Smarter Living: Shopping Wise

The list below shows the amount of various types of fish that a woman who is pregnant or planning to become pregnant can safely eat, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. People with small children who want to use the list as a guide should reduce portion sizes. Adult men and women who are not planning to become pregnant are less at risk from mercury exposure, but may wish to refer to the list for low-mercury choices.

Protecting yourself -- and the fish

Certain fish, even some that are low in mercury, make poor choices for other reasons, most often because they have been fished so extensively that their numbers are perilously low. To learn more, visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Blue Ocean Institute, both of which provide guides to fish to enjoy or avoid on the basis of environmental factors.

This list applies to fish caught and sold commercially. For information about fish you catch yourself, check for advisories in your state.

Sources for NRDC's guide: The data for this guide to mercury in fish comes from two federal agencies: the Food and Drug Administration, which tests fish for mercury, and the Environmental Protection Agency, which determines mercury levels that it considers safe for women of childbearing age.

About the mercury-level categories: The categories on the list (least mercury to highest mercury) are determined according to the following mercury levels in the flesh of tested fish.

• Least mercury: Less than 0.09 parts per million
• Moderate mercury: From 0.09 to 0.29 parts per million
• High mercury: From 0.3 to 0.49 parts per million
• Highest mercury: More than .5 parts per million