Study: Fish Is Not Brain Food

[Guest guest]

Fish Is Not Brain Food

by Dr. John McDougall

 

July,2,2009

 

Dietary intake of fish and omega-3 fatty acids in relation to long-term dementia

risk by Elizabeth E Devore published in the July 2009 issue of the American

Journal of Clinical Nutrition found, “In this Dutch cohort, who had a moderate

consumption of fish and omega-3 PUFAs, these dietary factors do not appear to be

associated with long-term dementia risk.â€1 This study of 5395 people, 55 years

of age or older, for 10 years, found people who never ate fish had a similar

risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s Disease, as those people

who had a high fish intake (on average, one ounce—29.6 grams—daily). In the

same issue of this journal, researchers reported on the findings of the Canadian

Study of Health and Aging.2 Blood samples of a population of 642 people were

analyzed for substances found in fish: total n-3 PUFAs, docosahexaenoic acid

(DHA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and mercury. The results were then compared

with the

incidence of dementia and Alzheimer disease. No associations between n-3 PUFAs

and dementia or AD were found.

 

A disturbing report was released on June 17, 2009: Bovine Spongiform

Encephalopathy and Aquaculture by Robert P. Friedland published in the Journal

of Alzheimer’s Disease.3 Scraps from slaughterhouses are used as food in the

fish farming industries, and the authors of this report are concerned that

consumption of farmed fish may provide a means of transmission of infectious

prions from cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy to humans, causing

variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease—commonly known as “mad cow disease.â€

These scientists urged government regulators to ban feeding cow meat or bone

meal to fish until the safety of this common practice can be confirmed. The

publication of this important news comes before a new FDA rule that would block

the feeding of rendered cows to certain animals, but not fish.

 

Comment: Fish is not health food. The truth is fish is an animal muscle made up

primarily of proteins and fats, with no carbohydrates or dietary fibers—fish

muscles are nutritionally just like the muscles of cows and chickens. They are

all loaded with cholesterol and chemical contaminants, and deficient in vitamin

C. Fish-fat easily accumulates in the human buttocks, thighs, and abdomen,

leading to obesity and type-2 diabetes. All that excess animal protein will

cause bone loss (osteoporosis) , and the pharmacological activity of the fats

(omega-3) will suppress the immune system (cancer and infection) and cause

bleeding.

 

Fostering the myth that fish is a miracle food is a slogan many of us grew up

with, “better living through chemistry.†In the case of fish, the miracle

chemical is omega-3 fatty acids, which have been advertised to prevent and treat

diseases ranging from Alzheimer’s disease to strokes. The most thorough review

ever conducted (48 randomized controlled studies of 36,913 subjects) of fish and

omega 3 fats on health was published in the April 2009 issue of the British

Medical Journal and the authors reported, “Long chain and shorter chain omega

3 fats do not have a clear effect on total mortality, combined cardiovascular

events, or cancer.â€4 Other research explains the origin of the felonious

belief that fish is health food: people who choose fish are the same people who

choose an overall healthier diet, consciously avoiding coronary-artery- damaging

saturated fats—eating the fish does not prevent heart attacks, it is the not

eating beef,

chicken,

and cheese that saves lives.5

 

The erroneous belief that these magnificent swimming animals will improve the

health of people is at the root of the decimation of our oceans. People are

eating more food from the sea every year and the result is industrial fishing

has depleted the world’s fish stocks by 90% since the 1950s.6 I love the ocean

and am saddened by this loss. Fortunately, I am not demented (from lack of fish

consumption) and neither are you. We can stop this runaway destruction of planet

Earth and return health to its entire species—but we must act quickly. One

major step is to reintroduce the natural human diet of starches to people. If

you want to know more about this one big simple solution then read the first

chapter of my new book, The Starch Solution (to be published in about a year).

 

1) Devore EE, Grodstein F, van Rooij FJ, Hofman A, Rosner B, Stampfer MJ,

Witteman JC, Breteler MM. Dietary intake of fish and omega-3 fatty acids in

relation to long-term dementia risk. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jul;90(1):170- 6.

 

2) Kröger E, Verreault R, Carmichael PH, Lindsay J, Julien P, Dewailly E,

Ayotte P, Laurin D. Omega-3 fatty acids and risk of dementia: the Canadian Study

of Health and Aging. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jul;90(1):184- 92.

 

3) Friedland RP, Petersen RB, Rubenstein R. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and

Aquaculture. J Alzheimers Dis. 2009 Mar 6. [Epub ahead of print]

 

4) Hooper L, Thompson RL, Harrison RA, Summerbell CD, Ness AR, Moore HJ,

Worthington HV, Durrington PN, Higgins JP, Capps NE, Riemersma RA, Ebrahim SB,

Davey Smith G. Risks and benefits of omega 3 fats for mortality, cardiovascular

disease, and cancer: systematic review. BMJ. 2006 Apr 1;332(7544): 752-60.

 

5) Cundiff DK, Lanou AJ, Nigg CR. Relation of omega-3 Fatty Acid intake to other

dietary factors known to reduce coronary heart disease risk. Am J Cardiol. 2007

May 1;99(9):1230- 3.

 

6) Myers RA, Worm B. Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities.

Nature. 2003 May 15;423(6937) :280-3.

 

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