National Seafood Educators

Nutrition Chart
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Omega 3 Chart
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List of Resources Examining the Mercury and Seenium Issue:

Mercuryfacts.org, a project of The Center for Consumer Freedon. The Flip Side of Mercury: Mercury and Selenium Levels in Fish from Madison, Wisconsin. http://mercuryfacts.org/downloads/060801_flipside.pdf.

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. Seafood Cuts Risk for Heart Disease, Prolongs Life and Increases Infant Intelligence, Scientists Say. December 6, 2005. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/docs/Conference%20Day%201.revised.pdf.

Peterson, Spencer A., & Ralston, Nicholas V.C. Mercury in Fish Tissue Across the Western United States and Implications of Selenium Interactions with Mercury. http://www.epa.gov/emap/html/pubs/docs/groupdocs/symposia/symp2007/abstracts/Peterson.pdf.

Ralston, Nicholas V.C., and Raymond, Laura J. Mercury: Selenium interactions and health implications. SMDJ Seychelles Medical and Dental Journal, November 2004, Vol. 7, Pgs. 72-77.

Ralston, Nicholas V.C. Physiological and Environmental Importance of Mercury-Selenium Interactions. Proceedings of the 2005 National Forum on Contaminants in Fish, Section 11-5, Pgs. 11-50.

Seafood Now Said OK for Pregnant Women

-Sally Squires Washington Post October 4, 2007
     WASHINGTON- In a major break with current U.S. health advice, a coalition of top scientists from private groups and federal agencies plans to advise pregnant and breast-feeding women to consume at least 12 ounces of fish and seafood a week to ensure optimal brain development of their babies.
     That recommendation, to be announced today, essentially is at odds with the standard government advice since 2001 that these groups should eat no more than 12 ounces of seafood a week because of concerns about mercury contamination.
     The new advisory comes from the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, a nonprofit group with nearly 150 members, including the American Acadamy of Pediatrics, the March of Dimes, the National Institute on Child Health and Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
     Concerns over the impact of fish on the brain development of fetuses and infants, the most vulnerable groups, have been one of the more vexing nutritional dilemmas of recent years, causing widespread consumer confusion and fueling much scientific debate.
     "It's been an important issue over the last decade or so," said Brown University professor Patricia Nolan, former director of the Rhode Island Department of Health and one of the experts who drafted the new guidelines.
     The Hope, Nolan said, "is that women will see that it is reasonable to consume some fish during pregnancy as an important building block for babies' nutrition."
     Concerns about mercury contamination prompted the Food and Drug Administraion and the Environmental Protection Agency to issue warnings in 2001 and 2004.
     Pregnant and breast-feeding women, those who want to become pregnant and young children were advised to eat no more than 12 ounces weekly of seafood, based on theoretical calculations of the potential for contamination. Exposure of too much mercury has been linked to neurological problems.
     The FDA and EPA also recommended these groups avoid eating shark, tilefish, king mackeral and swordfish because of their high mercury content and limit albacore tuna to no more than 6 ounces a week.
     But recent studies have suggested the health benefits of eating fish and seafood outweigh the potential risks from mercury.
     Based on that evidence , a number of countries and governmental groups, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Nordic Council of Ministers, advise that pregnant women eat at least a couple of servings of fish weekly.
     Fish and seafood are the major dietary sources of omega-3 fatty acids, especially a substance called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), that are key nutrients for brain and nervous systems in the fetus and in babies and young children.
     Some of the most compelling evidence for the importance of including seafood in the diet of pregnant women came earlier this year from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children in the United Kingdom.
     In February, scientists from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism reported in the journal the Lancet that the children of women who ate little fish during pregnancy had lower IQs and more behavioral and social problems than youngsters whose mothers ate plenty of seafood.
     Other research has suggested the healthful fats also appear to cut the risk of delivering a preterm, low birth-weight baby.
     Other recent research suggests higher seafood consumption during pregnancy is linked with a lower risk of depression in the mother during pregnancy and immediately after giving birth.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3s are made up of:
• EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid)-primary value is strong anti-inflammatory effect, immune enhancement, and cardiovascular health.
• DHA (docosahexaenoic acid)-essential for brain function, visual acuity, and signal transmissions.
• ALA (alpha-linolenic acid)-similar functions of EPA and DHA.

ALA is found in vegetable sources such as algae, flaxseed, kale, and nuts (as well as seafood) but is not as beneficial as EPA and DHA (found in seafood) since it takes 10 grams of ALA to make one gram of EPA/DHA. EPA and DHA, found in seafood, are “essential” nutrients that are not naturally manufactured in the body, and have just been given the heart health nutrient claim by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States.

Heart Health

Over 30 years ago, researchers were astounded when they discovered that populations that ate large amounts of seafood had significantly low, or almost nonexistent, levels of heart disease. There is almost no heart disease among native Inuit peoples of Greenland who have long consumed large amounts of seafood that are naturally high in omega-3 fatty acids. Similarly, the Japanese, Scandinavians, Dutch, Sardinians and those Americans who regularly eat seafood have low rates of heart attacks.

Worldwide research has indicated the EPA and DHA omega-3s from seafood may help hearts to:
• maintain normal heart rhythms
• reduce inflammation
• reduce chance of stroke
• lubricate red blood cells to slide through closing arteries
• reduce the formation of blood cells
• relax the walls of blood vessels.

The American Heart Association recommends adopting healthy food habits that include at least two-3 ounce servings of seafood per week which reduces the major risk factors for heart attack-high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, and excessive weight.

Alzheimer’s

Alzheimers is, in part, an inflammatory disease. Researchers have found that since omega-3s have anti-inflammatory characteristics, it was natural that elderly people who ate more fish high in omega-3s had better mental function.

A seven year study reported in the Archives of Neurology concluded, “Participants who consumed fish once per week or more had 60% less risk of Alzheimer’s disease compared to those who rarely or never ate fish.”

Weight Loss

Rachael Batterhorn, British scientist at University College in London reports that eating more seafood increases the level of a hunger fighting hormone called peptide YY. Many studies show eating seafood rich in omega-3 fatty acids (such as salmon, mackerel, and herring) are more filling and aid weight loss.

Diabetes

Studies suggest that overweight people that follow a weight loss program including exercise tend to achieve better control over their blood sugar and cholesterol levels when fish rich in omega -3s is a staple in their diet.

Omega-3 fatty acids in polyunsaturated fats found in fish and shellfish may help ward off Type 2 diabetes. If you already have diabetes, eating fatty fish may protect you from a heart attack.

Cancer

Continuing research shows the benefits that eating seafood rich in omega-3s may provide in the prevention of cancer:
• helping healthy cells resist damage from tumor–producing cells
• interfering with tumor growth
• inhibiting the spread of the tumor throughout the body.

Ongoing studies of prostate, colon, and breast cancer promise emerging information about the benefits of a seafood diet.

Infant Health

A pregnant woman needs extra omega-3 fatty acids because the rapidly growing brain of her fetus uses omega-3s from her body. This crucial fat, necessary 3-4 weeks after conception, is used by the fetus for building brain tissue, for nerve growth, and development of the eye’s retina. Mothers eating generous amounts of seafood give their babies lots of DHA that reduces incidence of premature birth and increases birth weight, according to scientists at a recent Seafood and Health Alliance Conference in Washington D.C.

The brain continues to grow two years after birth, so DHA from breast milk is important as well as seafood consumption by children.

Pre-natal omega-3s intake studies suggest that more omega-3s make children smarter.

Depression

Omega-3 researcher Andrew L Stoll, M.D., Director of the Psychopharmocology Research Laboratory at Harvard’s McLean Hospital relates that emerging studies show omega-3 fatty acids may have therapeutic value in the treatment of:
• depression
• post-partum depression
• stress
• schizophrenia
• attention deficit hyperactive disorder
• manic depressive (bipolor disorder)

An abstract of Psychiatric Clinic of North America publication states that geographic areas with high consumption of DHA omega-3s have decreased rates of depression.