Should You Be Hooked On Fish?
11 Sep 2005
Where would I go for one final meal? There’s no doubt it would be the Union Oyster House in Boston. Since I spent many years studying surgery in the home of the Boston bean I’ve always loved fish. And we’ve all been told that eating fish is good for you. But is it? Lately we’ve been warned that now there’s mercury in fish. So is it a case that you’re damned if you eat fish and damned if you don’t? Moreover, millions of pounds of fish are now “farmed”. So how do they compare with those swimming freely in lakes and oceans?
Dr. Frank Hu, of the department of nutrition at The Harvard School of Public Health, recently reported on the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study. This involved 85,000 women between ages 34 to 59 who had no sign of heart disease. The one requirement was to eat fish two to four times a week.
These participants were followed for 16 years. During that time 1,029 women developed heart disease and 484 died from cardiovascular causes. The women who consumed fish showed a 30 percent lower risk of heart disease. Another study confirmed that fish decreased the risk of stroke due to blood clot by an astonishing 48 percent.
This was the first study done on women to show the health benefits of fish. A refreshing change as all too often women are not involved as participants in research studies. Male chauvinists take note! Previous studies have shown the same healthy benefits for men.
There was another startling finding. While eating fish reduced the risk of nonfatal heart attacks it was even more successful as a protection against sudden death from heart failure.
So what’s the magic ingredient that protects our heart? Researchers believe it’s the omega-3 fatty acids present in fish. These fatty acids are plentiful in salmon, mackerel and sardines. And don’t forget Omega-3 eggs. Like Aspirin, the Omega-3 fatty acids add oil to the blood making it less likely that blood platelets will stick together forming a fatal clot.
Dr. Hu says that studies also show that Omega-3 fatty acids help to decrease the risk of ventricular fibrillation, an abnormal beating of the heart, followed by cardiac arrest.
Dr. Christine Albert, a cardiologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital, has studied sudden death in men for 17 years. She reports in the New England Journal of Medicine that men with the highest blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids were 80 percent less likely to die suddenly from heart disease.
All this may be well and good. But who wants to eat mercury contaminated fish? A report in the New England Journal of Medicine says those who eat more fish have a higher level of mercury in their body, particularly in the toenails. Moreover, there’s a possible link between mercury and atherosclerosis.
But most research reveals that if mercury causes harm, adults are not the ones primarily affected. Rather, the potential danger is to the developing nervous systems of children. Last year the Federal Drug Administration in the U.S. advised pregnant women and all women of childbearing age not to eat shark, king mackerel, swordfish and tilefish due to their high content of mercury. They also suggested limiting their consumption of all fish to two servings a week.
What about farm-raised fish? How do they differ from wild ones? It depends on what they are fed. They’re usually two to five times fatter. This extra fat means more calories. But on the positive side fatty oilier fish also have more omega-3 fatty acids, the main reason why it’s healthy to eat fish.
So what should you do? For adult men and older women not bearing children, eating fish two to four times a week makes sense.
Since I’m not sweet sixteen and not pregnant, the Union Oyster House will continue to be my first stop in Boston. Besides, what better way to arrive at the Pearly Gates than after enjoying a lobster or fresh fish at this ancient Bostonian establishment.
