‘I got sick from eating too much tuna’: Jorge Fernandez talks about the nightmare he suffered from eating too much fish

In an interview for a podcast I have a planTV presenter Jorge Fernandez explained the reasons why he experienced various health problems. On the one hand, he says that he was diagnosed with Lyme disease, and on the other, that he was poisoned eat a lot of tuna for 15 years of his life.

Lyme disease is transmitted through tick bites and causes fatigue, headaches, dizziness, joint pain and many other symptoms, which in some cases can be very serious. Fortunately, the disease was brought under control. But Jorge continued to feel unwell, and there were many unbalanced parameters in his analysis. After several tests it turned out that mercury levels they were very high in his body and when checking his food history it was clear that he had eaten too much tuna.

In an interview, Jorge Fernandez explains that he did not know that eating too much tuna was harmful. I thought this was very good as it is a great resource. protein and omega 3. So I ate it in abundance, especially before going to the gym. The problem is that, as with other substances, what is good for you can kill you if you overdo it. Even water can be deadly. Also, in the case of tuna, there is a fairly broad explanation for why this happens.

Why is it dangerous to eat too much tuna?

Tuna as such is not dangerous. As Jorge Fernandez says in an interview, this is a very healthy fish. The problem is that throughout their life in the ocean, their bodies become contaminated with varying levels of mercury.

It all starts with mercury emissions from industry that enter the sea through sewage, rain and runoff. Once on the seabed, it turns into another substance called methylmercurywhich bioaccumulates in the bodies of small fish that eat it. This means that once it gets into your tissues, it accumulates. It is very difficult to remove it. Therefore, when big fish eat small fish, mercury continues to accumulate in them. The more fish eaten, the more mercury there is, and the larger the fish, the more small fish it eats.

Tuna is a very large fish, so it may contain very high mercury levels. In the food industry, great care is taken to ensure that certain levels are not exceeded. You cannot sell above what is considered safe. But when you eat a lot of tuna, no matter how low the level, it bioaccumulates, just like in fish, and becomes dangerous.

How much is too much?

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommends a maximum weekly intake of methylmercury 1.3 µg/kg body weight. Logically, this will depend on the fish consumed and the degree of its contamination. But, generally speaking, it is not recommended to exceed 120 grams per month for species with high mercury content, such as tuna, swordfish or dogfish. In fact, this is the recommended amount for children aged 10 to 14 years. Under this age and pregnant women should avoid it completely, and for adults and children over 14 years of age there is no recommended dose as such, but it is important to mix this fish with other low mercury fish and not exceed 3-4 servings per week.

What happened to Jorge Fernandez because he ate a lot of mercury?

In an interview, Jorge Fernandez explains that due to eating large amounts of tuna, many hormones were destabilized in his blood tests, such as: TSH and testosterone. It’s because it’s endocrine disruptor. This changes hormones. But that’s not all.

Due to its lipophilic nature (attraction to fats), it can accumulate in all types of tissues and even penetrate through blood-brain barrier, which is responsible for protecting the brain. As a result, it causes damage to the nervous system, digestive system, vision, skin and many other organs.

As far as it goes, if these were the only health effects of eating a lot of tuna on Jorge Fernandez, you could say he was lucky. You may have been prescribed chelating medications, which help eliminate mercuryand thanks to this, everything is all right with him. Without a doubt, the TV presenter learned the hard way how important the dosage of what we eat is. And also the importance of scientific dissemination. If you read us, you would have known long ago that eating too much tuna is dangerous.