http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/972
fish is unhealthy food: McDougall: Murray 3.2.3 rmforall

http://www.nealhendrickson.com/mcdougall/030200pufishisnothealthfood.htm

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February 2003 Vol. 2 No. 2

Fish is Not Health Food by John McDougall, M.D.

(While you read this letter, picture me swimming at the Great Barrier
Reef in Australia)

Many health professionals and scientists are recommending fish to
improve your health and especially, to reduce your risk of suffering
from heart disease. Japanese are the most-recognized example of a
fish-eating population enjoying a low incidence of diseases common to
Americans (heart disease, breast cancer, diabetes, etc.), and a
trim appearance. Plus, people living in Japan have the longest life
expectancy of any country in the world. But, I believe these advantages
are in spite of the fish, rather than because of the fish. Japanese are
healthy primarily because they eat a diet based on rice with lots of
vegetables-– fortunately for them; they eat fish only as a condiment.

A Muscle is a Muscle

Fish is the muscle of a cold-blooded, animal with fins and gills. The
major components of fish are fat and protein.
There is no carbohydrate, no dietary fiber, or no vitamin C in fish.
Because many fish are high on the food chain they are highly
contaminated with environmental chemicals-– it is not unusual to read in
the newspaper that certain kinds of fish, such as swordfish, tuna, or
shark, contain sufficient levels to be considered a health hazard. For
example, because of their high content of mercury, the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has advised women who are pregnant or plan to
become pregnant to not eat swordfish, king mackerel, tile fish, shark,
or fish from mercury contaminated areas.

The advantages of fish over beef, chicken or pork are largely mythical.
(1)

Fish Fat:

Fish is high in fat-– often 60% of the calories come from fat. This fat
is effortlessly incorporated into a person’s body fat-– contributing to
the risk of obesity. Fish fat is usually associated with a low risk of
cancer. However, there is considerable evidence that fish fat (omega-3
fat) will increase a person’s risk of cancer and also will increase the
risk of metastasis (spread of cancer to other parts of the body). (2-5)
Fish fat is known to paralyze the actions of insulin and increase the
tendency for high blood sugars and eventually diabetes, known to
suppress the immune system, and known to increase the tendency for
serious bleeding (see below under fish oil supplements).

Fish Cholesterol:

Like all animal products, fish are high in cholesterol. Based upon a
weight of 100 grams, mackerel contains 95 mg of cholesterol, haddock 65
mg, tuna 63 mg, and halibut 50 mg.
This compares to beef at 70 mg, chicken 60 mg, and pork at 70 mg. (1)
However, when the comparison is made based on calories, fish (50 mg/100
calories) is much higher in cholesterol than pork (24 mg/100 calories),
beef (29 mg/100 calories), or chicken (44 mg/100 calories). (1)
Comparisons based upon calories are much more relevant because we eat
our diet based upon calories (a 2000 calories diet) rather than based on
the weight of the food (a 5 pound diet). Feeding fish to people,
instead of beef, pork or chicken, causes predictable increases in their
blood cholesterol to levels that are virtually the same. (6)

Fish Protein:

Fish is high in animal protein and the kinds of protein that make up
fish are very acidic in nature. The high acid load caused by the
ingestion of fish results in bone loss, which eventually leads to
osteoporosis. (7) Eskimos are among the highest consumers of fish on
Earth; they also have the highest rates of osteoporosis of any people on
our planet. After the age of 40 years, Eskimos of both sexes have from
a 10% to 15% greater bone loss than do whites in the US of the same age.
(8) The Eskimos consume up to 2,500 mg of calcium a day, mostly in the
form of fish bones-– this large calcium intake is offset by the high
protein content (250 to 400 grams a day)-– much of this coming from
fish.

I have heard it said that the negative effects of protein on bone health
are only caused by synthetic mixtures of proteins devised in the
laboratory, and are not caused by the real foods that people eat, such
as chicken, turkey, beef or fish. People making such statements fail to
thoroughly review the scientific literature (and by no coincidence, most
are advocates of high-protein diets).

To support their claim of no effect of whole animal foods on bone loss
they will quote the work of Herta Spencer from the mid 1970s. She
published 2 often-sited studies on the subject–- one was paid for by the
National Dairy Council (9) and the other by the National Livestock and
Meat Board. (10) Her work has been rightly criticized because close
scrutiny reveals areas of serious inconsistency. For example, in the
study paid for by the National Dairy Council, (9) she used inappropriate
subjects and reported conclusions in contrast to her results. Of the
six subjects in the study, one had osteoporosis and the urinary calcium
so low as to suggest calcium malabsorption. Another subject carried a
diagnosis of hypercalcuria (very high levels of calcium in the urine),
making his data invalid. Of the remaining four subjects, three subjects
did experience increased calcium loss during the high protein diet. (11)

Studies on human subjects using whole foods, such as beef, chicken and
turkey have produced negative calcium balances of 77 mg/day. (12) In
another study, the addition of 5 ounces of skipjack tuna a day (34 grams
of animal protein) increased the loss of urinary calcium by 23%. (13)
Furthermore, scientific evidence shows that the body does not adjust
(compensate) with time while on high protein diets, and the losses
continue for as long as the diet is high in animal protein. (14)

Infectious Agents

In the United States of America, seafood ranked third on the list of
products which caused food-borne disease between 1983 and 1992. (15)
Several illnesses are a result of toxic algal blooms; for example, the
most commonly reported marine toxin disease in the world is ciguatera-–
associated with consumption of contaminated reef fish such as barracuda,
grouper, and snapper. There are about 20,000 cases world-wide.
Ciguatera presents primarily as diarrhea, abdominal cramps, vomiting,
paresthesias, pain in the teeth, pain on urination, blurred vision,
arrhythmias, and heart block Another common problem from fish is
Scombroid poisoning. This type of food intoxication is caused by
consuming scombroid and scombroid-like marine fish species that have
begun to spoil with the growth of certain types of bacteria. Fish of
the Scombridae family are tuna and mackerel.

Environmental Contaminants

Fish eat other fish that eat plankton and algae, which are contaminated
with environmental pollutants. Because these chemicals are attracted
and concentrated in the fat of the fish, they become even more
concentrated as the chemicals move up the food chain, by a process known
as biomagnification. The fish most heavily laden with chemicals are
those such as the tuna, swordfish and shark, which are predators of
smaller sea life.

Unfortunately, those most affected by all this contamination are the
ones highest on the food chain-– our unborn and breast-feeding children,
living off of their mother. Polychlorinated biphenyl exposure (PCB) of
children born to women who had eaten relatively large quantities of Lake
Michigan fish resulted in poorer intellectual function of the children,
compared to other children, shown by lower scores on a preschool IQ
test, and poorer verbal IQ and reading comprehension at 11 years of age.
(17)

Mercury Contamination and Heart Disease:

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a global environmental problem and is listed by
the International Program of Chemical Safety as one of the six most
dangerous chemicals in the world's environment. A recent article in the
New England Journal of Medicine warned that many fish contain such high
levels of mercury that they may actually increase your risk of a heart
attack. (18) In this study, toenail clippings from men with a history
of a previous heart attack provided evidence of the person’s
accumulation of mercury. Those with high mercury levels had more
than double the risk of a heart attack compared with those who had low
levels.

Mercury is known to be toxic to the nervous system and kidneys, but
long-term exposure may also accelerate the development of
arthrosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) by promoting free radical
damage to the arteries. Free radicals are highly reactive species of
common substances, such as fats and LDL-cholesterol, which donate
electrons to tissues and cause severe damage leading to many common
diseases. Fish can be a major source of mercury in a very toxic form
called methylmercury. This substance may counteract all the
hypothesized benefits of omega-3 fats on prevention of heart disease.

Fish Oil Supplements

Unless they have been specially processed to remove cholesterol, fish
oils contain large amounts of cholesterol and will raise the blood
cholesterol of people. Even when the fish oil is purified of
cholesterol, the omega-3 fat itself will cause the LDL-bad cholesterol
to rise. (19,20) The final results are published in a study on the
effects of fish oil on artery closure, where the authors concluded,
“Fish oil treatment for 2 years does not promote favorable
changes in the diameter of atherosclerotic coronary arteries.” (21)

To get the cholesterol lowering effects of fish oil you need to consume
about 2.5 to 3.5 ounces daily, and that represents 675 to 900 extra
calories daily. (1) Fish fat is easily stored and I have seen patients
of mine gain 5 pounds when they added fish oil to their “heart disease
prevention program.”

Furthermore, fish oils suppress the immune system, which can promote
cancer and increase susceptibility to viral infections; and can cause
severe bleeding. (22, 23) Fish fat also inhibits the action of insulin,
thus increasing a person’s tendency to suffer from diabetes. (24)

Our Future and that of the Poor Fish

As you are reading this article, I want you to know, I am SCUBA diving
on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia (February 2003). I love fish-– I
love to watch them and I love to photograph them, but I do not like to
kill or eat them. I am very concerned that fish, in too many minds, has
become “health food.” It is not healthy for humans to eat and it is
certainly not healthy for the fish. I have shown my children the beauty
of the oceans on our many adventures to Costa Rica, Panama, Hawaii and
the Cayman Islands. I worry that my children will not have the
opportunity to show their children the same beauty-- unless we start
telling the truth about fish.

References:

1) J Pennington. Bowes & Church’s Food Values of Portions Commonly
Used. 17th Ed. Lippincott. Philadelphia-New York. 1998.

2) Griffini P. Dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids promote
colon carcinoma metastasis in rat liver.
Cancer Res. 1998 Aug 1; 58(15): 3312-9.

3) Klieveri L. Promotion of colon cancer metastases in rat liver by
fish oil diet is not due to reduced stroma formation.
Clin Exp Metastasis. 2000; 18(5): 371-7.

4) Young MR. Effects of fish oil and corn oil diets on
prostaglandin-dependent and myelopoiesis-associated immune suppressor
mechanisms of mice bearing metastatic Lewis lung carcinoma tumors.
Cancer Res. 1989 Apr 15; 49(8): 1931-6.

5) Coulombe J. Influence of lipid diets on the number of metastases
and ganglioside content of H59 variant tumors.
Clin Exp Metastasis. 1997 Jul; 15(4): 410-7.

6) Davidson MH. Comparison of the effects of lean red meat vs lean
white meat on serum lipid levels among free-living persons with
hypercholesterolemia: a long-term, randomized clinical trial.
Arch Intern Med. 1999; 159: 1331-8.

7) Barzel US, Massey LK. Excess dietary protein can adversely affect
bone. J Nutr. 1998; 128: 1051-3.

8) Mazess R. Bone mineral content of North Alaskan Eskimos.
Am J Clin Nutr. 1974 Sep; 27(9): 916-25.

9) Spencer H. Effect of a high protein (meat) intake on calcium
metabolism in man.
Am J Clin Nutr. 1978 Dec; 31(12): 2167-80.

10) Spencer H. Further studies of the effect of a high protein diet as
meat on calcium metabolism. Am J Clin Nutr.
1983 Jun; 37(6): 924-9.

11) Marcus R. The relationship of dietary calcium to the maintenance of
skeletal integrity in man-an interface of endocrinology and nutrition.
Metabolism. 1982 Jan; 31(1): 93-102.

12) Cummings J. The effect of meat protein and dietary fiber on
colonic function and metabolism. I. Changes in
bowel habit, bile acid excretion, and calcium absorption.
Am J Clin Nutr. 1979 Oct; 32(10): 2086-93.

13) Robertson W. The effect of high animal protein intake on the risk
of calcium stone-formation in the urinary
tract. Clin Sci (Lond). 1979 Sep; 57(3): 285-8.

14) Allen L. Protein-induced hypercalciuria: a longer term study. Am
J Clin Nutr. 1979 Apr; 32(4): 741-9.

15) Lipp EK. The role of seafood in foodborne diseases in the United
States of America.
Rev Sci Tech. 1997 Aug; 16(2): 620-40.

16) Aguilar A. Geographical and temporal variation in levels of
organochlorine contaminants in marine mammals.
Mar Environ Res. 2002 Jun; 53(5):425-52. Review.

17) Jacobson JL. Association of prenatal exposure to an environmental
contaminant with intellectual function in childhood.
J Toxicol Clin Toxicol. 2002; 40(4): 467-75.

18) Guallar E. Mercury, fish oils, and the risk of myocardial
infarction. N Engl J Med. 2002 Nov 28; 347(22): 1747-54.

19) Harris W. Effects of a low saturated fat, low cholesterol fish oil
supplement in hypertriglyceridemic patients. A placebo-controlled trial.
Ann Intern Med. 1988 Sep 15; 109(6): 465-70.

20) Wilt TJ. Fish oil supplementation does not lower plasma
cholesterol in men with hypercholesterolemia.
Results of a randomized, placebo-controlled crossover study.
Ann Intern Med. 1989 Dec 1; 111(11): 900-5.

21) Sacks F. Controlled trial of fish oil for regression of human
coronary atherosclerosis. HARP Research Group.
J Am Coll Cardiol. 1995 Jun; 25(7): 1492-8.

22) Calder PC. Polyunsaturated fatty acids, inflammation, and
immunity. Lipids. 2001; 36: 1007-24.

23) Clarke J. Increased incidence of epistaxis in adolescents with
familial hypercholesterolemia treated with fish oil.
J Pediatr. 1990 Jan; 116(1): 139-41.

24) Hendra TJ. Effects of fish oil supplements in NIDDM subjects.
Controlled study. Diabetes Care. 1990 Aug; 13(8): 821-9.

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Newsletter archive 2003 John McDougall All Rights Reserved
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/959
aspartame review: methanol, formaldehyde, formic acid toxicity:
Murray 3.1.3 rmforall

Rich Murray, MA Room For All rmforall@...
1943 Otowi Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505 USA 505-986-9103

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/messages
for 972 posts in a public searchable archive

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartame/ 615 member group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/968
EU MEPs vote to re-evaluate aspartame and stevia:
Martini: Murray 2.21.3 rmforall

http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/scf2002-response.htm
Mark Gold exhaustively critiques European Commission Scientific
Committee on Food re aspartame (12.4.2): 59 pages, 230 references

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/910
formaldehyde & formic acid from methanol in aspartame:
Murray: 12.9.2 rmforall

It is certain that high levels of aspartame use, above 2 liters daily
for months and years, must lead to chronic formaldehyde-formic acid
toxicity, since 11% of aspartame (1,120 mg in 2L diet soda, 5.6 12-oz
cans) is 123 mg methanol (wood alcohol), immediately released into the
body after drinking (unlike the large levels of methanol locked up in
molecules inside many fruits), then quickly transformed into
formaldehyde, which in turn becomes formic acid, both of which in
time become carbon dioxide and water-- however, about 30% of the
methanol remains in the body as cumulative durable toxic metabolites of
formaldehyde and formic acid-- 37 mg daily, a gram every month.
If 10% of the methanol is retained as formaldehyde, that would give 12
mg daily formaldehyde accumulation, about 60 times more than the 0.2 mg
from 10% retention of the 2 mg EPA daily limit for formaldehyde in
drinking water.

Bear in mind that the EPA limit for formaldehyde in
drinking water is 1 ppm,
or 2 mg daily for a typical daily consumption of 2 L of water.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/835
RTM: ATSDR: EPA limit 1 ppm formaldehyde in drinking water July 1999
5.30.2 rmforall

This long-term low-level chronic toxic exposure leads to typical
patterns of increasingly severe complex symptoms, starting with
headache, fatigue, joint pain, irritability, memory loss, and
leading to vision and eye problems and even seizures. In many cases
there is addiction. Probably there are immune system disorders, with a
hypersensitivity to these toxins and other chemicals.

Confirming evidence and a general theory are given by Pall (2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/909
testable theory of MCS type diseases, vicious cycle of nitric oxide &
peroxynitrite: MSG: formaldehyde-methanol-aspartame:
Martin L. Pall: Murray: 12.9.2 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/946
Functional Therapeutics in Neurodegenerative Disease Part 1/2:
Perlmutter 7.15.99: Murray 1.10.3 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/915
formaldehyde toxicity: Thrasher & Kilburn: Shaham: EPA: Gold: Murray:
Wilson: CIIN: 12.12.2 rmforall

http://www.vegsource.com extensive vegan information
http://www.vegsource.com/articles/kradjian_milk.htm
Robert Kradjian MD Discusses Milk

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/971
Joel Fuhrman critique of Atkins diet in "Eat To Live":
Murray 3.1.3 rmforall

Substitute stevia (at health food stores).
Avoid all products with aspartame and MSG. Gradually reduce alcohol,
caffeine (coffee, cocoa, and teas), meat, fish, eggs, milk, butter, and
cheese, food additives and colors, fluoride, city water: enjoy organic
rice, beans, nuts, vegetables, fruits, with modest use of soy products
and sprouted grain breads, flax seed and olive oils, and fill your jugs
with deionized water.
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