Farmed tilapia may be harmful to your health

Tilapia is a beloved staple not just in the Kenyan community here in the United States, but in the wider American community as well. 1.5 million tonnes were consumed in 2003 and it is expected that 2.5 million will be consumed by 2010. Tilapia ranked fifth on the U.S. per-capita seafood consumption list at 0.996 pounds in 2006, up from just 0.317 pounds in 2002.

People have gotten the message their doctors and cardiologists have been preaching to them for years- eat more fish – and they are eating – a lot of tilapia. To meet this demand, most of this tilapia is farm-raised on cheap, corn-based feeds.

Now, a study by doctors and researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center , published in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, is raising flags that may send shock-waves to the Kenyan community here in the United States.The researchers argue that consuming farm-raised tilapia, raised entirely on a corn-based diet, could be worse than eating an 80% lean hamburger, pork bacon or even doughnuts due to the higher levels of long-chain omega-6 fatty acids present in them.

The farm raised tilapia quickly convert this fatty acid into arachidonic acid and then stores it in it’s tissues. When the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 increases in fish, the health benefits disappear and consuming more of that fish becomes detrimental to health instead.

The researchers found that the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in farm-raised tilapia was 11:1 compared to less than 1:1 found on Salmon and Trout. When most of us eat fish, we hope or think that we are consuming sufficient amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, technically known as EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).

For those of us who tilapia is the fish of choice, the news gets worse; farmed tilapia contained less than half a gram of omega-3 fatty acids per 100 grams compared to 3-4 grams per 100 grams found in Salmon and Trout. The general consensus is that daily intake of 2 grams per day of Omega-3 fatty acids is required to maintain optimum health.

According to the American Heart Association, the benefits of omega-3 are numerous, including;

• decreasing the risk of arrhythmias, which can lead to sudden cardiac death
• decreasing triglyceride levels
• decreasing the growth rate of atherosclerotic plaque
• lowering blood pressure (slightly)

Bottom-line, farmed tilapia may not be as healthy as we think and may even be dangerous if the consumption is purposely intended to control inflammatory diseases like heart disease and arthritis.Critics of the study have hit back hard arguing that omega-6 is an essential fatty acid found not only in tilapia, but in several other foods.

Some industry insiders are saying that tilapia has never been marketed as a “health” food but only as a “healthy” food and are willing to change the corn-based formula fed to farm-raised tilapia to reduce omega-6 levels as soon as there has been an extensive rebuttal and review of the study by other scientists and researchers.

Others seem to have resorted to attacking the study with sound-bites.As should be with any medical, nutrition or health story you come across, do not totally trust what I have written here because I am not a medical professional. Be skeptical and proactive.

As this story may have a major impact on your health, please cross-check the claims or opinions made here including checking with your doctor or a health professional in your community – someone who genuinely cares about your well-being and not the type of insurance coverage you have, in order to make informed choices regarding your health.