Fish à la carte

Preventing heart disease and cancer, improving memory and even reducing wrinkles – is there anything fish can’t do for you?

Nutritionists sing the praises of fish and for good reason – eating food from the sea does have an amazing array of benefits. This is because, apart from being packed with numerous healthy vitamins and minerals, fish is also a major source of Omega-3 fatty acids, which help to protect against a range of diseases, from cancer to heart disease, from depression to arthritis.

If that hasn’t convinced you, perhaps you should consider serving up a salmon for the sake of society? Research carried out in Mauritius showed that children given lots of fish from the age of three are less likely to have criminal records by the time they reach 23. Or, less altruistically, you might choose to eat more fish to reduce your wrinkles. According to dermatologist Nicholas Perricone, author of The Perricone Prescription, a salmon-packed diet can smooth out age lines.

Largely because of its health – rather than cosmetic – benefits, the government is now urging us to eat more fish. Food Standards Agency recommendations are to eat at least two portions a week of fresh, frozen, or tinned seafood, one of which should be of oily fish.

What’s the catch?

However, every silver lining has a cloud and eating fish is no exception. This comes in the form of anxiety over the levels of naturally occurring mercury in seafood, as well as the contamination of some fish with other chemicals.

Fish with high levels of mercury are marlin, shark, swordfish and king mackerel, and, to a lesser extent, tuna. Last year, a study actually linked eating fish to heart disease when it found that mercury levels in a group of men who’d had a heart attack were 15 per cent higher than those who had no heart problems.

In a recent report in the journal Science, concerns were raised about levels of harmful chemicals in farmed salmon, particularly those bred in Scotland. While the jury is still out on potential health risks, the government Food Standards Agency says the dangers have been exaggerated. According to Sir John Krebs, head of the FSA, 'This study shows that the levels of dioxins and PCBs in salmon are within internationally recognised safety limits and confirms previous studies by the FSA. Our advice is that people should consume at least two portions of fish a week, one of which should be oily like salmon. There is good evidence that eating oily fish reduces the risk of death from recurrent heart attacks and that there is a similar effect in relation to first heart attacks. Although dioxin levels have decreased dramatically over the past two decades we recognise that they remain a consumer concern. We advise that the known benefits of eating one portion of oily fish outweigh any possible risks.'

Scales tip in favour of fish

However, before you bin your tuna tins, bear in mind that the general view is that the benefits of eating fish still outweigh the risks by a very long way. 'It's been proven that the level of mercury in fish isn’t dangerous to health,' argues Sarah Jane Smith, spokesperson for the British Heart Foundation. 'We still recommend eating at least two portions of fish a week.'

Sarah Schenker, dietician with the British Nutrition Foundation, believes it’s all about balance. 'Eating fish is a good thing to do,' Schenker insists. 'If you were eating sardines for lunch every day and then oily fish again at night it would be too much' she explains. 'Not just because of increasing the risk of contamination but because you would be pushing out other food groups and unbalancing your diet. It’s the same with other chemicals that are found in food – it’s only going to be a concern if you are eating a lot of these sorts of foods.'

It’s in the can

So you're 'sole-d' on the idea – what kind of fish should you be eating? Britain’s favourite is still cod, in spite of the shortages, which falls into the white fish category. This kind of seafood provides a good source of low-fat protein and minerals. Oily fish includes sardines, pilchards, salmon and mackerel, which have the highest concentrations of Omega-3 fatty acids. Crab, lobster and mussels come into the shellfish group and contain selenium, thought to have cancer-fighting properties. The good news is that the fish you select doesn’t have to be fresh – in most cases, canned will do just as well.

Fish most foul?

However good it is for you, you may be one of those who just can’t stand fish. If this is the case, you can get Omega-3 fatty acids from walnuts and walnut oil and there are also supplements such as cod liver oil and fish oil capsules. Columbus eggs are also a good source of Omega-3s.

Fabulous fish facts

Eating fish has been shown to be beneficial in preventing/treating many conditions including:

• Heart disease: According to the British Heart Foundation, eating oily fish can help to reduce the risk of heart disease and improve your chances of survival if you do have a heart attack. It does this by lowering levels of fats called triglycerides in the blood – raised levels are associated with heart disease. Fish oils also appear to help reduce blood clotting and abnormal heart rhythms after a heart attack.
• Alzheimer’s disease: Polyunsaturated fatty acids found in many fish may prevent damage to brain cells as well as keeping the heart healthy. Eating fish can also reduce the risk of high blood pressure, which is linked with dementia. A French study that followed 2,000 people showed that those who ate seafood at least once a week had a significantly lower risk of being diagnosed with dementia over a seven-year period than those who didn’t.
• Cancer: A Swedish study of 6,000 men over a 30-year period showed that those who didn’t eat any fish had somewhere between doubled and trebled their risk of developing prostate cancer, as against those who ate moderate or large amounts. Shellfish, such as crab and lobster, also contains selenium, thought to have cancer-fighting properties.
• Depression: It’s been reported that fish can help to ease depression. Again, it’s down to Omega-3 fatty acids, which are believed to raise levels of the brain chemical serotonin.
• Arthritis: Population groups that eat a lot of fish – Inuits in Greenland, for example – have low rates of inflammatory conditions such as arthritis. Studies have also shown fish oils to be useful in relieving the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.

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