Page 45 - Spring2018

of selenium for every mercury atom. Indeed, Richard Lynn, a British professor of psychology, Carbonated
one paper shows that with increasing levels of and Tatu Vanhanen, a Finnish professor of po-
mercury, selenium levels also increased. In litical science, who conducted studies in eighty beverages
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one unique study, a researcher compared an countries. They concluded that IQ differences (soda), very
analysis of tuna from the nineteenth century that relate to national income, inequality, poverty, popular with
was preserved in a museum display case with a education quality and other factors. According
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sample from 2002. Both samples showed about to the IQ society Mensa International, Finland, children and
the same levels of mercury, as well as protective Sweden and the U.K., have the most geniuses adolescents,
levels of selenium. 16 per capita. All are big fish-eating countries. contain
According to the FDA, fish that should be The Japanese continue to eat whale and
avoided are tilefish, swordfish, orange roughy, dolphin meat, which can be purchased in the very high
marlin and king mackerel. Fish from local grocery store. In 2003, packaged whale meat quantities of
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waters should be first investigated with the steaks in grocery stores in Japan tested dan- HFCS but its
local fish commission before serving them for gerously high in levels of mercury. In 2010
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dinner. American scientists who sampled one thousand presence is
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The idea that maternal fish consumption sperm whales were stunned at the high levels of universal,
can reduce IQ in the child and cause neuro- toxins and heavy metals in the animals, which in almost
logical consequences is a contentious subject. they called “jaw dropping.” These included
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As already mentioned, fish are a powerhouse mercury, aluminum, lead, silver, titanium and all food
of nutrients, including being good sources of chromium, mostly in the blubber. A recent products,
DHA. The levels of DHA in the breast milk of study found samples of dried pilot whale meat even bread.
American women are some of the lowest in the purchased in Japan contained 19 ppm mercury,
world. 17-19 Restricting fish in the diet lowers the 47.5 times over the legal limit. Dolphin meat
DHA levels even more, as do the high levels of contained 11 ppm.
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omega-6 fatty acids that have pervaded the food In contrast, albacore tuna sold in the U.S.
system over the last century, because diets high contains an average of .32 ppm of mercury
in omega-6 inhibit conversion to DHA of alpha while light tuna has .12 ppm. However, results
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linolenic acid (ALA) (the short-chain omega-3 of a study done by the Mercury Policy Project,
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fatty acid found in plant foods like flax and published in the report, “Tuna Surprise,” found
walnut). that mercury levels in light and white tuna from
As fish is a source of methylmercury, government-sponsored school lunch programs
however, fish is a cause for concern for families had mercury levels four times the average re-
and public health officials. When mercury is ported by the FDA. 30
released into the oceans, it is taken up by fish,
shellfish and sea mammals, who transform it MERCURY IN PROCESSED FOOD
by methylation into methylmercury. Larger fish In 2009, The Washington Post reported that
contain more methylmercury; whale blubber “Almost half of tested samples of commercial
and muscle meat, consumed by certain popu- high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained
lations, contain the highest levels of mercury mercury, which was also found in nearly a third
contamination. 21 of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage
There have been downward shifts in products where HFCS is the first- or second-
children’s IQ in the last century and some au- highest labeled ingredient, according to two
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thorities think the decline is related to mercury new U.S. studies.”
in food. However, some fish-eating societies HFCS has been extensively used in the U.S.
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produce children with higher IQs. The average food chain from 1970 to the present. Carbonated
national IQ is highest in Hong Kong, followed beverages (soda), very popular with children
by Singapore, South Korea, Japan, China, and adolescents, contain very high quantities
Taiwan, Italy, Iceland and other Scandinavian of HFCS but its presence is universal in almost
countries. In most of these countries people eat a all food products, even bread. On average,
lot of fish. These figures came from the work of Americans consume twelve teaspoons of HFCS

SPRING 2018 Wise Traditions 43