Is sushi healthy ?

There was a segment on NBC LA last night titled "Is sushi healthy?" It was quite a catchy title so naturally I stayed up until 11:20PM to watch it. My first thought was "Am I eating way too much sushi? And is it about gaining weight by eating too much sushi?"

The segment was about which types of sushi were healthy to eat and which sushi were not healthy to eat. The main concern was the types of fish that had high mercury levels. In the segment, the discussion was about a study conducted where tuna and other sushi fish were tested from different restaurants and supermarkets in Los Angeles to see which type of sushi had the highest level of mercury. The results showed that larger fish that have been in the water longer tend to have higher levels of mercury and smaller fish that have been in the water for less time had lower levels of mercury. The report showed that big eye tuna and other types of larger tuna had the highest levels of mercury.

There was also an interview with someone who got very sick from eating sushi every single day because he thought eating sushi every day was healthy. When he went to the doctor, he found out that he had very high levels of mercury in his blood. One of his favorite sushi fish that he ate daily was ahi tuna.

The main thing to take away from this story is everything should be eaten in moderation. The man who got mercury poisoning ate sushi every day. Eating sushi 2 or 3 times a week should be ok. Also, eating different types of fish that come in the smaller sizes would also help keep mercury levels down.

Everything in moderation should be the lesson from this story.