By Dr. Michele Sinopoli
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Most experts agree that it’s safe to consume tuna if you are pregnant, but you do need to be careful about the amount and type of tuna that you eat. Fish is considered a good food to eat for pregnant women since it contains many nutrients that can help your child’s growth and development. However, certain types of fish, including tuna, do contain very small amounts of mercury that can cause harm if ingested in too large a quantity.
For this reason, the FDA has given detailed guidelines for those who enjoy eating fish – including for pregnant women. Basically, the guidelines call for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding to consume between 8 and 12 ounces of a variety of seafood per week from choices that are lower in mercury – including most (but not all) species of tuna. You can find more information on which fish species to eat and those it’s best to avoid at this FDA web page.
About Michele Sinopoli, MD
When she first went to college, Dr. Michele Sinopoli studied bio-medical engineering. However, after a while she realized that being in a lab all day wasn’t what really interested her. “I had a summer job as a bio-medical engineer at a local hospital,” she explains. “One day an obstetrician asked me if I wanted to see a delivery. Once I witnessed the miracle of birth and saw the joy the parents experienced, I knew that was the field...
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