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Fish and Shellfish for Physical and Mental Health

by Frann Leach

When the Pope ruled that Catholics no longer had to eat fish on a Friday, he was doing them no favour from the health point of view, as fish is probably one of the healthiest protein foods you can get.

Studies show that regularly eating fish two or three times a week can protect against heart disease, cancer and other chronic diseases. For those on weight loss diets, fish is a wonderful resource, since it contains similar quantities of protein to meats, yet the calorie content can be as little as a third as much. As if all this wasn't enough, fish oils are also good for your mental health.

NB: Pregnant women should not eat inland-caught fish (ocean-caught fish and farmed fish is fine), because of possible pollutants. They should also restrict swordfish, shark and fresh tuna to once a month, and tinned tuna to no more than 7 ounces a week.

Nearly everyone likes some sort of fish or shellfish, and the range is huge, from cod and haddock, through mackerel and herrings (which have the highest fat content, and therefore the highest calorie levels), kippers and smoked salmon, cockles, mussels, crabs, prawns and lobsters. All of them have their followers, and some people (me, for instance) like almost all of them!

Here's what Jeff at Martin's Seafresh told me: "Fresh Fish and Shellfish are very popular at Christmas, being considered a luxury product, and as a special treat most people are looking for a high quality item."

But don't leave it till Christmas - fish is tasty and good for you all year round.

For those of you who would like to know about calorie content, this table shows the calories for an average 3½ oz (100 gm) portion, with a few meats shown as well, for comparison:

You can see that most of the meats don't even come close to matching fish for low-calories coupled with high protein content, although turkey and chicken are exceptions, and mackerel and herring are the rogues amongst the fish (though these have high levels of omega-3, so are worth including in your diet anyway).

But the advantages of fish as a protein source don't stop there. When you compare fish and meat for nutrient content, fish comes up trumps again. Fish contains Vitamin A and most of the B-complex vitamins, as well as Calcium, Copper, Fluoride, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Potassium, Phosphorus, Selenium and Zinc.

What are you waiting for? Treat yourself to some fresh fish or shellfish today!

What do the Americans Know about Fish Oil that we don’t?

A steady stream of scientific research published in the past decade has confirmed and extended the roster of preventive health and anti-aging benefits attributed to omega-3 fatty acids.

Omega-3s are now believed to discourage depression, prevent and reduce certain cancers, and reduce many risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Given this flood of positive press, the rapid growth in sales of fish oil supplements comes as no surprise.

Sales of fish oil in US reached about $134 million in 2002 and rose sharply to an estimated $210 million in 2003. Clearly, health-conscious consumers are hearing the medical message.

The hearty benefits of omega-3s

Their role in the prevention of heart disease has been extensively studied, with the following results concerning their ability to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease:

• Reduce the risk of heart attack.
• Reduce arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) rates.
• Reduce artery re-blockage following angioplasty surgery.
• Reduce unhealthful blood clotting by cutting the tendency of blood platelets to clump together.
• Inhibit the growth of arterial plaque; reduce thickening and hardening of the arteries.
• Decrease triglyceride and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) blood levels and reduce the rate they are produced in the liver.
• Increase blood levels of HDL, the "good" form of cholesterol.
• Reduce the inflammation believed to promote atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
• Lower blood pressure modestly. People who eat fish tend to have a lower incidence of high blood pressure.

Even the White House has boarded the omega-3 bandwagon. In May of 2003, the president's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) urging them to promote consumption of omega-3s.

In May 2004 an expert nutrition panel bolstered this position when they advised the USDA to change the agency's Food Guide Pyramid so that it would call for Americans to eat two 6 - 8 ounce servings of fish species high in omega-3 fatty acids every week. (Equivalent to 1g of EPA and 1g od DHA in capsule from)

Americas No.1 Pharmaceutical Omega available now in the UK.

Fish oil cuts risk of asthma

The Express, the Independent and the Sun all report that eating oily fish twice a week could reduce the risk of developing asthma, according to new research.

Scientists at Cambridge University have found that people with asthma ate oily fish far less often than those without asthma. Dr Bipen Patel, who led the research, observed that the amount of oily fish eaten in Britain over the past 30 years corresponds to the increased number of asthma sufferers over the same period. Oily fish has already been linked with protection from heart disease, arthritis, psoriasis and dementia, and more research has been called for to investigate its links with asthma. Dr John Harvey, of the British Thoracic Society, warns that excessive consumption of oily fish can increase the risk of exposure to carcinogenic dioxins.

Dr Tolonen comments: "If you, for whatever reason, do not eat oily fish twice a week regularly (around the year), I recommend you to take fish oil as capsules or, what is even better, a combination of fish oil and evening primrose oil in capsules which can be found in products such as: ABC-EPA or Biofix. As an effective complementary treatment for asthma, I recommend a combination of antioxidants and Bio-Fix. They will synergistically fight inflammation and constriction in the air ways."

Source: Daily Express