FDA Reviewing Consumer Advisory on Pregnancy, Fish Consumption

WASHINGTON--The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Food Advisory Committee asked the agency to revisit its advice to pregnant women about consumption of fish that may contain high levels of mercury. The current advisory, issued in March 2001, urged women to avoid eating four types of fish that generally contain high levels of methylmercury and to only consume 12 ounces per week of other types of fish "as long as you select a variety of other kinds of fish."

The committee held a hearing July 23 to 25 to review the agency's advisory to pregnant women about the risks of mercury in fish. FDA (www.fda.gov) convened the hearing after critics and some consumer groups charged that lobbying from the tuna industry influenced the agency's decision to not include tuna on the list.

The National Academy of Sciences estimates that 60,000 newborns a year could be at risk of learning disabilities because of mercury their mothers absorbed during pregnancy.

A spokesman for FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) noted that FDA would give A-list priority in the coming fiscal year to developing a plan of action on the issue. Among the tasks at hand are developing a better definition of what is meant by "a variety of fish," working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and states to bring commercial and recreational fish under the same advisory, and analyzing what contribution tuna makes to methylmercury levels in women and how it should be addressed specifically in FDA's revamped advisory.

One consumer advisory noted as a possible guideline is the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' "Hook into Healthy Fish," which reviews safe eating guidelines for women and children. Wisconsin advises consuming only two 6-ounce cans of tuna per week if that is the only fish the women consume, or one can if other seafood is also eaten.

The National Food Processors Association (NFPA) supported FDA's original advisory. "Advice to consumers on fish consumption is a very complex issue that cannot and should not be addressed by looking at any one piece of information," said Rhonda Applebaum, NFPA's executive vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs. "We believe FDA met the challenge of integrating information from a variety of sources on the numerous factors that must be considered in providing sound, actionable advice to the public on safely consuming fish, which has repeatedly been recognized as contributing to a healthful diet."

During the hearing, the committee addressed the issue of balancing concern about methylmercury levels with the positive nutritional benefits of fish consumption. "Nobody wants to tell people to stop eating tuna fish," said the committee chairman, Sanford Miller of Virginia Tech University. "We're trying to balance the very positive virtues of fish, including tuna fish, with the harms. It's a very hard balance to make."

Consumption of fish, particularly fatty fishes, has been recommended by a number of health agencies. The American Heart Association recommends people eat it twice a week to absorb heart-healthy omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs). Those EFAs include docosahexanoic acid (DHA), which is also critical to fetal and children's brain development.

Many fish oil producers in the natural products industry have long advised consumption of quality fish oil supplements instead of fish to gain the benefits of EFA intake. "A pregnant woman can meet her need for DHA from fish oil products," said Bjorn Rene with Pronova Biocare a.s. (www.epax.org) in Lysaker Akershus, Norway. "If the oil is produced by a reliable supplier that cleans and removes toxins, and analyzes the product regularly to control contaminant levels, there should be no problem with mercury or other heavy metals. We hope that all producers will follow the quality criteria in the new proposed voluntary U.S. monograph for omega-3 products to ensure product quality for consumers."