THE FISH TALE

"Every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God."
Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:13

Americans are living a good life and it's killing them. Despite modern technology and medical advances, they are two to three times more likely to die of cardiovscular diseases and cancer than their forebears at the turn of the century. Three out of four deaths in the U.S. today are related to these two dread diseases.

Despite the fact that the U.S. Congress enacted a law in October 1986, eliminating the manadatory retirement age for Americans, many will not live long enough to reap its benefits.

We spend several hundred billion dollars to take care of our heart and cancer patients per year. Many more billions are wasted in lost productivity and in the expensive replacement of skilled workers.

Heart diseases and cancer are attributes of our lifestyle, environment and eating habits. Unfortunately, we exercise little control over our environment and lifestyle, leaving dietary habits as the major weapon in our fight against these dread diseases. The typical American diet contains too much red meat and fat, too many chemicals and calories, too little fiber, and is often deficient in essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals. This is the result of intense commercialization of the food industry, American life on the fast track and lack of proper education about nutrition.

It is ironic that we have successfully conquered the diseases caused by microorganisms but have failed pitifully in containing the diseases caused by the macroorganism, man himself.

Yet in some parts of Russia and northern Pakistan, people commonly live to be 100. They drink, they smoke but they eat simple, high fiber, low fat diets and live considerably tension-free lives. And by so doing, they beat all the odds of Western man against living long.

About 300 miles north of the polar circle lives another race of people who defy all the rules of a healthy diet: they eat raw fat and raw meat for survival. This group of people also beats the odds of dying of heart disease. How? And why? That's a fish tale.

THE INUIT CONNECTION

The Eskimos or Inuits (meaning people who eat raw meat) of northwest Greenland are relatively free of heart disease, diseases of the immune system and have a much lower incidence of many other diseases (Table 1.1). In one Eskimo settlement of 1,300 people, the death rate from heart disease was reported to be 3.5 percent as compared to more than 50 percent in most of the Western population. The Eskimos also have almost no asthma, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis or diabetes. This apparent immunity of Eskimos to many diseases had long been attributed to genetics until it was revealed that the Danes, who are of the same Mongolian race as the Eskimos, have more than ten times the risk of dying of heart disease than the Eskimos. However, the Eskimos and the Danes have vastly different eating habits. Although both Eskimos and Danes take about 40 percent of their total calories as fats, the differences in the type of fat used by Danes and Eskimos led researchers to the eventual conclusion that it is the fish and blubber in the Eskimo diet that protects them from heart disease.

TABLE 1.1

INCIDENCE OF DISEASE IN ESKIMOS 

The increased incidence of psychoses or nervous disorders in the Eskimos is partly attributed to climactic maladjustments, the increased arterial swelling is probably a side effect of high fat diet (details later) but the reason for higher epileptic seizures in Eskimos can, at best, be only conjectured--a possible effect of eating raw meat?

Similar immunity to diseases has also been recorded in the native Alaskans and populations of fishing villages in Japan. The only common thread between these populations is their diet which is responsible for the health effects observed and not their genes as assumed for many years.

At first glance the Eskimos' diet would seem to be a cardiologist's nightmare. It is very high in animal fat and cholesterol with practically no vegetables, grains or fruit. It consists mainly of raw or cooked seal, whale, fish, caribou and other Arctic wildlife. However, the excess amount of fish in the diet of Eskimos counteracts the deleterious effects of the rest of their diet. The fish contributes a special type of fat called omega-3 fat; the diet of the Western population, on the other hand, is rich in the saturated and unsaturated omega-6 type fats, both of which are now considered harmful to health.

For years, scientists have been searching for reasons why Western man is so predisposed to heart disease and other ailments, but now we have started to look into why others do not die of the same diseases. This turnaround in research emphasis has been extremely useful. Hundreds of researchers from around the world have now put together their findings on the topic and these findings point to only one conclusion: a fish a day can keep the doctor away.

THE DUTCH CONNECTION

In 1965, a group of Dutch scientists visited the town of Zutphen in the Netherlands, where the residents' fish eating habits were diverse. About 20 percent of the population ate no fish while others ate from 1 to 307 gram a day. The Dutch scientists selected about 900 middle aged men who had no history of heart disease for a long-term study of the effects of their dietary habits on heart diseases. Twenty years later, the health histories of these subjects revealed some startling findings as summarized in Table 1.2. Eating fish made the difference whether the people in Zutphen developed heart disease or not.

TABLE 1.2:

Residents of Zutphen who consumed even a small quantity of fish per day had significant protection from heart disease. This study provided an instant credibility to the sporadic observations that fish can be good for the heart.

Similar observations were made in Norway, where it was shown that after World War II, the incidence of heart disease reduced significantly. This was ascribed to dietary changes caused by the German occupation and the consequent food shortage necessitating drastic reduction in dairy fat intake and a substantial increase in fish consumption, which was the only abundant souce of protein and fat available. In Japan, where fish consumption has traditionally been high, low incidence of heart disease is reported.

These discoveries relating heart disease to diet explain why, despite reduced use of saturated fat, the incidence of heart disease has not declined proportionally in many Western countries. The fat Eskimos consume comes from marine sources whereas our foods are rich in fat from animal, vegetable and artificial sources. The differences in the type of fat in our diets determine how fragile our hearts become and how susceptible we remain to other malignancies affecting our body.

OLD WIVES' TALES

Old wives' tales, anecdotes and myths have long touted the beneficial effects of fish. Recent research has given them scientific credence. Discoveries, most of which were concluded in the late 1970s and 1980s, regarding the effect of fish diet, though not unexpected, surprised the medical community in their magnitude and shattered many misconceptions.

For example, some types of fish have long been considered harmful because of their "high" content of saturated fats and cholesterol; the new discoveries show that all types of fish are good for health. Fatty fish such as salmon and shellfish, which were considered equivalent to eggs and lard, are now freely recommended as are oysters, clams and scallops because fish of all types are rich in a type of fat which is good for the heart - omega-3 fat.

Dr. William P. Castelli, Director of the Farmington Heart Study, made a charming statement on reducing risk of heart disease by avoiding saturated fats: "I like to point out to people that if you can't be a vegetarian yourself, eat a vegetarian from the sea." Vegetarians from the sea are oysters, clams and scallops. These dramatic changes in the dietary recommendations have come as a result of many conclusive studies of Eskimos and others who make heavy use of fish as their daily staple.

Consumption of fish varies widely in different cultures. Table 1.3 lists the per capita consumption of fish by the Eskimos, the Japanese and the U.S. population.

TABLE 1.3
WHO IS EATING FISH
Population Pounds/yr/person

Historically, the consumption of fish in the U.S. and many European countries has been lowest in the entire world, despite increases of about 40 percent during the past 35 years. The fish consumption in the U.S. declined slightly in the mid-sixties and has risen slightly since then. Our disinterest in the creatures living in deep water is reflected by our insignificant fish catches compared to our population (Table 1.4).

TABLE 1.4 : WHO IS CATCHING FISH

Westerners in general have not yet developed a "taste" for fish. For many, also, there remains a mystique about the sea, stemming from the old legends of mermaids, Loch Ness monsters and spells of the Bermuda Triangle. And now comes yet another nautical tale which promises to turn our pipe dreams of a long life into a reality.

This book explores the claims, controversies and myths regarding the consumption of fish. We will examine the diseases as well as the cures, the pros as well as the cons, the myths as well as the realities.