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Popular Tilapia Might Not Help Heart

Thu, 11 Jul 2008 16:04:00 GMT

posted by KeithConnects

Popular Tilapia Might Not Help Heart
Study finds farm-raised fish has high levels of unhealthy omega-6 fatty acids

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, July 11 (HealthDay News) -- The wildly popular farm-raised fish known as tilapia may actually harm your heart, thanks to low levels of healthy omega-3 fatty acids and high levels of unhealthy omega-6 fatty acids.

New research suggests the combination could be particularly bad for patients with heart disease, arthritis, asthma and other diseases involving overactive inflammatory responses.

"If you're in a vulnerable population such as a heart disease patient, you need to be very careful with what you're eating, and that includes everything," said senior study author Dr. Floyd H. Chilton, director of Wake Forest Center for Botanical Lipids, in Winston-Salem, N.C. "But when it comes to fish, there's not a more important thing you can do for heart disease than eat the right type of fish or take dietary fish oil. There is evidence that you may harm yourself by eating the wrong kind of fish, and [farmed] tilapia and catfish are the two that fall into that category."

"I don't think that this is an issue for everyone, any more than eating a hamburger is an issue for everyone," Chilton added.

The study was published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

As for suppliers, "the industry needs to improve ways of farming fish," said Katherine Tallmadge, a national spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "The whole idea of farming is a great one, but they're feeding the fish food that's inexpensive, so they can keep the price down, and it's having an adverse effect on the nutritional quality of the fish."

Several health groups, including the American Heart Association, recommend eating two servings of fish a week, preferably fatty fish such as salmon. The reason: primarily to increase omega-3 fatty acids.

But no one has really looked at the nutritional effect of an explosion in farmed fish (increasing at an annual rate of 9.2 percent, compared with 1.4 percent for wild fish). In particular, inexpensive tilapia is exploding in popularity.

This study used gas chromatography to analyze the fatty acid composition of 30 widely consumed farmed and wild fish.

Farmed trout and Atlantic salmon had relatively good concentrations of "good" omega-3 fatty acids compared with "bad" omega-6 fatty acids.

Farm-raised tilapia and catfish, on the other hand, had troubling ratios.

Tallmadge recommends looking for wild fish. Wild salmon, even canned wild salmon, has high levels of omega-3s and is an excellent source of protein. "It can be fairly economical," she said. "I buy frozen salmon at Trader Joe's for about $7 a pound, that's $2 a serving."

Concentrate on cold-water fish such as salmon, rainbow trout, sardines, tuna and anchovies, all of which have healthy fats, added Marianne Grant, a health educator with Texas A&M Health Science Centers Coastal Bend Health Education Center, in Corpus Christi.

"In the 1970s, we lost the ability to feed the planet with fish we catch," Chilton said. "Farm-raised fish has to be part of our future, but we must do it correctly. We must feed animals the correct foods. Animals become what we feed them, and we become what we eat as well. The food chain is fairly consistent."

More information

Visit the American Heart Association for more on fish and fatty acids.

SOURCES: Floyd H. Chilton, Ph.D., professor, physiology and pharmacology, and director, Wake Forest Center for Botanical Lipids, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Katherine Tallmadge, R.D., national spokeswoman, American Dietetic Association, Washington, D.C.; Marianne Grant, R.D., L.D., health educator, Texas A&M Health Science Center Coastal Bend Health Education Center, Corpus Christi; July 2008, Journal of the American Dietetic Association

Last Updated: July 11, 2008

http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=617403

Popular Fish, Tilapia, Contains Potentially Dangerous Fatty Acid Combination

Wed, 10 Jul 2008 23:39:35 GMT

posted by fatman

Health News | Posted by karenben 17 hours ago (http://www.sciencedaily.com) | Health Tags: fish food

Made current 5 hours ago

Farm-raised tilapia, one of the most highly consumed fish in America, has very low levels of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and, perhaps worse, very high levels of omega-6 fatty acids
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How Food Affects The Brain - Study

Wed, 17 Jul 2008 14:03:00 GMT

posted by rplan
Our brain needs food nutrition to stay healthy. When you feel tired or depressed or just kind of out of sorts, it's because your brain feels these things. Scientist have found different ways food affects the brain. The major areas in this study include:
Benefit of Omega-3 Fatty Acid Oils
Effects of diet on mental health can be transmitted across generations
Junk food and fast food negatively affect the brain's synapses
Folic acid can help reduce the age-related decline in cognitive function
Consuming excess calories cause free radical damage to the brain

"Food is like a pharmaceutical compound that affects the brain," said Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, a UCLA professor of neurosurgery and physiological science who has spent years studying the effects of food, exercise and sleep on the brain. "Diet, exercise and sleep have the potential to alter our brain health and mental function. This raises the exciting possibility that changes in diet are a viable strategy for enhancing cognitive abilities, protecting the brain from damage and counteracting the effects of aging."

Gómez-Pinilla analyzed more than 160 studies about food's affect on the brain; the results of his analysis appear in the July issue of the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience and are available online at www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v9/n7/abs/nrn2421.html.

Omega-3 fatty acids — found in salmon, walnuts and kiwi fruit (and eggs from pastured chickens * my quote) — provide many benefits, including improving learning and memory and helping to fight against such mental disorders as depression and mood disorders, schizophrenia, and dementia, said Gómez-Pinilla, a member of UCLA's Brain Research Institute and Brain Injury Research Center.

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for normal brain function, Gómez-Pinilla said.

"Dietary deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids in humans has been associated with increased risk of several mental disorders, including attention-deficit disorder, dyslexia, dementia, depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia," he said.

Children who had increased amounts of omega-3 fatty acids performed better in school, in reading and in spelling and had fewer behavioral problems, he said.

Recent research also supports the hypothesis that health can be passed down through generations.

A long-term study that included more than 100 years of birth, death, health and genealogical records for 300 Swedish families in an isolated village showed that an individual's risk for diabetes and early death increased if his or her paternal grandparents grew up in times of food abundance rather than food shortage.

The brain is highly susceptible to oxidative damage. Blueberries have been shown to have a strong antioxidant capacity, he noted.

In contrast to the healthy effects of diets that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, diets high in trans fats and saturated fats adversely affect cognition, studies indicate.

Junk food and fast food negatively affect the brain's synapses, said Gómez-Pinilla. Brain synapses and several molecules related to learning and memory are adversely affected by unhealthy diets, he said.

In Okinawa, an island in Japan where people frequently eat fish and exercise, the lifespan is one of the world's longest, and the population has a very low rate of mental disorders, Gómez-Pinilla noted.

Adequate levels of folic acid are essential for brain function, and folate deficiency can lead to neurological disorders such as depression and cognitive impairment.

He noted that while some people have extremely good genes, most of us are not so lucky and need a balanced diet, regular exercise and a good night's sleep.
Source: Eurekalert

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Burgers Beat Tilapia for Delivering Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Wed, 10 Jul 2008 13:24:18 GMT

posted by ptalbot

Tilapia can get you in trouble if you’re looking to control inflammatory diseases.

Not only does this farm-raised fish have low levels of Omega-3 fatty acids… it has high levels of the not so desirable Omega-6.

Researchers with the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston Salem, North Carolina, say Tilapia is not the fish to eat for people looking to maintain a heart-healthy diet.

Wake Forest researchers tell us farmed tilapia contains fairly low levels of omega-3 fatty acids – less than half a gram per 100 grams of fish, similar to flounder and swordfish. Farmed salmon and trout offer nearly 3 and 4 grams, respectively.

Tilapia is a popular fish and its popularity is increasing. But eating 80% lean hamburger delivers less of the unhealthy Omega-6 fatty acids. 80% .

Writing in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Wake Forest researchers note that “For individuals who are eating fish as a method to control inflammatory diseases such as heart disease, it is clear from these numbers that tilapia is not a good choice.”

Side Effects of Fish Oil

Tue, 2 Jul 2008 09:01:29 GMT

posted by lkoudal

Side Effects of Fish Oil
by: Yi Lai

Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of fatty acids. Fish oil is recommended as source of Omega 3 fatty acids. Fish oil products are becoming increasingly popular due to the many health benefits. However, there are some side effects of fish oil. If you take large doses of supplements which contain high level of vitamins (especially vitamin D) in addition to Omega 3 fatty acids, the risk is possibility of vitamin poisoning. Vitamin poisoning is a condition wcan lead to toxic symptoms. For this reason, you should take fish body oil instead of fish liver based oil.

Another side effect of fish oil is heavy metal poisoning. Many fish contain heavy metal (mercury,lead, nickel, arsenic and cadmium) and other contaminants (PCB’s, furans, dioxins). If you eat fish, avoid fish species which contain toxin mercury and contaminants, including Largemouth Bass, Sturgeon, and others such as Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel, and Tilefish.

Now you may ask, should I give up fish oil? All the side effects of fish oil are avoidable. If you are concern about the side effects, you should take fish oil supplements as your source of Omega 3 fatty acids. In fact, only fish oil contains the form of DHA that can be used by your body. In addition, fish oil helps to protect you against wide spectrum of diseases and promote overall health. Specifically, fish oil is beneficial to: