Fukushima nuclear wastewater enters the sea, how to choose seafood? Nutritionist Li Zhiwei: 4 ways to reduce environmental toxins

The Japanese government has discharged nuclear waste water from the Fukushima power plant into the sea on the 24th, and announced the results of tritium concentration tests on fish caught in nearby waters. Although it shows that the tritium content is lower than the detectable limit, the outside world is still worried that once the ocean is affected, can seafood still be eaten? How should we correctly select and process seafood to reduce the risks of environmental toxins or heavy metals?

Nutritionist Vivian Li Zhiwei will teach you the 4 safety principles for selecting seafood types, pre-processing and cooking methods, so that you can enjoy delicious and nutritious seafood dishes with more peace of mind.

4 Tips to Reduce the Risk of Seafood Toxins

Since many environmental toxins and heavy metals are fat-soluble substances, they are difficult to be excreted from the animal body and tend to accumulate in the internal organs and fat cells. Medium and large predatory fish may have a higher risk of toxicity due to ingesting a large number of small fish containing environmental toxins and heavy metals.

1. Avoid high-risk seafood

From this we can see that avoiding specific high-risk fish and blocking the chance of toxins entering the body from the source of food is the most practical and safe approach! The following is a list of seafood that nutritionist Vivian Lee has compiled that has been identified by various countries as having higher risks of environmental toxins or heavy metals:

(Form provided by nutritionist Li Zhiwei)

2. Use a variety of seafood in rotation

There is no preference for a single type of seafood; a variety of seafood are used in rotation.

"Use a variety of ingredients in rotation: nutrients must be consumed in a balanced manner, and toxins will also be consumed in a balanced manner." By rotating the use of different seafoods and avoiding long-term, large-scale intake of the same type of seafood, the chance of consuming too much of a single type of environmental toxins or heavy metals can be greatly reduced, thereby avoiding the accumulation of excessive toxins in the body that endanger human health. In addition, if you follow the principle of "selecting products that have passed inspection and purchasing from reputable manufacturers", you can enjoy your meal with peace of mind!

It is recommended that you give priority to seafood that is low in heavy metal mercury.

3. Remove specific parts of fish

Removing certain parts of fish makes them safer to eat.

Methylmercury and many environmental pollutants (such as polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins) are fat-soluble. Once they enter the human body, they are relatively difficult to excrete and tend to accumulate in areas of the body with high fat content. Therefore, we can also reduce the risk of related pollutants by removing specific parts of fish!

Studies have found that removing visible fat such as fish skin, dorsal fat and abdominal fat before cooking, and only consuming fish fillets, can significantly reduce environmental pollutants; however, Vivian reminds everyone that related studies have found that "removing specific parts of fish" has limited effect on reducing heavy metal mercury in fish dishes, so it is still recommended that everyone must give priority to seafood low in heavy metal mercury.

4. Appropriate cooking method

Using proper cooking methods can also help reduce the risk of poisons.

Nutritionist Li Zhiwei said that according to official recommendations from the state of Washington, the use of "grilling" as a cooking method for fish and seafood can increase the amount of fish fat released through high temperatures during the cooking process and reduce the content of fat-soluble toxins in seafood dishes. However, everyone should remember not to use the released oil as ingredients for sauces or seasonings, otherwise all the effort will be wasted.

The article comes from www.Taiwan Nutritionist.com