Cod Liver Oil Contamination: Rely on Pharmaceutical Grade Fish Oil

[Guest guest]

JoAnn Guest

Jul 08, 2004 14:06 PDT

 

Cod Liver Oil Contamination: Key Point -

Rely on Pharmaceutical Grade Fish Oil

for Your Omega-3 Fatty Acid Needs

 

Introduction

 

In the last month, two alarming studies were released on the issue of

contamination of farmed salmon with pesticides and the presence of flame

retardants in cod liver oil.

 

As more and more research is documenting the health benefits of the

long-chain omega-3 fatty acids in fish oils, it appears that the

solution is to rely on truly pharmaceutical grade fish oil products like

RxOmega-3 Factors for these valuable compounds.

 

Fish consumption has been an important source of human nutrition since

prehistoric times. However, during the past decades, per capita fish

consumption has expanded tremendously in the United States.

 

In particular, salmon consumption increased annually at a rate of 23% in

the U.S. between 1987 and 1999. This increase has been fueled in part by

falling prices caused by the farming of salmon and a result of increased

awareness on the health benefits of the omega-3 fatty acids found in

salmon.

 

It is now estimated that individuals whose diets include a higher intake

of fish, particularly those high in omega-3 fatty acids, reduce their

risk of heart disease by roughly 47% compared to those individuals who

do not eat fish.1-3

 

In addition to heart disease, scientists now know that fish consumption

can lower the risk for many cancers (particularly breast, prostate,

colon, and lung cancer) and many other chronic diseases including

Alzheimer's disease, asthma, depression, diabetes, high blood pressure,

macular degeneration, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.4,5

 

While virtually all fish contain some omega-3 fatty acids, some like

salmon contain much more than others. .

 

Table 1 provides a general grouping of fish and seafood based upon their

omega-3 fatty acid content.

 

Table 1:

Fish and Shellfish Grouped by Their Omega-3 Fatty Acid Content

 

Higher Level Group -

(More than 1.0 gram per 3 ounce cooked serving)

 

FISH:

 

Bluefin Tuna

Herring

Mackerel

Mackerel

Salmon

Whitefish

Medium Level Group -

(Between 0.5 to 1.0 grams per 3 ounce cooked serving)

 

FISH:

 

Freshwater Bass

Bluefish

Smelt

Striped Bass

Swordfish

Rainbow Trout

Whiting

SHELLFISH:

 

Blue Mussels

Oysters

Lower Level Group -

(0.5 grams or less per 3 ounce cooked serving)

 

FISH:

 

Cod

Flounder

Grouper

Haddock

Halibut

Mahi Mahi

Mullet

Northern Pike

Pacific Rockfish

Perch

Pollock

Red Snapper

Sea Trout

Skipjack Tuna

Yellowfin Tuna

SHELLFISH:

 

Clams

Crab

Crab

Lobster

Prawns

Scallops

Shrimp

 

How Much Fish Should You Consume?

 

Based upon the research looking at the amount of fish required to offer

protection against heart disease, it appears that having fish about

twice a week will provide distinct health benefits.

 

That translates to approximately 10 to 12 ounces of fish per week or

roughly 200 to 400 mg of omega-3 fatty acids per day. However, the

recent reports on the problems with contaminants in fish have led to

modifications in the amount of fish that should be consumed.

 

Wild vs. Farmed Fish?

 

While fish farms now contribute a large amount of the fish being

consumed, including over 50% of salmon, the bottom line is that wild

" free range " fish are superior in many ways to their farm raised

counterpart, so rely on them as much as possible.

 

FDA statistics on the nutritional content (protein and fat-ratios) of

farm versus wild salmon show that wild salmon have a 20% higher protein

content and a 20% lower fat content than farm-raised salmon.

 

And, while farm raised salmon also provide high levels of omega-3 fatty

acids, the benefits from these fats are somewhat " offset " by a higher

content of *omega-6* fatty acids.

 

Several studies have also shown that farmed salmon accumulate more

cancer-causing pesticide residue than wild salmon.

 

The latest report analyzed two metric tons of salmon from 39 sources

worldwide.

 

The results clearly make a strong case that eating farm-raised fish

poses a significant safety concern.

 

While the data clearly show that European salmon are far more

contaminated with cancer-inducing contaminants than salmon from North

(American and Canadian) and South (Chilean) American sources, in some

cases containing ten times the contamination levels of American sources,

it also showed that among American sources farmed salmon was more

contaminated than wild sources.

 

However, the levels of contamination from farmed salmon in North America

were still lower than contamination levels seen in wild European salmon.

 

 

To ensure the safety of the food supply, the FDA has studied PCBs and

set limits for tolerable levels which are not associated with risks to

human health.

 

For fish, the tolerable level of PCB is 2.0 millionths of a gram (ppm).

At 0.056 ppm, the level of PCB found in farmed salmon is still 35 times

below the unsafe level of 2.0 ppm.

 

The biggest reason that the farm-raised fish had higher levels of

pesticides appears to be dependent upon the type of feed they are

receiving.

 

Farmed fish are given feed pellets that are most often made from fish

meal and fish oil-extracted from sardines, anchovies and other ground-up

fish.

 

Pesticides, including those now outlawed in the United States, have

circulated into the ocean where they are absorbed by marine life and

accumulate in their fat.

 

If the fish oil is not properly distilled to reduce the concentrations

of these pesticides, it can lead to much higher concentrations in the

salmon feed. One commercial salmon feed analyzed in the Canadian study

showed a total pesticide level ten times higher than any other feed. The

obvious solution is to set limits on allowable pesticide residues in not

only farmed-raised fish, but also the feed that they are given.

 

To reduce your chances of eating fish that is tainted with chemical

toxins:

 

Eat wild Alaskan salmon as opposed to farm-raised salmon.

 

Limit your intake of fresh water fish (particularly from inland lakes)

as they are more likely to be contaminated with pesticides and

carcinogens like dioxin or PCBs. Lean ocean fish like cod, flounder and

haddock are least likely to be contaminated.

 

Eat smaller, young fish as they have had less time to accumulate toxins

in their fat.

 

Check with the Department of Public Health before eating fish from

nearby waters.

 

It may be that local industries have polluted the water and caused

unusually high levels of toxins in locally caught fish.

If you are a sport fisherman, don't eat fish that you catch if you fish

the same area over and over.

 

What about Fish Oils?

 

Consumers were recently given some bad advice by a group of researchers

not familiar with the production of pharmaceutical grade fish oil.

 

The researchers suggested that consumers should not take fish oil

products because they identified high levels of chemicals known as

polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) commonly used in flame retardants

in some fish oil supplements,

 

particularly cod liver oil products.

 

Used in the textile and electronics industries, PBDEs take a long time

to degrade and since they are fat soluble, often end up in fatty tissues

of fish and other aquatic species.

 

The study clearly demonstrated that cod liver oil was particularly

problematic while fish oils produced from the whole body of the fish

showed little to no contamination particularly if the fish oils were

sourced from sardine and anchovy fish bodies.

 

Levels of contaminants also tend to rise in species that are higher in

the food chain. Sardine and anchovy are relatively low in the food

chain, versus cod, tuna etc.

 

The bottom line is that I have continually stressed the importance of

using a pharmaceutical grade fish oil in previous newsletters. In order

to represent itself as pharmaceutical grade a fish oil product must

possess the following characteristics:

 

It must be manufactured in a certified GMP facility approved for

pharmaceutical products.

 

It must be manufactured according to pharmaceutical standards that

include quality control steps to insure the product is virtually free

from lipid peroxides, heavy metals, environmental contaminants, and

other harmful compounds.

 

It must provide at least a 60% concentration of the most active

long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA).

 

The ratio of omega-3 fatty acids to arachidonic acid must be greater

than 50:1

 

It must contain the optimal amount of natural vitamin E as a

preservative.

The specific product that I recommend is RxOmega-3 Factors from Natural

Factors. It is one of the few fish oil products that truly is a

pharmaceutical grade product. Each capsule provides 400 mg of EPA and

200 mg of DHA - the exact ratio used in so many of the clinical studies.

 

 

 

 

Key References:

 

Albert CM, Campos H, Stampfer MJ, et al. Blood levels of long-chain n-3

fatty acids and the risk of sudden death. N Engl J Med 2002;346:1113-8.

Hu FB, Bronner L, Willett WC, et al. Fish and omega-3 fatty acid intake

and risk of coronary heart disease in women. JAMA 2002;287:1815-21.

Bucher HC, Hengstler P, Schindler C, Meier G. N-3 polyunsaturated fatty

acids in coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis of randomized

controlled trials. Am J Med 2002;112:298-304.

Fernandez E, Chatenoud L, La Vecchia C, et al. Fish consumption and

cancer risk. Am J Clin Nutr 1999;70(1):85-90.

Simopoulos AP. Omega-3 fatty acids in inflammation and autoimmune

diseases. J Am Coll Nutr. 2002;21(6):495-505.

Hites RA, Foran JA, Carpenter DO, et al. Global assessment of organic

contaminants in farmed salmon. Science 2004;303:226-9.

Easton MD, Luszniak D, Von der GE. Preliminary examination of

contaminant loadings in farmed salmon, wild salmon and commercial salmon

feed. Chemosphere 2002;46(7):1053-74.

Jacobs MN, Covaci A, Gheorghe A, Schepens P. Time trend investigation of

PCBs, PBDEs, and organochlorine pesticides in selected n-3

polyunsaturated fatty acid rich dietary fish oil and vegetable oil

supplements; nutritional relevance for human essential n-3 fatty acid

requirements. J Agric Food Chem 2004;52(6):1780-8.

 

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_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

DietaryTi-

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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