If you're worried about heart disease, eating one to two servings of
fish a week could reduce your risk of dying of a heart attack.
For many years, the American Heart Association has recommended that
people eat fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids at least twice a week.
Doctors have long believed that the unsaturated fats in fish, called
omega-3 fatty acids, are the nutrients that reduce the risk of dying of
heart disease. However, more recent research suggests that other
nutrients in fish or a combination of omega-3 fatty acids and other
nutrients in fish may actually be responsible for the health benefits
from fish.
Some people are concerned that mercury or other contaminants in fish
may outweigh its heart-healthy benefits. However, when it comes to a
healthier heart, the benefits of eating fish usually outweigh the
possible risks of exposure to contaminants. Find out how to balance
these concerns with adding a healthy amount of fish to your diet.
What are omega-3 fatty acids, and why are they good for your heart?
Fish contain unsaturated fatty acids, which, when substituted for
saturated fatty acids such as those in meat, may lower your cholesterol.
But the main beneficial nutrient appears to be omega-3 fatty acids in
fatty fish. Omega-3 fatty acids are a type of unsaturated fatty acid
that may reduce inflammation throughout the body. Inflammation in the
body can damage your blood vessels and lead to heart disease.
Omega-3 fatty acids may decrease triglycerides, lower blood pressure,
reduce blood clotting, decrease stroke and heart failure risk, reduce
irregular heartbeats, and in children may improve learning ability.
Eating at least one to two servings a week of fish, particularly fish
that's rich in omega-3 fatty acids, appears to reduce the risk of heart
disease, particularly sudden cardiac death.
Does it matter what kind of fish you eat?
Fatty fish, such as salmon, lake trout, herring, sardines and tuna,
contain the most omega-3 fatty acids and therefore the most benefit, but
many types of seafood contain small amounts of omega-3 fatty acids.
Are there any kinds of fish you should avoid?
Some fish, such as tilapia and catfish, don't appear to be as heart
healthy because they contain higher levels of unhealthy fatty acids.
Keep in mind that any fish can be unhealthy depending on how it's
prepared. For example, broiling or baking fish is a healthier option
than is deep-frying.
Some researchers are concerned about eating fish produced on farms as
opposed to wild-caught fish. Researchers think antibiotics, pesticides
and other chemicals used in raising farmed fish may cause harmful
effects to people who eat the fish.
How much fish should you eat?
For adults, at least two servings of omega-3-rich fish a week are
recommended. A serving size is 3.5 ounces (99 grams), or about the size
of a deck of cards. Women who are pregnant or plan to become pregnant
and young children should limit the amount of fish they eat because
they're most susceptible to the potential effects of toxins in fish.
Does mercury contamination outweigh the health benefits of eating fish?
The risk of getting too much mercury or other contaminants from fish
is generally outweighed by the health benefits that omega-3 fatty acids
have. The main types of toxins in fish are mercury, dioxins and
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The amount of toxins depends on the
type of fish and where it's caught.
Mercury occurs naturally in small amounts in the environment. But
industrial pollution can produce mercury that accumulates in lakes,
rivers and oceans, which turns up in the food fish eat. When fish eat
this food, mercury builds up in the bodies of the fish.
Large fish that are higher in the food chain — such as shark,
tilefish, swordfish and king mackerel — tend to have higher levels of
mercury than do smaller fish. Larger fish eat the smaller fish, gaining
higher concentrations of the toxin. The longer a fish lives, the larger
it grows and the more mercury it can collect.
Pay attention to the type of fish you eat, how much you eat and other
information such as state advisories. Each state issues advisories
regarding the safe amount of locally caught fish that can be consumed.
Should anyone avoid eating fish because of the concerns over mercury or other contaminants?
If you eat enough fish containing mercury, the toxin can accumulate
in your body. It can take as long as a year or more for your body to
remove these toxins. Mercury is particularly harmful to the development
of the brain and nervous system of unborn children and young children.
For most adults, however, it's unlikely that mercury would cause any
health concerns.
Still, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) recommend that these groups limit the amount of
fish they eat:
- Women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant
- Breast-feeding mothers
- Young children
Pregnant women, breast-feeding mothers and children can still get the
heart-healthy benefits of fish by eating fish that's typically low in
mercury, such as salmon, and limiting the amount they eat to:
- No more than 12 ounces (340 grams) of fish in total a week
- No more than 6 ounces (170 grams) of canned tuna a week
- No amount of any fish that's typically high in mercury (shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish)
Are there any other concerns related to eating fish?
Several recent studies have linked high levels of omega-3 fatty acids
in the blood to an increased risk of prostate cancer. But, these
studies weren't conclusive, and more research needs to be done to
confirm this link. Talk with your doctor about what this potential risk
might mean to you.
Can you get the same heart-health benefits by eating other foods
that contain omega-3 fatty acids, or by taking omega-3 fatty acid
supplements?
Eating fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients appears
to provide more heart-healthy benefits than does using supplements.
Other nonfish food options that do contain some omega-3 fatty acids
include flaxseed, flaxseed oil, walnuts, canola oil, soybeans and
soybean oil. However, similar to supplements, the evidence of
heart-healthy benefits from eating these foods isn't as strong as it is
from eating fish.
Those who say all fats are bad for you are, of course, dangerously incorrect. As it turns out, plant-based
fats are powerful cancer fighters, and even saturated fats from plant
sources are now being shown to offer extraordinary health benefits.
If you want to prevent cancer, or you're currently battling colon cancer, prostate cancer or breast cancer, it is essential to get plant-based fats into your diet on a daily basis. What kind of plant-based fats are we talking about? What are the healthy fats?
Canola oil is what I consider a neutral fat, meaning it's not
necessarily a bad fat, but neither is it considered one of the healthier
fats. The healthy fats include extra-virgin olive oil, flax seed
oil, and fats from plant sources such as nuts, seeds, avocados, and
coconuts.
These healthy fats should be consumed with every meal. Failure to
include these fats in a meal will result in many of the nutrients
consumed during the meal not being absorbed by the body. That's because
many nutrients are fat-soluble nutrients. Beta carotene, Vitamin D,
and Vitamin E are three such nutrients that require fat in order to be
absorbed and used by the human body, but there are many other nutrients
that also need fats for human metabolism.
Incidentally, these oils do much more than just fight cancer, they also
improve your cardiovascular health and fight weight gain and obesity. The benefits list is a long one.
A fascinating new study published, shows that dietary fat is necessary
for the absorption of nutrients from fruits and vegetables. In the
study, people who consumed salads with fat-free salad dressing absorbed
far less of the helpful phytonutrients and vitamins from spinach, lettuce, tomatoes and carrots than those who consumed their salads with a salad dressing containing fat.
This is interesting research, but not necessarily all that surprising.
We've known for a long time that healthy fats are a critical part of a
healthy diet, and that avoiding fats actually causes chronic disease.
The key is in choosing the right kind of fats for your diet and making
sure you don't overdo the fats, because fats have a very high caloric
density and can add far more calories to your meal than you might
expect.
The fact is we all need fats. Fats helps nutrient absorption, nerve transmission, maintaining cell membrane integrity etc. However, when consumed in excess amount, fats contribute to weight gain, heart disease
and certain types of cancer. Fats are not created equal. Some fats
promote our health positively while other increases our risks of heart
disease. The key is to replace bad fats with good fats in our diet.
In other words, if you take super food supplements without fat, you're
not getting the same benefit as taking the same supplements with a
little bit of fat
The total amount of fat you eat, whether high or low isn't really linked with disease. What really matters is the type of fat you eat.
