Natural Catch is a seafood brand that sells canned tuna, along with other canned fish like sardines. The brand sells tuna packaged with different spices and flavors, and describes their product line as “A healthy source of Omega-3s which has various health benefits including benefits for the Heart.”
But is canned tuna actually healthy, or does its mercury content make it a bad choice? What ingredients are in Natural Catch, and are there any questionable additives? Do aluminum liners leach chemicals into food? And what was our experience testing Natural Catch?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more, as we review clinical studies on the mercury content of tuna, to give our take on whether or not it's is a healthy choice.
We’ll also analyze the ingredients in Natural Catch Tuna, discuss if other fish sold by the brand are healthier, and share our honest experience purchasing and testing Natural Catch Tuna.
Key takeaways:
- Canned tuna is very high in mercury
- We tried Natural Catch Tuna ourselves and liked the taste and texture
- We do not currently recommend Natural Catch
Does Mercury Make Tuna Unsafe?
Due to environmental contamination, nearly all wild-caught fish contain some level of mercury, which is toxic to humans. But the levels of mercury vary significantly depending on the type of fish.
Canned tuna contains more than 100x the mercury in clams, and more than 10x the mercury in sardines, according to the FDA.
This suggests that eating lower-mercury fish like sardines may have better long-term health effects.
A medical review published in the Environmental Research journal compared the benefits and risks of tuna consumption and concluded that one weekly meal poses a “very low risk.”
As we documented in our review of OmegaXL, fish oil from foods like tuna is clinically shown to have health benefits including an anti-inflammatory effect and a nutritive benefit due to the omega-3 fatty acids.
Overall, we consider tuna to be safe to eat in moderation, but health-conscious consumers may benefit from eating a lower-mercury fish because other fish have the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids with lower potential mercury exposure.
Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Natural Catch’s “Yellowfin in Olive Oil” tuna product are shown below:
For a tuna product, this is a formulation we would recommend because it consists entirely of whole foods with no unhealthy additives.
The olive oil version is the healthiest product sold by Natural Catch in our opinion, because olive oil may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease according to a 2019 medical review.
Natural Catch sells three other tuna products: White Albacore in Water, Spicy Chili and Sweet Bean.
Sweet Bean is the only product we wouldn’t recommend from a health perspective, because it contains added sugar (although likely a small amount). As we documented in our article on is SPAM healthy, added sugar is clinically shown to be associated with increased risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease.
One of our concerns about Natural Catch is that the brand appears to use aluminum liners to package their products, which are often coated in plastic liners that may be endocrine-disrupting. We cannot confirm the packaging materials from the brand’s website so we hope they clearly publish this in the future.
This is the case for most canned fish products, and it may be healthier to avoid canned food entirely. A YouTube video published by Andrew Pask, who’s a BioSciences professor, highlights some of the potential health risks of BPA exposure from can liners:
We Tested Natural Catch
As the author of this article, I wanted to try Natural Catch myself to share my thoughts on its taste and the overall product experience.
I bought a 6-pack of the olive oil Natural Catch online, and drained two packs and mixed them in with broccoli, chopped onions and hot sauce.
I'm not a tuna fan at all but the texture and thickness of this tuna was really good. It was much more like a steak cut than a runny, mushy cheap tuna brand like I've had in the past.
And although I dislike the smell of tuna, the smell of this brand is more mild than what I'm used to.
The tuna tasted good and two cans was a convenient way to get 40 grams of protein on a day that I was lazy to cook.
I don't plan to have the rest of the cans for at least a week to minimize mercury intake.
Overall, I'd rate Natural Catch 7/10 but that's mostly because I don't have a taste for tuna. If I did, I'd probably rate it 10/10.
Natural Catch vs. Popular Canned Protein
Here's how Natural Catch compares to other popular ready-to-eat protein products in terms of healthiness, in our opinion:
SafeCatch
This brand claims to have the lowest tested mercury levels of any tuna brand, but doesn't clearly publish those test results on their website.
Independent test results suggest that SafeCatch tuna doesn't have lower mercury levels than other brands.
Winner: Natural Catch Tuna
Slim Jims
Processed red meat from conventionally-raised animals is the least healthy protein choice in our opinion.
This type of food product has been clinically shown to be associated with increased risk of heart disease, as we documented in the are Slim Jims healthy article we recently updated.
Winner: Natural Catch Tuna
Quest Bars
This popular protein bar brand contains unhealthy additives like artificial sweeteners and flavoring agents which we recommend avoiding.
Natural Catch is a less processed, more nutritious option.
Winner: Natural Catch Tuna
Natural Catch Tuna Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Most flavors contain healthy formulations
- Uses olive oil which has health-promoting effects
- Highly positive customer reviews across sales channels
Cons:
- Appears to be packaged in aluminum
- Sweet Bean product contains added sugar
- Expensive
- Tuna is higher in mercury than other fish
- Brand website charges for shipping
