The Food and Drug Administration wants to urge women and children to eat more fish. The Environmental Protection Agency thinks that could be dangerous. What’s the best advice to follow when two federal titans clash?

In a draft report sent to the White House earlier this month, the FDA recommended that the government reverse its current policy, which warns that women of childbearing years, pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and children should limit their consumption of fish to no more than 12 ounces a week because of the potential hazards of mercury. The report contends that nutrients in fish, including omega-3 fats and selenium, are so crucial for childhood neurological development that the benefits outweigh risks.

Don’t believe it, critics say. “This is an astonishing, irresponsible document,” Richard Wiles, executive director of the Environmental Working Group, told the Washington Post.

“I have enjoyed great health at a great age because every day since I can remember I have consumed a bottle of wine except when I have not felt well,” a bishop of Seville once said. “Then I have consumed two bottles.” That may be more than anyone would recommend these days. But over the past two decades, the evidence that wine protects the heart has grown indisputable. Now a research team from Europe uncorks a surprising new explanation.