By Richard Malik, ND
3 March 2007

On January 23rd, 2008 the New York Times published the article “High Mercury Levels are Found in Tuna Sushi” It reveals that consuming six pieces or less of tuna sushi per week from all of the New York City restaurants that were analyzed would provide mercury exposure that exceeds acceptable levels established by the Environmental Protection Agency. Some restaurants were worse. They had mercury levels that were much higher - providing three weeks worth of acceptable mercury exposure per single piece of sushi!

This is really unfortunate as non-tainted tuna is a very popular and excellent source of protein and omega-3 essential fatty acids - the heart healthy fats most notably found in salmon. Protein and omega-3 fatty acids are important for healthy development of a fetus, but pregnant women and those that may become pregnant are advised by the United State Food and Drug Administration to avoid tuna; mercury is a neurotoxin that damages a child’s developing brain. Mercury also affects children and adults by damaging nerves and causing numbness, tingling, clumsiness, weakness, fatigue, and tremor.

The first and best approach for minimizing the adverse effects of toxins is avoidance. This makes common sense, but most toxins are not very noticeable - you don’t see neon lights or hear a warning siren when exposure is imminent. The New York Times article fails to point out that tuna is one of several types of fish that commonly have high levels of mercury. Other popular types of fish that are contaminated with mercury include shark, swordfish, ahi, king mackerel, bluefish, and Chilean sea bass. The National Resources Defense Council has an excellent tool for keeping your intake of mercury from fish low or acceptable. You can get it online at www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/protect.asp.

Because mercury exposure is ubiquitous in our industrialized world, absolute avoidance is not a possibility (although it does substantially reduce our exposure). Fortunately, your body has tools to get rid of mercury that, when supported, can reduce the impact of this toxin on you and your baby.

One of the liver’s functions is to clean your blood. The liver attaches glutathione, a protein, to mercury so that it can be excreted in feces. Your body makes glutathione on its own, but levels can be increased by consuming whey protein or simply taking supplemental glutathione.

When the liver transforms mercury so that it can be excreted more easily, it puts it into the bile which makes its way into the digestive system. The digestive system is very effective at absorbing things into the body. To prevent the reabsorption of this detoxified mercury I recommend eating a diet that is rich in fiber (aka lots of fruits and veggies) and taking an effective probiotic.

Recent research published in the Environmental Protection Agency’s medical journal, Environmental Health Perspectives, shows that a supplement called n-acetyl cysteine (NAC) can dramatically and safely remove mercury by acting as a chaperone that guides mercury through the kidneys, into the urine and into the toilet. Perhaps even more exciting is the fact that NAC seems to substantially lower mercury levels in an unborn child when taken by the mother.

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it. But it gets better. NAC is an amino acid (protein building block) derivative that occurs naturally in your body. Pure NAC is safe and has very few side effects. It increases levels of glutathione, which is mentioned above, and acts as a potent anti-oxidant and mild antiinflammatory. NAC is already used to treat the most common cause of liver failure - acetaminophen toxicity. Acetaminophen is the main ingredient in Tylenol.

How much NAC should you take. Well, the study on NAC and mercury used a dosage that would be equal to 9,500mg per day in a 150lb person - almost 20 capsules. This is very high, but keep in mind that they were using it to treat animals that were exposed to very high levels of mercury. For more gentle. long-term support, 1,000 to 1,500mg per day would be very good.

Remember that any medicine can cause side effects. For the safest approach, consult with a knowledgable physician before using high doses of any nutritional supplement.