CCF launches online seafood calculator

The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) on Thursday launched a Web site allowing consumers to weigh health benefits associated with eating seafood against the risks, and vice versa.

HowMuchFish.com is designed to help consumers decipher conflicting information about seafood and health, particularly the risks tied to the neurotoxin methylmercury.

“Fed up with fishy activists like Greenpeace (and Jeremy Piven)?” asked the CCF. “The Internet is full of doom-and-gloom seafood calculators that only tell half the story. We’re trying to bring some balance to the discussion.”

The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit analyzed U.S. Department of Agriculture nutritional information and consulted with registered dieticians to create the site.

The site features a calculator allowing consumers to register their weight, how much fish they eat in a single serving and a type of seafood; there are a dozen species to chose from, including white and light tuna, farmed and wild salmon, pollock, cod and blue crab.

For example, a 125-pound person who consumes 6-ounces of canned albacore tuna per serving would have to eat 39.6 ounces, or 2.4 pounds, per week for a lifetime to put their health at risk due to mercury. The calculator also points out that a 6-ounce serving of albacore tuna contains 1.46 grams of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, 40.2 grams of protein, 1.8 micrograms of Vitamin B-12, 402 milligrams of potassium, 1.62 milligrams of iron and 111.6 micrograms of selenium.

HowMuchFish.com claims to be the only Web site that quantifies both the health risks and benefits of a seafood-rich diet. The CCF also runs MercuryFacts.org, which tries to put the health risks associated with mercury in perspective.

Sea Turtle Restoration Project also promotes an online seafood calculator, GotMercury.org. However, this Web site is designed to warn consumers to avoid eating fish relatively high in mercury, including albacore tuna.

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