How to Live a Mercury-Safe Lifestyle


The best way is to keep eating, of course!

Cilantro and Seaweed are two secret weapons to remedying mercury contamination. Both cilantro and seaweed prevent your body from absorbing mercury and letting it infiltrate your blood stream.

Cilantro mobilizes mercury, aluminum, lead and tin stored in the brain and in the spinal cord and moves it into the connective tissues. Your body can then extract the mobilized mercury when going to the bathroom.

Seaweed contains chlorella, which is also found in many algae and other aquatic plants. It is this characteristic of seaweed that gives it the capacity to absorb rather large amounts of toxic metals, thus recovering most available fractions of the metals in your system.

Cook with these two great ingredients, and you'll be guarding yourself against any indirect mercury contamination.

But you also have to be cautious with your choices

Since fish are the main path for upward mobility of mercury in our food chain, it's reasonable to assume confusion over which fish are safe and which are not. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a pocket Seafood Guide you can keep in your wallet that catalogues the mercury warning for the most commonly served fish.

Many of the fish chosen for sushi are the apex predators of the fish food chain, which means they can bear high concentrations of mercury. There is also an NRDC list that highlights which sushi choices are highest and lowest in mercury.

Check Your Mercury Levels

The Natural Resource Defense Council has a great system for obtaining a quick estimate of the amount of mercury currently in your blood with their Mercury Calculator. For a more accurate reading, you can request a blood mercury test from your physician. Women with a high blood mercury level who are planning to start a family may decide to postpone pregnancy for a few months until levels drop; often this occurs over a three to six month time frame. Also available is another mercury calculator available at GotMercury.org, a site that is part of the Turtle Island Restoration Network that also offers facts for fish eaters and how to take action to reduce the public's exposure to mercury in seafood.

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Is eating Seaweed Really Safe?

Submitted by dougiedd on April 15, 2007 - 14:35.

The article above says:
"Cilantro and Seaweed are two secret weapons to remedying mercury contamination. Both cilantro and seaweed prevent your body from absorbing mercury and letting it infiltrate your blood stream.

Cilantro mobilizes mercury, aluminum, lead and tin stored in the brain and in the spinal cord and moves it into the connective tissues. Your body can then extract the mobilized mercury when going to the bathroom.

Seaweed contains chlorella, which is also found in many algae and other aquatic plants. It is this characteristic of seaweed that gives it the capacity to absorb rather large amounts of toxic metals, thus recovering most available fractions of the metals in your system.

Cook with these two great ingredients, and you’ll be guarding yourself against any indirect mercury contamination. "
But this study showed mercury in worrisome levels in seaweed:
Mercury in seaweed

Seaweed has long been recognised as a rich source of iodine. In recent years its medicinal properties have been promoted, leading to increased consumption worldwide. The benefits derivable from consuming seaweed, however, may be outweighed by negative properties, depending on where it was grown. Seaweed’s ability to absorb metals is not limited to beneficial ones. It is also rather good at absorbing arsenic, mercury, uranium, copper, molybdenum, aluminium, chromium and some radioactive isotopes. A small study of eight samples picked at random from, primarily, Japan and Norway, found worrying levels of mercury. The main value of the study is to highlight the need to regulate seaweed sales in much the same way as sales of vegetables and fruit.

(6976-77) Van Netten,C et al. Science of the Total Environment 1.02.00 p1

SO which is it??