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Given that one portion of salmon or mackerel, sardines or fresh (not canned) tuna a week should provide us with enough of the omega-3 we need, we all should make an effort to eat more oily fish – within FSA guidelines. However, 7 out of 10 people in the UK still do not eat enough fish.
By eating a balanced diet containing fish, fruit and vegetables, which is low in salt and saturated fats, the chances of developing coronary heart disease, the UK's single biggest killer, are significantly reduced.
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The Mediterranean diet and health
The Mediterranean diet is often quoted to be the panacea of all ills, but there may be some truth in this. The Mediterranean diet is rich in foods that are jam packed full of vitamins, minerals , antioxidants and the right type of fat; foods such as wholegrains, fruits and vegetables, fish, nuts, legumes and of course wine and olive oil. This sort of diet is linked with longer life, less heart disease and protection against some cancers. Now, some new research is claiming that the Med diet may also protect against asthma like symptoms and allergic rhinitis in children. It may also help to reduce skin allergies also. |
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So what are the guideline’s on fish consumption:
Men, boys and women past childbearing age can safely eat up to four portions of oily fish such as salmon, tuna, trout and sardines a week. However, because the levels of certain harmful toxic residues found in oily fish can build up in the body. Government experts advise that girls, and women of reproductive age, pregnant and lactating women, should eat no more than two portions of oily fish a week. Because levels might build up to a toxic level in women who may fall pregnant, it is the unborn baby that may be put at risk from these chemical residues.
In addition, pregnant and lactating women and children under the age of 16 years are advised to avoid eating marlin, swordfish and shark. This is because of concerns over potential exposure to methylmercury. Such women are also advised to and restrict the amount of tuna eaten to four medium-size (140g) cans or two tuna steaks per week because of the mercury exposure.
Men and women (who are not of reproductive age), who have had a heart attack, are believed to offset having a subsequent heart attack if they eat plenty of oily fish, and they can safely have up to four portions a week.
Providing the above rules are followed, it would be wrong to avoid fish altogether due to the pollution concerns. Some recent research supported by the US National Institute for Health (NIH) threw some new light on the whole toxins in fish story and declared it was still far better to be eating fish from a health perspective than avoiding it because of the supposed risk.
Although some studies have shown that PCBs and dioxins found in some fish may be carcinogenic, the researches of the NIH study found that the benefits of eating fish far outweighed the potential cancer risks from these chemicals. They said: "The levels of PCBs and dioxins in fish species are low, similar to other commonly consumed foods such as beef, chicken, pork, eggs, and butter. Importantly, the possible health risks of these low levels of PCBs and dioxins in fish are only a small fraction of the much better established health benefits of the omega-3 fatty acids. For example, for farmed salmon, the cardiovascular benefits are greater than the cancer risks by a factor of at least 300:1. With the exception of some locally caught sport fish from contaminated inland waters, the levels of PCBs and dioxins in fish should not influence decisions about fish intake."
The researches concluded that, based on the evidence, the benefits of eating one to two servings of fish a week greatly outweigh the risks among adults and, except for a few species of fish, women of child-bearing age. They also added "Seafood is likely the single most important food one can consume for good health".
You can read the whole study in: Fish Intake, Contaminants, and Human Health: Evaluating the Risks and the Benefits," JAMA, October 18, 2006--Vol. 296, No. 15. |
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