26 Fish-Free for Life: Why Plant Omega-3s are Better for You and the Environment
fish. PCBs are widespread, very persistent main organs and nervous system are still that the caution to limit the intake of some fish
chemicals and are generally present at developing, is particularly hazardous. should be extended to everyone.
low concentrations in fat-containing foods
such as milk, meat and fish. Fat-loving, In those studies that have shown fish The American Heart Association
PCBs accumulate in fatty tissue and are or fish oils can increase the risk of acknowledges the contradictions in research
particularly likely to be present in oily fish. heart disease, mercury is usually seen on fish oils and heart health and also points
Recent surveys have shown that some as the guilty party as it can accelerate the finger at mercury. It still supports the idea
other fish and crab may also have similar atherosclerosis – the build up of fatty of two weekly servings of fish but says this
levels of PCBs and dioxins as oily fish. deposits in the arteries. should be balanced against concerns over
These include: sea bream, turbot, halibut, pollutants – whatever that might mean! It
dogfish or huss and sea bass. Men in Eastern Finland eat a lot of fish yet does support the inclusion of vegetable oils
have an exceptionally high death rate from high in ALA as part of a healthy diet. A small
Implicated in heart disease, cancer and heart disease. In one study, just 30 grams of move in the right direction.
infertility, PCBs and dioxins can also fish a day was linked to a two-fold increase in
harm developing foetuses by disrupting heart attacks. Each additional 10 grams Food poisoning
the growth of male babies’ reproductive a day increased the risk by five per cent. High The Food Standards Agency estimates that
organs. levels of mercury in their hair indicated that over five million people get food poisoning
mercury-tainted fish was to blame. Levels in the UK every year. It is impossible to know
Dioxins were the primary ingredient in of mercury in Finnish lakes are known to be exactly how many people are affected as so
Agent Orange, the defoliant sprayed relatively high and it was thought eating many cases go unreported.
over Vietnam and which has produced non-oily freshwater fish was the cause. It is
an appalling legacy of cancers and other thought that the mercury simply cancels out Most food poisoning is caused by meat,
diseases, miscarriages and birth defects. any benefit from the omega-3s in fish. poultry, eggs, dairy, fish and shellfish
contaminated with bacteria. Plant foods are
Mercury rising Studies in eight European countries and Israel much safer as they rarely harbour the types
Mercury is everywhere in the world’s seas confirmed that DHA lowers the risk of a heart of bacteria that cause food poisoning. When
and accumulates in the food chain in attack but where high levels of mercury are plant foods are responsible, it is usually
the same way as POPs. It can affect the present, the risk increases. Mercury is already a because they are contaminated with animal
kidneys, heart and central nervous system. concern for high-risk groups such as pregnant excreta, human sewage or prepared with
Exposure for unborn children, where the and breastfeeding women but researchers say dirty hands.
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