If fish now bad for us?

What do all the scare stories about toxins really amount to? Prima nutritionist Angela Dowden investigates.

For years we’ve been told that eating fish is healthy. One celebrity diet plan, The Perricone Prescription, even recommends eating salmon three times a day to look younger. But a spate of scares about mercury and other toxins in fish may have left you wondering how safe it really is. Official recommendations are for us to eat fish at least twice a week – but is this good health advice for everyone?

What we know for sure is that fish-eating populations are generally healthier than those who don’t eat fish at all. Fish is low in cholesterol-raising, saturated fats and it’s a good source of iodine, which the thyroid gland needs to help regulate our metabolic rate. Oily fish provides the omega-3 fatty acid DHA, which is essential for brain development and mental agility. Omega-3s also reduce the risk of blood clots, keep the skin healthy and can alleviate joint pain. However, the benefits don’t come without their downsides…

Should we be worried?
Polluted oceans and rivers mean that fish naturally contains harmful toxins. In particular, oily fish contains toxins known as dioxins and PCBs. Dioxins are industrial by-products and PCBs were chemicals used mainly in electrical equipment, but haven’t been manufactured since the 1970s. Levels of both are declining in the environment, but traces still occur in food. High levels of these toxins can interfere with foetal development and have been linked with cancer in laboratory animals. Some fish also contain significant amounts of mercury, which in high levels can affect the developing nervous system of a baby in the womb. Babies exposed to high levels of mercury may develop damage to vision, hearing, taste, smell, memory and mental ability. Mercury toxicity in adults can cause irritability, depression, headaches and tremors. This sounds scary, but you’d have to eat a very large amount of specific types of fish to get ill or risk making your unborn child ill.

What if we’ve already eaten too much fish?
If, on occasion, you’ve exceeded the Food Standards Association’s (FSA) fish-eating advice, don’t panic, as the guidelines include a big safely margin. However, if you’ve been regularly consuming contaminated fish for a long period of time and think you might be experiencing adverse symptoms, you could ask your doctor if a blood mercury test is appropriate. Testing for dioxins and PCBs is very expensive and is not readily available.

Organic, wild or farmed?
Wild fish may be less contaminated than farmed, but this is by no means always the case. Pacific-sourced fish is generally less contaminated than those from the Atlantic.  Organic farmed fish, such as salmon or trout can have a slightly higher proportion of beneficial omega-3 oils, but aren’t more nutritious than those which are standard farmed. Yet, most organic farms work harder to produce fish that isn’t contaminated with toxins, and the methods used are more ecologically sound.

Tinned, smoked or fresh?
All types of fish are good for you in moderation, although smoked types (and anchovies) are salty, so don’t have them as often. With the exception of tuna, canned oily fish is just as nutritious as fresh. Contrary to popular belief, raw fish has no extra benefits over cooked.

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