tinned tuna

[bobhob]

tinned tuna in oil ???? yay or nah for pregnany women??

It's fine.

I think they just say to have 1 tin a week because of the levels of mecury in it.

It's up to 2 tins or 1 fresh steak per week recommended now (think it was upped a little last year from what used to be recommended).

And on the subject of fish, farmed salmon should be avoided completely.

I know you didn't ask about this, but thought I'd mention it in case you thought you'd have it instead of tuna!

I had no idea about the salmon, Tabs. Does that also mean I should avoid giving it to ds? (I have not as yet but thought I might try salmon soon as he loves fish).

what's the deal with farmed salmon?

Now I can't remember if it's another mercury thing, or if it's some other pollutant or something in their food that's the problem, but my m/w specifically mentioned it when I saw her for first time last year, and again when I saw her for booking in again last week.

Windermere - not sure on giving it to DS - I haven't got as far as actually having a baby yet, so have all that to look forward to! If it's any help though I do know of plenty of other mums who've given their little ones salmon at a similar age, and as long as there aren't any bones left in it they've all been quite happy with this.

Tabs could it be growth hormone, they are pumped full of the stuff in farming.
you can get wild salmon at M&S although it is pricey.
dd has had the occasional very small amount of farmed salmon in the past (like a 1/4 of a small fillet) - no ill effects yet that I can see.

Its a blooming good job i looked at this, i never knew about the tuna. Is this a "new" thing? was not told this when i was pregnant in 2003. Just wondering

There is no official advice about farmed salmon at all. I think your midwife is either misinformed or a maverick.
It is recommended to limit tuna, but not to cut it out.

I had a dd in Oct 04 and am due in Jan 06 - so my knowledge is recent. Just looked in the "Eating while you are pregnant" which is published by the Food Standards Agency - the guidance is:

"Avoid eating shark, swordfish and marlin and limit the amount of tuna that you eat. Don't eat more than 2 tuna steaks a week or 4 medium-size cans of tuna a week. This is because of the levels of mercury in these fish. At high levels, mercury can harm a baby's developing nervous system."

I got paranoid with dd and never ate any tuna when I found out I was pregnant, I am now a little more relaxed and have a couple of cans a week - tuna was a staple in my diet.

Does beg the question why tuna is banded about as being so healthy with such a health warning. HTH

Aloha - I've heard it from several other people in other areas who've been told it by their midwives too, so isn't just mine.

Then these midwives are not offering official advice, just their own opinion. Fish oils are very important to developing babies. I agree wild salmon is nicer than farmed, however.

I just did a search and it appears that the salmon scare relates to canadian research that found that scottish & Irish farmed salmon contained high levels of PCB's which can cause cancer. They are now recommending that farmed salmon should be eaten only once a week (the WHO will be changing their guidelines) and in the US the advice is to eat it only 6 times a year. I have posted the web addresses as I don't know how to post a link. Looks like it's expensive wild salmon from now on then.

www.health-report.co.uk/pcb-toxic-chemical-farmed-salmon.html

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1098564.stm