This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

How Toxic is Fish & What Should You Do About It?

Have you increased the amount of fish in your diet because you’ve read that it’s a healthy source of protein, minerals & vitamins? I made a pitstop at pescatarianism on my way from eating everything to eating only a plant-based diet. From my experience, the gradual elimination of meat from one’s dietresults in the addition of more fish into your usual routine, especially when we are inundated with articles and news about how healthy fish is.  This fish-based diet seemed to be a great way to go until I did some investigating about the potential dangers in eating certain fish in particular and seafood in general. Further research showed me that I can get the nutrients that fish offer in plant-based sources. 

According to an article titled, “12 Fish You Should Never Eat” by Emily Main, the nonprofit Food and Water Watch studied the many varieties of fish available, how they were harvested, how certain species are farmed, and levels of toxic contaminants like mercury or PCBs in the fish, as well as how heavily local fishermen relied upon fisheries for their economic survival. These are the 12 fish that they determined we should never eat: 

1) Imported Catfish: 90% come from Vietnam where antibiotics that are banned in the US is widespread, 2 varieties aren’t technically considered catfish by the US gov’t and aren’t held to the same inspection rules.

 2) Caviar: comes from beluga and wild-caught sturgeon, subject to overfishing and an increase in pollution in the water in which they live

3) Atlantic Cod:  chronic mismanagement and low stock has put the species one step above endangered 

4) American Eel (yellow or silver eel): commonly found in sushi, highly contaminated with PCB’s & mercury, fisheries are suffering from pollution and overharvesting 

5) Imported Shrimp: the dirtiest fish with contaminants like antibiotics, residues of chemical used to clean pens, mouse and rat hair, pieces of insects, E. coli, 90% of shrimp sold in the US is imported, less than 2% of all Imported seafood ( shrimp, crab, catfish etc) gets inspected 

Go to:
http://veganamericanprincess.com/how-toxic-is-fish-and-what-should-you-do-about-it/#sthash.rMXhJU86.... 
To:
See the rest of the list #6-12 
Read what Dr. Oz & Dr. Weil say
Get a chart on the amount of mercury found in each fish
Plant-based sources of omega-3 
What to eat at a sushi restaurant  
Great "fishy" recipes at 



Ellen Francis

Vegan American Princess

Voted #2 in Skinny Scoop's Top 25 Vegan Blogs of 2013

Find out what's happening in Laguna Niguel-Dana Pointwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Website: veganamericanprincess.com

Twitter: @veganamprincess

Find out what's happening in Laguna Niguel-Dana Pointwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Instagram: #ellenfrancisLA

Click Here to Like us on Facebook

Learning all about living a more vegan lifestyle---food, health, plant-based nutrition, recipes, restaurants, products, beauty, news, ideas---anything related to veganism!


We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?