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The following articles are from
Dr. Michael Greger's monthly newsletter which you can get from his
website:
http://www.veganmd.org
http://www.veganmd.org
Article 1: PCB's in Fish
Article 2: Flaxseeds and Stress Response
Those understandably scared away by
the pesticides in shrimp and the mercury in tuna sought refuge in
farmed salmon. Of course every study ever done on the flesh of
farmed salmon found it to be swimming with carcinogens,[1] but the
salmon industry dismissed these prior studies as too small to be
meaningful. Finally, though, after 2 years and almost 2 million
dollars,[2]] a study was just released which contained an
exhaustive analysis of over 2 tons of salmon from around the
world.[3] The study was performed by some of the world's leading
experts on industrial pollution at Cornell and elsewhere and
published in one of the most prestigious scientific journals in
the world.[4] The results sent shockwaves around the world.
The study found that the levels of
PCBs, dioxins and banned insecticides such as toxaphene were so
high that based on Environmental Protection Agency guidelines, no
one should be eating farmed salmon from anywhere in the world more
than once a month.[5] Fillets bought in supermarkets in Boston and
San Francisco were so heavily contaminated that even a half a
serving a month might be too much.[3] And these recommendations
just take into account the increased cancer risk. The researchers
warn that women and girls should be eating even less, since
pregnant women can pass on these contaminants to their fetuses,
impairing mental development and immune-system function.[6]
We've known about the industrial
toxins that accumulate in the flesh of marine animals caught out
in the polluted oceans, but how did these salmon on fish farms get
contaminated? Although farmed fish are fed products like cattle
blood[7] (which could theoretically infect the fish with a form of
mad cow disease),[8] most farmed salmon are fed fish pellets made
from wild fish hauled up and slaughtered by giant industrial
trawlers from the polluted sea floor. It takes 3 to 4 pounds of
wild caught fish to produce just one pound of farm raised fish, so
people who think they are not contributing to the global disaster
of overfishing by eating farmed fish are deluding themselves.[9]
The fish stagnating in these aquatic feedlots are also fed dyes to
artificially color their flesh pink and massive infusions of
antibiotics to stave off bacterial diseases and sea lice.
The Association of Salmon and Trout
Producers calls the new study "dangerous, alarmist and a shot in
the dark."[10] George Lucier, former director of the US Department
of Health's national toxicological program and author of more than
200 studies on toxic chemicals, disagrees. Backed by other
independent US experts, he calls the results "undeniable."[11]
One state health department
suggested that instead of telling people to limit their
consumption of fish, they'd just tell consumers to eat a variety
of fish, cook them so the fat drips off, and avoid eating the
skin. David Carpenter, one of the scientists involved in the
study, calls the health department's position "total nonsense."
"That's just totally irresponsible--totally irresponsible," he
said. "It's the responsibility of state health departments - and I
worked for the one here in New York - to prevent disease or at
least provide people with information so they can make judgments
about whether they want to take an elevated risk of disease."[12]
Carpenter recommends no one eat farmed salmon more than once a
month due to the unacceptable cancer risk alone.[13]
The fish industry argues that
although the levels of carcinogens in fish exceed EPA safety
standards, they don't exceed FDA standards which allow 40 times
more toxins in food. The authors of the study argue that the FDA
standards are hopelessly out of date and inconsistent with the
stricter standards used in Europe, Japan and Canada.[14] Critics
argue that the FDA has a conflict of interest, playing a role in
protecting the commercial food industry's profit margin as well as
the health of consumers.[15]
Fish industry trade groups claim
that giving up salmon "would do more harm than good" because of
the heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids found in fish fat.[16] Yes,
one industry consultant admits, salmon could cause thousands of
cancer deaths, but it might save even more lives by preventing
heart attacks.[17] Is that the choice Americans get? Do Americans
have to slowly poison themselves in hopes that the fish fat may
prevent a future heart attack? This sounds like the tired old
dairy industry line about the importance of calcium every time
another study comes out questioning the healthfulness of cow milk.
Just like there are healthier plant-based sources of calcium,
there are healthier plant based sources of omega 3 fatty acids. We
don't have to choose between cancer and heart disease.
Our bodies convert the short chain
omega 3's found in flax seeds, for example, into the long chain
omega 3's found in fish fat, so one can choose to get omega 3's
packaged with soluble fiber and antioxidants in flax, rather than
getting them packaged with heavy metals and carcinogens in fish.
For those who want to take supplemental long chain omega 3's
directly, but don't want to be exposed to the high concentrations
of PCBs and pesticides in fish oil capsules,[18] there are two
vegan algae-based contamination-free supplements currently on the
market.[19]
Vegetarians have as little as 1 to 2
percent the level of many pesticides and industrial chemicals in
their bodies compared to meateaters. Through food alone, nonvegan
Americans are getting 22 times the maximum dioxin exposure set by
the EPA. Nursing infants with nonvegan moms get up to 65 times the
maximum tolerable dose of this toxic waste. Although the fat in
the beef, pork, poultry and milk also contain these carcinogens,
this new study shows that the most contaminated flesh food is
fish.
Most salmon served in the U.S. is
farmed and dangerous.
The researchers attribute the heart healthy attributes of flax not only to their omega 3 content, but their unique concentration of these anti-tumor antioxidant phytoestrogens called lignans. So, if anyone's stressed that they've been feeding their family toxic fish, switching over to flax might help in more ways than one.
REFERENCES (PBCs in Fish):
(Full text of specific articles
available by emailing article-request@DrGreger.org)
1 Los Angeles Times January 9,
2004 Friday
2 Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale,
FL) January 22, 2004
3 Global assessment of organic contaminants in farmed salmon. Science, 2004;303(5655):226-9
4 The Observer, January 11, 2004
3 Global assessment of organic contaminants in farmed salmon. Science, 2004;303(5655):226-9
4 The Observer, January 11, 2004
5 National Public Radio (NPR)
January 8, 2004
6 Los Angeles Times January 9, 2004 Friday
6 Los Angeles Times January 9, 2004 Friday
7 http://functionalproteins.com/products/biofend/images/pib-biofend.pdf
8 Molecular Psychiatry March 1997 Volume 2, Number 2 page 146-147
9 Mail on Sunday (London), January 18, 2004
10 Inter Press Service, January 23, 2004
8 Molecular Psychiatry March 1997 Volume 2, Number 2 page 146-147
9 Mail on Sunday (London), January 18, 2004
10 Inter Press Service, January 23, 2004
11 The Sunday Herald, January
18, 2004 z
12 THE SEATTLE
POST-INTELLIGENCER January 15, 2004,
13 National Public Radio (NPR) January 8, 2004
14 Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) January 21, 2004
15 Los Angeles Times January 24, 2004
16 U.S. News & World Report January 19, 2004
17 Los Angeles Times January 9, 2004 Friday
18 Times Newspapers Limited, January 11, 2004
19 http://veganessentials.com/ and http://drfurhman.com/
13 National Public Radio (NPR) January 8, 2004
14 Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) January 21, 2004
15 Los Angeles Times January 24, 2004
16 U.S. News & World Report January 19, 2004
17 Los Angeles Times January 9, 2004 Friday
18 Times Newspapers Limited, January 11, 2004
19 http://veganessentials.com/ and http://drfurhman.com/
A study was just published in the
Journal of the American College of Nutrition on the effects of
flax seed consumption on cardiovascular responses to mental and
psychological stress.[JACN 22(6):494] How your body reacts to
stress--like how much your blood pressure goes up when you're
anxious--is an important predictor of heart disease risk. So
Canadian researchers had people sprinkle 3 tablespoons of ground
flax seed onto whatever they were eating every day for a few
months. Then the researchers exposed the research subjects to a
variety of stressors and measured their stress response. And
those eating flax had significantly healthier physiological
reactions to stressful conditions. Their blood pressure, for
example, stayed much more stable.
The researchers attribute the heart healthy attributes of flax not only to their omega 3 content, but their unique concentration of these anti-tumor antioxidant phytoestrogens called lignans. So, if anyone's stressed that they've been feeding their family toxic fish, switching over to flax might help in more ways than one.
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