As a physician, I often feel torn when I see a friend doing something that is bad for them, but which they clearly enjoy. If I I do speak up, it spoils their enjoyment; if I don’t, I feel like I’ve failed to protect them from danger. So last week, dining out with friends, David started salivating over the Alaskan salmon he saw on the menu. He loved fish, and usually had a filet twice a week. Usually I just bite my tongue and let it go, but for some reason (perhaps my concern for his health overcame my belief that one should never question another’s food choices), I made the blunder of blurting out that perhaps consuming fish wasn’t such a hot idea. I immediately regretted it, because David looked at me with a “what possible business of yours could my choice of entree be?” look. But the look receded, and he asked, simply, “Why?”

Not wanting to compound my error, I replied, “Never mind,” but by now he was intent on knowing. (To this day, I’m not sure whether his “Why” referred to why I had been so insensitive or why the fish was a bad idea).

“No, Tim, I want you to tell me why. Why shouldn’t I have salmon?”

It was too late to back out, so I told him the truth. “Fish--all fish, in fact, all seafood--contain high levels of methylmercury, which is a toxin that fries our neurons. I was simply worried about your cerebral, health, but I clearly shouldn’t have opened my mouth.”

“You’re worried about my brain?”

“Yes, fish are loaded with mercury and mercury kills brain cells.”

“Aren’t there safe levels? How do you know whether a person is ingesting too much?”

Well, first of all, I wouldn't trust government mandated mercury levels. They're decades out of step with the research findings. So-called "safe levels" are a sick joke. The only thing they protect is the fishing industry. We now know that methylated mercury is evenly distributed in all the world's oceans, and--though some seafood have higher levels than others--all contain this nerve poison. Over the years, David, I've done mercury testing on hundreds of my patients and of those who consume two or more servings of fish a week, all had mercury levels in the toxic range.”

“All?”

“Yes, all.”

“That’s remarkable. What do you tell them to do?”

“I explain that mercury is a very toxic metal element that destroys nerve cells and shortens brain life. I tell them to stop eating fish and we'll retest in three months. If the person has discontinued the fish, the mercury goes back down into the normal range.”

“That’s remarkable, Tim!”

“I thought so too.”

“So should I worry if there is a little mercury in my fish dish? I only have it twice a week.”

“That’s definitely enough to cause a problem.”

"Oh-oh!"

“You might be interested in checking out a short video clip I often recommend to my patients. It shows what happens to a nerve cell when it is exposed to a very small amount of mercury--an amount about the same as you’d find in a typical serving of fish. It’s at http://www.iaomt.org--I'll write it down for you on this napkin.”

“What’ll I see when I go there?”

“I shouldn’t ruin the suspense...but I will. You’ll see a microscopic view of a normal nerve cell growing new axon buds. Then, a small amount of mercury is added--about the amount you'd get eating a serving of fish. When the mercury is added, the new growth stops and the newly generated nerve buds shrivel up and die. It’s rather dramatic.”

“How does mercury get into fish in the first place?”

“Industrial coal fires spew trapped mercury into the atmosphere along with sulfuric acid. This then rains down onto the land, and the acid in the rain dissolves additional mercury trapped in the soil, washes it out into the lakes, rivers and oceans. Microbial action in the oceans converts it to the much more toxic methylated form, methylmercury. Fish consume this, and it accumulates in their bodies. Larger fish consume the smaller fish, so it works its way up the food chain until it ends up on your plate.”

“How can I get tested?”

“Hair analysis is the most accurate way to test. I’ll give you a test kit. It is quite inexpensive. You simply snip off a small amount of hair (from the nape of the neck, so no one can tell) and send it off. In about 10 days we’ll receive a report that lists the status of mercury--and all of the other toxic and essential mineral elements as well.”

“I’m starving. Let’s order.”

“Let's have the lasagna.”

“Sounds good to me.”