of of the larger/older versions of certain species. So many possible variables as to how and why Hg might affect people...
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

Gfish

Quote from: Rocket Dog on January 03, 2025, 05:39:27 PMSo regular whale is okay?

Interesting that the selenium is so high in skipjack tuna and  flat fish i.e. sole, halibut, and flounder are also top choices. 

Yeah, bottom dwellers vs a pelagic...
Fishing tackle is an art form and all fish caught on the right tackle are"Gfish"!

jgp12000

I am pregnant with seafood.... ;D