Raw wild-caught tuna is a white meat in Aajonus Vonderplanitz's classification system, even though its flesh is red-colored. Aajonus explicitly addressed this apparent contradiction: "You've got tuna, which is red, which is a color not white. You've got ostrich, which is red as liver, that's not white. So, I called it white meat, red meat, misnomer as it is. So, whenever I talk about white meat in the book..." He made clear that tuna and all fish and seafood fall into the "white meat" category in terms of their biological function, regardless of the visible color of the flesh.

Tuna occupies a specific and important role within the broader category of ocean wild-caught fish, which Aajonus described as the only fish he recommends. He distinguished ocean wild-caught fish from all freshwater fish, all farm-raised fish, and all canned or processed fish products. Tuna is specifically identified among the acceptable and recommended ocean fish, alongside swordfish, yellowtail, seabass, salmon, shark, escolar, and others.

At the highest level, raw wild-caught fish including tuna serves a fundamentally different biological role than red meat in the Primal Diet. As Aajonus stated directly: "White meat such as nonfarmed, ocean wild-caught fish and seafood, helps reconstitute nerves, including the brain." This nerve-reconstituting property is specific to white meat, including tuna, and is not shared by red meat. He further elaborated: "Fish is mainly to reconstitute", distinguishing this from the role of red meat in repairing skin. Eating 1–3 pounds of raw meat daily, which can include fish such as tuna, "helps regenerate, heal the body, and reverse the common toxic deterioration associated with aging and disease."

Tuna is also listed as a valid option for preparing high meat, the fermented raw meat protocol, specifically noted in the recommendation to keep "one with ocean wild-caught raw fish" among the three jars used in that preparation.

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The most extensively documented property of tuna in Aajonus's teachings concerns mercury, specifically, how the mercury in raw tuna behaves in the human body versus cooked tuna, and why this distinction is foundational to understanding the food's safety and benefits.

Aajonus conducted a laboratory experiment in 1989 specifically to investigate mercury absorption from raw versus cooked swordfish (the highest-mercury fish). Though the experiment used swordfish as the test food, the findings apply directly to tuna and all ocean fish, and Aajonus repeatedly applied these principles when discussing tuna specifically.

The mercury experiment involved 13 total subjects, 8 dogs and 8 cats (initially described as such in the newsletter; in a workshop transcript he describes it as 13 animals with himself as the 13th). The animals were elderly, aged 11–14, "because it is considered most susceptible to easy contamination and illness from all sorts of toxic sources, including food consumption." A 53-pound swordfish was purchased directly from Pacific Ocean fishermen. Seven cubes of swordfish equaling one pound were weighed, reduced, tested, and analyzed for mercury content. The measured mercury level in the Pacific-caught swordfish registered approximately 9 on whatever scale was being used, where "13 is supposed to be decontaminatingly bad and 3 to 4 to 5 is ok, still toxic but still not dangerously toxic."

One group ate the swordfish raw; the other ate it cooked. Aajonus was the 13th subject in the raw group. Feces and urine were checked after approximately 7 days of eating nothing but the fish. The results:

• Raw group: 92–98% of mercury passed out in the urine and feces. (Aajonus cites "98%" in some passages, "92%" in others, both figures appear in the sources without resolution of the discrepancy.)
• Cooked group: Only 5–8% passed out of the system, meaning 92–95% of the mercury remained in the body.

Aajonus explained the mechanism: "Cooking completely fractionates those fat molecules and releases the mercury... cooking of any kind causes the fat that fish bodies use to protect themselves (from poisons) to detach, resulting in the poisons (mercury) being released (free-radical). The mercury in swordfish is a natural element in that species that helps its mobility." He applied this same reasoning to tuna when asked: "If you cook fish, it causes the mercury to be a free radical. When you do not eat it cooked, it will not be observed as a toxin in your body."

He elaborated on the mechanism of fat protection: "The fat molecules that were bound to those toxins were relatively undigested. So the body knows and can determine as it passes through the intestines. However, once it's cooked, it's, everything's fractionated. Everything is dispersed. So the poisons go into the system." In other words, the body's intestinal intelligence recognizes the fat-chelated mercury complex as something not to digest, and allows it to pass through, precisely because the fat binding remains intact only in the raw state.

Beyond simple non-absorption, Aajonus described a secondary beneficial mechanism: "The organic mercury has an attraction to the toxic mercury and starts throwing it out to the skull. And then the skull builds it into the hair. So you have a lot higher mercury content in the hair. That's a good thing because you're getting rid of the poison mercury in the body. But it will cause graying of hair."

He explained this at the biochemical principle level: "When digested and made bioactive by plankton and eaten by fish, traces of mercury are great detoxifiers of toxic mercury in the body. Bioactive and non-cauterized mercury in raw fish helps buoy...", meaning the bioactive, organic mercury present in raw tuna and similar fish actively facilitates the removal of the dangerous, inorganic toxic mercury (such as thimerosal from vaccines) already stored in the body.

He stated this explicitly when a patient mentioned that Hawaii tuna has high mercury: "Is it true of ivy? Yes. Correct. So you're saying that this Mercedes says in Hawaii that tuna has a lot of mercury. But if it's raw, fresh tuna, then you're saying it's not toxic? It's fine. It's non-toxic. You can have a very high mercury level. But what it will do is usually cause toxic mercury in your body from thimerosal, from vaccines, to start discharging."

He also stated in a newsletter: "As I said in my Spring 2007 issue, cooking completely fractionates those fat molecules and releases the mercury. Our bodies absorb the mercury. Therefore, eating cooked fish that is high in mercury contaminates us with mercury." And in a Q&A: "In my singular test animals and people on a raw diet, 92% of the mercury passed in the urine and feces."

The September 2011 Q&A contains this statement applied directly to high-mercury species: "Does that mean that it is still safe, at this point in time, to eat fish (RAW) from large fish species that accumulate more mercury, i.e. swordfish and tuna?" His response was affirmative: "Ocean wild-caught fish is still okay unless it is from the China sea from the Philippines to Northern China."

Aajonus repeatedly drew a line between two fundamentally different kinds of mercury:

1. Bioactive, organic mercury in raw ocean fish, this is non-toxic in its raw, uncooked state. It is naturally present, integrated with the fat molecules of the fish, and serves biological functions in the fish (buoyancy, speed, mobility). When eaten raw, it passes through the body without being absorbed, and may even actively draw out the toxic form.

2. Toxic mercury, from thimerosal in vaccines, industrial contamination of freshwater and land environments, canned food processing, chemical pesticides sprayed in areas like Florida, and cooking, which converts the bioactive form into a free-radical, damaging form.

"As soon as you cook it, it becomes the lethal kind of mercury. When it's raw, it's beneficial."

He also addressed the question of whether land or freshwater predators suffer mercury toxicity from eating raw prey, and why this differs from ocean fish: "Land and freshwater animals do not have the same mineral-altering ability that ocean animals have." The mercury that raccoons in Florida accumulate, for example, comes from "pesticides and fungicides greatly in Florida where raccoons forage" and "mercury-containing poisons in garbage dumps", a different type and concentration of mercury than what is found in ocean fish.

He further clarified in a newsletter: "I suggest that we do NOT avoid wild-caught ocean creatures that are considered high in mercury. My point was that eating ocean wild-caught raw fish was a factor with low mercury absorption. Land and freshwater animals do not have the same mineral-altering ability that ocean animals have."

Because tuna is classified as white meat (fish), its primary structural contribution is to nerve reconstitution, including the brain, rather than skin repair. Aajonus stated: "Fish is mainly to reconstitute", the nerve tissue specifically, and distinguished this from red meat's role in skin repair. This nerve-reconstituting function is a fundamental reason he recommended including ocean wild-caught fish such as tuna as a regular part of the diet alongside red meat.

The broader principle at work in raw tuna is that the fat in raw fish chelates toxins during passage through the gastrointestinal tract and carries them out of the body without those toxins being absorbed. He described this in the context of a patient with pancreatic and digestive concerns: "If you eat the animal raw, the toxicity passes out with the fat chelated with it without any digestion, without any breakdown of that fat or that chelated compound. So you eat that tuna. Enjoy it."

He also noted that laboratory testing methodology inflates apparent mercury danger: "When laboratories test anything, first they use solvents to dissolve the substance tested. When fish have been dissolved and tested, tests reveal the amount of mercury contained in that fish, but it does not evaluate how much damage the mercury may have done to the fish prior to fat-isolation." The standard test dissolves the fat, thereby releasing mercury that, in the intact raw fish, would remain bound and would pass harmlessly through the body.

Raw wild-caught tuna and other ocean fish provide minerals in a concentration and form not obtainable from other foods. Aajonus noted regarding frozen wild Alaskan salmon (a comparison point): "in fish you have a high concentration of minerals that you can't get from other foods." He recommended tuna specifically for patients who had accumulated "mineral toxins" in the system, saying: "You could use some fish because you have all those mineral toxins. You know, it would help neutralize some of that."

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Aajonus was unequivocal: tuna must be consumed raw. Cooking converts the bioactive, harmlessly-chelated mercury into a free-radical form that the body then absorbs. This is not a mild concern, it is the mechanism by which cooked fish becomes toxic regardless of species.

Aajonus's strong general preference was for fresh, never-frozen fish. He described the pinnacle experience of fresh tuna: "I would get fresh caught swordfish and tuna that day. Never frozen, never on a boat except for maybe four or five hours, six hours maximum... Unbelievable how delicious it is. Delicious it is. That fresh. I'd sit down and eat three pounds in the sitting. Like candy was to me as a kid."

However, he acknowledged a distinction for frozen ocean fish compared to frozen land meat. Regarding frozen wild Alaskan salmon: "it does because in fish you have a high concentration of minerals that you can't get from other foods and it doesn't completely cause it, it doesn't cause it to become a free radical because it isn't polluted, it isn't cauterized so it does supply some good nutrition", meaning frozen ocean fish, while not ideal, is not rendered as harmful as cooked fish and still supplies some nutritional benefit, particularly the mineral content, because freezing does not fractionate the fat-mercury bonds the way cooking does. This principle would apply to frozen tuna as well.

Only wild-caught tuna is acceptable. Aajonus stated: "Get the swordfish, get the tuna" when discussing what to buy at a store, but in the context of asking what is "not farm-raised." He stated this as a general rule: "I recommend only ocean wild-caught raw fish, not farmed, except oysters, clams and scallops."

Tuna (as ocean wild-caught raw fish) can be made into high meat, the fermented raw meat preparation. The recipe for living without disease explicitly states: "I suggest three jars be prepared; one with raw red meat, one with natural raw fowl and one with ocean wild-caught raw fish." This means tuna can serve as the fish component in the high meat protocol.

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Aajonus's geographic guidance for ocean fish in general (applicable to tuna):

• Ocean is only 2–4–8% contaminated depending on the source passage (he gives varying figures: "Ocean is only 2% contaminated" in one transcript; "The ocean is only 4-8% polluted, depending upon where you look" in another; these figures appear without resolution).
• Gulf of Mexico: approximately 10% polluted, "I don't eat anything from the Gulf of Mexico."
• East Coast: He will eat deep-sea ocean fish from the Atlantic coast of Florida and above.
• Pacific Coast: Preferred above San Francisco.
• Around the Carolinas and California: The transition point above which he considers it "preferable."
• China Sea, from the Philippines to Northern China: Specifically excluded as of September 2011, "Ocean wild-caught fish is still okay unless it is from the China sea from the Philippines to Northern China."
• Fresh water: Absolutely excluded, rivers and lakes are "about 35–40% polluted" in one transcript, elsewhere stated as "33–35% of all fresh water is contaminated."

In 2011, Aajonus addressed specific concerns about Ahi tuna from Hawaii and Fiji following the Fukushima nuclear meltdown in Japan:

Regarding Ahi tuna from Hawaii: "I suggest that you get several people to buy one or two very efficient Geiger counters and test ALL your food each time you shop, especially if it came from an area where the jet stream carried nuclear contamination; Hawaii is in the jet stream."

Regarding Ahi tuna from Fiji: "The winds change and shift even though there is a main jet stream. I am experiencing radiation in both Thailand and the Philippines. YOU HAVE TO TEST THE FOOD." He emphasized that Geiger counter testing of individual food items is required in the post-Fukushima environment when sourcing from the Pacific.

At a fish market or store: ask specifically what is not farm-raised. Aajonus acknowledged: "I go and I ask them what's not farm-raised and... Not much. That's right. There isn't much." He noted that large fish markets, such as the one in Los Angeles, offer more selection. In areas without a major fish market, choices are limited.

At a sushi bar, Aajonus ordered sashimi specifically: "I just get sashimi. Sashimi means just the raw fish." He did not eat the rice (though he notes he recommends other people eat the rice). He did not eat the seaweed, describing it as very difficult to digest due to complex cellulose molecules.

When traveling in Mexico, Aajonus recommended ordering "carne crudo" at restaurants for meat, and identified butcher stores as a primary source. For fish in coastal and island areas, he found fresh-caught local fish to be an excellent option, describing experiences in islands off Dubao and Somalia where "I would get fresh caught swordfish and tuna that day. Never frozen, never on a boat except for maybe four or five hours, six hours maximum."

Raw tuna and other ocean fish can be marinated in lemon or lime juice for anywhere from 20 minutes to 24 hours in ceviche-style preparations. Aajonus described Polynesian and Tahitian cultures doing this with raw fish routinely.

Aajonus described a method for preserving raw fish in oil, to be done only in glass containers, never metal: "I recommend that you cure the fish for 1-24 hours in lemon juice, pour off the lemon juice and then add your vinegar... it is likely to last no more than 2 weeks without gas forming." He noted: "raw lemon juice and raw vinegar promote fermentation, they do not stop fermentation" and that the fish preserved this way "may be preserved for 1-4 weeks." There may be some gas forming that "smells slightly rank."

Aajonus was explicit and emphatic about canned tuna: "So tuna fish in a can is not a good idea. Absolutely." He explained the dual contamination: modern cans are plastic-coated on the inside, but "if the plastic isn't sprayed evenly in the can, and it gets through, then you're going to have tin and the plastic in your system." He described the plastic liner as "not better than before. It's just different diseases. It's still toxic, it's still terrible. Very toxic." The processing involved in canning destroys the protective fat structure, and the can itself introduces additional toxins regardless of the plastic lining.

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Aajonus recommended pairing raw fish, including tuna, with no-salt raw cheese specifically to address any concern about free-radical mercury: "You can always eat a little no-salt raw cheese with fish to insure that any free-radical mercury is absorbed and contained in the cheese." The cheese acts as a binding and absorbing agent for any mercury that might not be fully chelated by the fish's own fats.

The broader principle of pairing raw fats with raw fish appears throughout the recipes and protocols. Raw butter, flax oil, stone-pressed olive oil, and coconut cream all appear as pairings in the documented preparations. These fats support the chelation mechanism by which toxins are bound and carried out of the body.

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Aajonus's general recommendation for raw meat overall: "I have seen that eating 1-3 pounds of raw meat daily helps regenerate, heal the body, and reverse the common toxic deterioration associated with aging and disease." Fish (including tuna) counts within this daily quantity.

He described his personal experience of eating "three pounds in the sitting" of fresh-caught tuna and swordfish during island stays, indicating that large quantities of raw wild-caught ocean fish are well tolerated, at least acutely, in the context of optimal freshness.

When a patient with thyroid concerns asked about fish, Aajonus indicated they should also eat "thyroid... Beef, deer, whatever you can get", meaning fish alone is not the complete answer for thyroid conditions. The fish is part of the diet but specific glandular foods are added as well.

Aajonus described the ratio of red to white meat as individually variable. He stated: "Regarding the ratio of red and white meat to eat for each individual, see The Primal Diet; We Want To Live, Appendix P." He did not give a single universal ratio but indicated that both are needed regularly.

One workshop attendee described having a throat-closing reaction even to the "hint of fish," having not tried it raw yet. Aajonus did not dismiss the concern but suggested: "Probably tuna. To me, albacore is very strong." He identified tuna as the least fishy tasting ocean fish, making it the most appropriate entry point for fish-averse individuals. He distinguished: "To me, albacore is very strong. But the tuna is less strong than me."

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Aajonus's personal approach at sushi bars: order sashimi (raw fish without rice or seaweed). He ate it with no additional preparation when eating out. At home or in workshop demonstrations, he would add sauces.

1 Serving - 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root - 1 teaspoon wasabe or horseradish - 3 tablespoons flax oil - 1 tablespoon very soft unsalted raw butter - 1/2 teaspoon unheated honey (optional) - 5 to 8 ounces fresh ocean wild-caught raw fish

Method: Vigorously stir all ingredients together, or blenderize in a 4-ounce jar on low speed for 5 seconds. Spoon over fish.

(This recipe uses "fresh ocean wild-caught raw fish", tuna is an appropriate choice given its mild flavor profile)

1 Serving - 5 to 8 ounces fresh ocean wild-caught raw fish - 3 to 4 ounces fresh lemon or lime juice - 1/2 to 1 diced fresh tomato - 4 to 6 tablespoons flax oil or stone-pressed olive oil - 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro - 1 tablespoon chopped red onion (optional) - 1 slice minced fresh garlic (optional)

Method: Dice fish and marinate in lemon or lime juice for 20 minutes to 24 hours in a jar or bowl. Stir oil, onion, and garlic together for 1 minute. Pour off lemon or lime juice from fish. Pour oil mixture over fish. Top with diced tomato.

1 Serving - 5 to 8 ounces fresh ocean wild-caught raw fish - 4 to 6 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice - 2 to 4 tablespoons flax oil or stone-pressed olive oil - 1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted raw butter - 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint (optional) - 2 tablespoons chopped pickled ginger

Method: Dice fish and marinate in lemon or lime juice for 20 minutes or up to 24 hours. Pour off juice. Stir oil and remaining ingredients together and combine with fish.

1 Serving - 3 ounces coconut cream - 1/2 to 1 diced tomato - 3 to 4 tablespoons fresh lime juice - 5 to 8 ounces fresh ocean wild-caught raw fish

Method: Stir coconut cream and lime juice together and let stand for 10 minutes. Dice meat. Place fish and tomato in a bowl. Pour coconut/lime sauce over fish and tomato and fold gently together. Eat immediately or let marinate for up to 8 hours. Alternative: Substitute 1/3 cup pineapple for tomato.

(Aajonus documented having ceviche and similar raw fish dishes during his time in Tahiti and Morea, noting that the Polynesian people there ate raw fish marinated in lime juice as a standard food)

Aajonus described his personal approach to eating raw fish: he would prepare it in these various sauce forms, eat it at a sushi bar as sashimi, or eat it simply and directly, such as the three pounds he consumed in one sitting on the island off Dubao and Somalia when the fish was caught that same day.

He also documented a jarred storage method for weekly preparation: "a week whether it's fish or chicken I stuff it into these jars keeps very nicely... opened them up a year later and I still had a little air space in them they were as fresh as when I put them in there."

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The primary derivative form of raw tuna in Aajonus's system is high meat, the fermented preparation described in full under the therapeutic protocols section above. High meat made from ocean wild-caught raw fish is one of the three recommended varieties, alongside red meat and fowl. It undergoes 17 stages of bacterial development over a minimum of 4 weeks of refrigerated aging, with mandatory airing every 3–4 days.

Aajonus described the effect of high meat generally: "One client feels so happy, he eats 1 cup each day. People who have cancer help reverse it by eating high raw meat." He noted that for "intestinal, neurological or lymphatic cancer, high raw chicken is more favorable", but did not specifically exclude the fish variety for other cancer types.

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Aajonus suggested that the public alarm about mercury in fish serves as a distraction from the more significant source of mercury poisoning: dental amalgam fillings and vaccine thimerosal. In a written Q&A: "I suspect the ADA puts this out to distract from the mercury filling danger." He wrote: "Your final statement that seems to give foundation to the probability that sushi eaters absorb mercury may not be such evidence. Consider that most human mercury-poisoning in our modern advanced society originates from vaccinations", a principle he stated elsewhere as well.

Aajonus used the Japanese experience as historical evidence that raw ocean fish consumption, even in highly polluted waters, does not produce the mercury toxicity that would be predicted from standard laboratory testing. He described the Japanese coast in 1959 as so chemically contaminated that "you could take a roll of film that you'd shot, and you could dump it into the river, I mean the ocean, right off the pier, and develop it... They're chemical waste, right into the ocean, you could develop your film just by dipping it in." Despite this, Japanese people who ate raw fish in this period did not show the mercury toxicity rates the tests would predict. He stated: "they don't have any of that kind of mercury poisoning."

While discussing fish oils and the integrity of fish products, Aajonus documented that "The FDA has said that it has to be purified to the point where all the proteins are out of it, so there's no bacteria can survive in it. To do that, it's a heat process. So anybody who tells you they've got a raw fish oil, whether it's cod or whatever, they are absolutely lying to you. They have to use heat to get the proteins out of it." This means all commercial fish oil products are heat-processed and therefore fractionated, not raw, despite claims to the contrary.

The newsletter account provides the most complete description:

• Advertisement placed for elderly dogs and cats (aged 11–14)
• 8 dogs and 8 cats obtained, all "appearing unhealthy"
• 53-pound Pacific Ocean swordfish purchased from fishermen (after 5 days of searching fishing boat businesses in Los Angeles and Ventura)
• Seven 1-pound cubes tested and analyzed for mercury content, registered very high
• Animals split into two groups: raw and cooked
• Both groups fed nothing but this fish for approximately 7 days
• Feces and urine collected and analyzed
• Raw group: 92–98% of mercury passed out (figures vary across sources)
• Cooked group: only 5–8% passed out (92–95% retained)
• Aajonus himself was the 13th subject, consuming the raw swordfish

He described losing "a lot of good fat that was still attached to that mercury", implying that even in the raw group, some fat-mercury complexes that would have been nutritionally beneficial passed out of the body along with the mercury. He views this as an acceptable tradeoff, not a harmful effect.

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