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很多食物汞含量较高,摄入多少汞才算过量?

Ani Freedman
2025-05-20

金枪鱼和剑鱼罐头等食物以汞含量较高而闻名——摄入多少才算过量?

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随着人们日益意识到蛋白粉、黑巧克力和糙米等食物中隐藏着毒素,自然会对自己常吃的其他食物产生疑问。鱼类可能就是其中之一,其中某些品种已知神经毒素汞的含量较高。当你在享用金枪鱼沙拉或寿司卷时,或许会思考:究竟摄入多少汞才算超标?

食品科学家艾比·蒂尔对《财富》杂志表示:“唯一需要注意的是,不要每周多次食用汞含量较高的鱼类。”

据美国环境保护署(Environmental Protection Agency)介绍,汞既是自然存在的元素(来自火山活动),也是工业污染、燃煤、发电厂和化石燃料燃烧的副产品。这些活动将毒素释放到空气中,随后沉积回水体和底泥,转化为更具毒性的甲基汞形态。

高浓度汞暴露会损害各年龄段人群的大脑、心脏、肾脏、肺部和免疫系统——但对胎儿和儿童威胁最大。胎儿的大脑和神经系统发育面临风险,而儿童可能出现认知思维、记忆力、注意力、语言能力、精细运动技能和视觉空间能力的退化。

蒂尔指出,鱼类是被汞污染的主要食物来源。值得庆幸的是,只有少数几种鱼类值得警惕。

哪些鱼类汞含量最高?

环境工作组织(Environmental Working Group)高级科学家塔莎·斯托伊贝尔解释道,位于食物链顶端的鱼类汞含量最高。

这些鱼类包括:

• 大西洋马鲛

• 鲨鱼

• 剑鱼

• 枪鱼

• 金枪鱼

这些鱼类因为捕食体内已含汞的小型鱼类,导致汞在体内产生生物累积效应,因此汞含量最高。

蒂尔表示:“它们有时一口就能吞下数百条小鱼。”她解释称,汞进入鱼体内后,会与肌肉和蛋白质结合并长期留在体内,而且会随着捕食其他含汞鱼类不断积累。她补充道:“当我们食用这些蛋白质时,汞就会进入人体,与我们不同的蛋白质和肌肉结合。”

汞含量较高的鱼类的安全摄入量

对于已知汞含量最高的掠食性鱼类,斯托伊贝尔建议“尽量少食或不食”。

美国疾病预防控制中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)参考食品药品管理局(Food and Drug Administration)制定的鱼类汞含量分级表,为孕妇、哺乳期妇女和幼儿提供以下指南:

• 保持鱼类品种多样化。

• 若食用亲友捕捞的鱼类,需查询鱼类食用建议。若无此类建议,当周仅可食用一份,且不再摄入其他鱼类。

• 避免食用“应避免选择”类(FDA表格标注)鱼类,切勿将此类鱼肉喂食给儿童。 建议优先选择“最佳选择”和“次优选择”类别的多种鱼类。

对成年人的建议:

• 每周食用2-3份(8-12盎司;1份=烹饪前测量的4盎司)FDA表格标注的“最佳选择”类鱼类,或1份(4盎司)“次优选择”类鱼类。

蒂尔表示:“汞会干扰大脑发育过程。幼儿、孕妇和哺乳期母亲需要格外注意。”

替代选择低汞鱼类

专家建议,选择体型较小、非掠食性鱼类既能获取海鲜的营养,又可避免汞摄入过量。

蒂尔表示:“这些小型鱼类的摄食量远不及大型掠食性鱼类。虽然它们体内也含汞,但含量明显低于其他鱼类。”

可参考FDA的详细列表,环境工作组织也发布了最安全的海鲜选择指南。低汞鱼类包括:

• 鳕鱼

• 三文鱼

• 沙丁鱼

• 罗非鱼

• 黑线鳕

• 鳟鱼

蒂尔表示,在食用这些鱼类时,“即使每周吃2-3份也无需担心”。

斯托伊贝尔补充说,三文鱼等鱼类富含的omega-3脂肪酸能有效抵消汞的负面影响。她表示:“食用富含omega-3的鱼类时,这些脂肪酸能起到保护作用,这对大脑发育非常有益。”

这一结论源自环境工作组织2018年的研究。研究发现,改用低汞鱼类不仅能在三个月内显著降低体内汞含量,omega-3的已知益处还能为儿童大脑发育提供保护机制。

斯托伊贝尔表示:“选择低汞鱼类是最佳方案。低汞含量与omega-3的结合能带来最大健康效益。”(财富中文网)

译者:刘进龙

审校:汪皓

随着人们日益意识到蛋白粉、黑巧克力和糙米等食物中隐藏着毒素,自然会对自己常吃的其他食物产生疑问。鱼类可能就是其中之一,其中某些品种已知神经毒素汞的含量较高。当你在享用金枪鱼沙拉或寿司卷时,或许会思考:究竟摄入多少汞才算超标?

食品科学家艾比·蒂尔对《财富》杂志表示:“唯一需要注意的是,不要每周多次食用汞含量较高的鱼类。”

据美国环境保护署(Environmental Protection Agency)介绍,汞既是自然存在的元素(来自火山活动),也是工业污染、燃煤、发电厂和化石燃料燃烧的副产品。这些活动将毒素释放到空气中,随后沉积回水体和底泥,转化为更具毒性的甲基汞形态。

高浓度汞暴露会损害各年龄段人群的大脑、心脏、肾脏、肺部和免疫系统——但对胎儿和儿童威胁最大。胎儿的大脑和神经系统发育面临风险,而儿童可能出现认知思维、记忆力、注意力、语言能力、精细运动技能和视觉空间能力的退化。

蒂尔指出,鱼类是被汞污染的主要食物来源。值得庆幸的是,只有少数几种鱼类值得警惕。

哪些鱼类汞含量最高?

环境工作组织(Environmental Working Group)高级科学家塔莎·斯托伊贝尔解释道,位于食物链顶端的鱼类汞含量最高。

这些鱼类包括:

• 大西洋马鲛

• 鲨鱼

• 剑鱼

• 枪鱼

• 金枪鱼

这些鱼类因为捕食体内已含汞的小型鱼类,导致汞在体内产生生物累积效应,因此汞含量最高。

蒂尔表示:“它们有时一口就能吞下数百条小鱼。”她解释称,汞进入鱼体内后,会与肌肉和蛋白质结合并长期留在体内,而且会随着捕食其他含汞鱼类不断积累。她补充道:“当我们食用这些蛋白质时,汞就会进入人体,与我们不同的蛋白质和肌肉结合。”

汞含量较高的鱼类的安全摄入量

对于已知汞含量最高的掠食性鱼类,斯托伊贝尔建议“尽量少食或不食”。

美国疾病预防控制中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)参考食品药品管理局(Food and Drug Administration)制定的鱼类汞含量分级表,为孕妇、哺乳期妇女和幼儿提供以下指南:

• 保持鱼类品种多样化。

• 若食用亲友捕捞的鱼类,需查询鱼类食用建议。若无此类建议,当周仅可食用一份,且不再摄入其他鱼类。

• 避免食用“应避免选择”类(FDA表格标注)鱼类,切勿将此类鱼肉喂食给儿童。 建议优先选择“最佳选择”和“次优选择”类别的多种鱼类。

对成年人的建议:

• 每周食用2-3份(8-12盎司;1份=烹饪前测量的4盎司)FDA表格标注的“最佳选择”类鱼类,或1份(4盎司)“次优选择”类鱼类。

蒂尔表示:“汞会干扰大脑发育过程。幼儿、孕妇和哺乳期母亲需要格外注意。”

替代选择低汞鱼类

专家建议,选择体型较小、非掠食性鱼类既能获取海鲜的营养,又可避免汞摄入过量。

蒂尔表示:“这些小型鱼类的摄食量远不及大型掠食性鱼类。虽然它们体内也含汞,但含量明显低于其他鱼类。”

可参考FDA的详细列表,环境工作组织也发布了最安全的海鲜选择指南。低汞鱼类包括:

• 鳕鱼

• 三文鱼

• 沙丁鱼

• 罗非鱼

• 黑线鳕

• 鳟鱼

蒂尔表示,在食用这些鱼类时,“即使每周吃2-3份也无需担心”。

斯托伊贝尔补充说,三文鱼等鱼类富含的omega-3脂肪酸能有效抵消汞的负面影响。她表示:“食用富含omega-3的鱼类时,这些脂肪酸能起到保护作用,这对大脑发育非常有益。”

这一结论源自环境工作组织2018年的研究。研究发现,改用低汞鱼类不仅能在三个月内显著降低体内汞含量,omega-3的已知益处还能为儿童大脑发育提供保护机制。

斯托伊贝尔表示:“选择低汞鱼类是最佳方案。低汞含量与omega-3的结合能带来最大健康效益。”(财富中文网)

译者:刘进龙

审校:汪皓

As we become increasingly aware of toxins lurking in our food—including protein powder, dark chocolate, and brown rice—it’s only natural to wonder about other foods you regularly eat. One of those foods might be fish, some of which is known to be high in mercury—a neurotoxin. And while chowing down on tuna salad or a sushi roll you may be wondering: How much mercury is too much?

“All you have to worry about is, don’t eat high mercury fish several times a week,” food scientist Abbey Thiel tells Fortune.

Mercury, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, is a both a naturally occurring element (from volcanic activity) and a byproduct of industrial pollution, coal burning, power plants, and burning fossil fuels, which disperse the toxin into the air for it to be deposited back into water bodies and ground sediments that convert it into an even more toxic form, known as methylmercury.

High levels of mercury exposure can harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and immune system of people of all ages—but it is considered the greatest threat to infants in the womb, whose brain and nervous system development is at risk, and children, who could face worsened cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, fine motor skills, and visual spatial skills.

Fish are the primary food source of mercury, Thiel says, and thankfully, there are only a handful of culprits to keep track of.

Which fish are highest in mercury

Fish that are high up on the food chain are the ones that will have the highest mercury levels, explains Environmental Working Group senior scientist Tasha Stoiber.

Those include:

• King mackerel

• Shark

• Swordfish

• Marlin

• Tuna

They have the highest levels because mercury bioaccumulates in their bodies from eating smaller fish that already have mercury in their systems as well.

“Sometimes they eat hundreds of these other fish in one gulp,” Thiel says. When mercury enters a fish’s body, Thiel explains, it binds to their muscles and proteins and remains in their body, continuing to build up as that fish consumes other fish with mercury. “When we eat those proteins, then we now have it in our body, and it can bind to our different proteins and muscles,” she adds.

How much high-mercury fish is safe to eat

For the predatory fish known to be highest in mercury, Stoiber recommends eating them “very infrequently or not at all.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention follows the Food and Drug Administration’s chart of fish highest and lowest in mercury, providing the following guidance for pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children:

• Eat a variety of fish.

• If you eat fish caught by family or friends, check for fish advisories. If there is no advisory, eat only one serving and no other fish that week.

• Try to avoid eating the “Choices to Avoid” fish (found on the FDA chart) or feeding them to children. It is best to eat a variety of fish from the “Best Choices” and “Good Choices” categories on the chart.

And for adults:

• Eat 2 to 3 servings (between 8 and 12 ounces; 1 serving = 4 ounces of fish measured before cooking) of fish a week from the “Best Choices” list OR 1 serving (4 ounces) from the “Good Choices” list on the FDA chart.

“Mercury messes up how the brain will develop,” Thiel says. “Young kids should be very careful, and pregnant mothers and nursing mothers.”

Swap for fish that are lowest in mercury

Smaller, non-predatory fish are your best bet to reap the nutritional benefits of seafood and avoid too much mercury, experts say.

“These little fish, they just don’t eat the amount that a large predator fish does,” Thiel says. “Yes they do have mercury, but it’s such a considerably lower amount than other fish.”

You can check the FDA’s chart for a full list, and the EWG also has a seafood guide of the safest choices. Low-mercury fish include:

• Cod

• Salmon

• Sardines

• Tilapia

• Haddock

• Trout

When eating those fish, “You could have 2-3 servings of fish [per week] and not even worry,” Thiel says.

The omega-3s in fish like salmon could be doing heavy lifting to combat the negative effects of mercury, Stoiber adds. “If you’re eating fish higher in omega-3s, the omega-3s act protectively—that is actually really good for brain development,” she says.

Stoiber learned this from a study the EWG conducted in 2018, which found that switching to lower-mercury fish not only drastically reduced the mercury levels in the body in just three months, but also acted as a protective mechanism for children’s brain development because of omega-3s’ known benefits.

“Eating lower mercury is ideal,” Stoiber says. “That combination of lower mercury plus omega-3s is where you get the most benefit.”

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