FDA panel: Pregnant women should limit tuna intake

Last Updated: 2002-07-26 10:00:52 -0400 (Reuters Health)

BELTSVILLE, Maryland (Reuters Health) - An advisory panel to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended Thursday that pregnant women and women of childbearing age limit their intake of tuna, at least while the further studies of mercury content are conducted.

It's not clear if the mercury in the fish is truly dangerous to a developing fetus, and how much would be toxic. The FDA does not have to follow the advice of such panels but often does.

"I think what the committee was trying to say is they don't know for sure, but prudence would dictate that (tuna consumption) probably should be limited" until FDA compiles more data showing it is--or isn't--a harm, said panel chairman Sanford Miller, a senior fellow at Virginia Polytechnic Institute's Center for Food and Nutrition Policy.

The committee also said that the FDA should study the effects of mercury intake from fish in children.

The panel was convened to assess the effectiveness of FDA's early 2001 warning to women who are pregnant or of childbearing age. At that time, the federal agency advised such women to avoid against eating shark, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel. The FDA had also urged people to eat a "variety of fish" to ensure against potentially high mercury intake.

After 3 days of contentious debate, the FDA advisers said that the agency should better define what it meant by "variety," and that it should better assess the risk of mercury intake from different fish, especially tuna, which is the most-consumed fish in the US.

"We will take their recommendations to heart and will be formulating a plan of action accordingly," said Joseph Levitt, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, after the meeting.

It is likely the agency will issue a revised advisory, but Levitt could not say when it would be released, since the panel's recommendations had not yet been assessed. But, said Levitt, the issue will be on the agency's "A list" for the coming fiscal year.

Miller said that committee members were very concerned the public would come away with the message that they should stop eating fish--and perhaps substitute less healthy alternatives. Miller noted that fish is a very beneficial food, providing many essential fatty acids.

"You've got a good food and you've got to try to balance the contribution the fish makes to the diet against the possible harm--that's an extremely difficult message to get across," said Miller, who added that the panel would leave it up to the FDA to determine how to word a new advisory.

The current warning is "on the right track," he said, but needs improvement.

But, he said, it would not be easy. "This is a highly controversial area," Miller said, noting that debate during the meeting had been heated.

"When you're dealing with children you can't be not passionate," Miller said, adding, "but that makes it hard to make objective decisions that are useful."

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