Consuming too much sushi could cause brain damage, according to the American study by the Biodiversity Research Institute and the Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG), published by the Globalpost site.
Indeed, the fish used for sushi (except salmon), tuna, swordfish, sharks, live in polluted oceans, in particular by mercury. These large predators, at the end of the food chain, are overexposed, through their food, to all the pollution of the marine universe. ” The maximum exposure levels as defined by the authorities have adverse health effects“says Dr Edward Groth, co-author of the study due to debate next month at the World Health Organization on new regulations. Indeed, this new report insists that mercury even at low doses poses a danger to fetuses and children.The toxic metal could affect their brain development or create other health problems.
“These are not trivial effects but significant effects“, insists the author of the research. Studies have already shown the harmful effects of mercury on human development, in particular on populations at risk such as pregnant women and young children. The European Union already recommends pregnant women not to consume tuna more than twice a week.
The increasingly rare mercury-free fish
“If we continue to pollute the oceans as we do now, it will be increasingly difficult to find non-toxic fish.e “, explains Philippe Grandjean, from the University of Southern Denmark.
Researchers are calling for new international rules to be set on the consumption of mercury, and why not the elimination from our diet of certain particularly toxic fish, such as marlin or Pacific bluefin tuna.
