[removed]
FDA should be a bit more descriptive with heavy metal limits. Methylmercury is actually eliminated from the body (lots of people think its a lifetime exposure thing, it is not) it just is not very fast, halfife is around 50 days, and the FDA make weekly recommendations based on this. FDA limits are also very conservative for adults (there is large variation between individuals, they account for this and then some) and assume you are going to eat that fish every single week.
Methylmercury is also much less of a big deal in adults then it is in children (or pregnant women). Its a neurotoxin that damages the nervous system, if that nervous system is still developing then the results can be profound. In adults the non-cognitive effects are more of a problem and chronic exposure will drastically increase cardiovascular related mortality (in the order of 3*).
If you chug methylmercury that is bad. If you exceed your weekly recommended limit a few times a month but remain under it on average its unlikely you will experience any negative effects. Seabass has basically the same mercury content as albacore so you can eat two or three servings a week every week (another thing I don’t like about the way the FDA do it, servings of fish are not equivalent weight so mercury exposure is not the same).
If you buy fish in a way you know younger fish have lower levels and farm raised have lower levels then wild.
Rather than assuming I can figure this out better than experts can, I follow FDA advice. It’s a long-term concern though, so since your consumption is sporadic, figure out how your per-week consumption averages over a month.
> Eat 2 to 3 servings per week from the “Best Choices” list, or 1 serving from the “Good Choices” list.
Not a case of “you will die” if you want to eat more than this, but your risks increase as your consumption does, so figure out how much risk you’re comfortable with.