Prevent Disease – by MAE CHAN Eating fish is supposed to be good for you, but between Fukushima, farmed fish fed GMOs, and water pollution, there aren’t too many fish left that are not hazardous to your health. There are alarming and potential drawbacks of consuming certain species of fish and Tilapia is one of them.
Health experts typically recommend to consume fish with high levels ofomega-3 fatty acids. These healthy fats are plentiful in wild Alaskan salmon, particularly sockeye salmon. Wild salmon from Alaska is also less likely to contain mercury and organic contaminants than other species. Less expensive choices are sardines and herring, all of which provide omega-3s and are less likely to be contaminated with PCBs than larger carnivorous fish such as tuna.
Due to overwhelming toxicity of many fish species, many experts are now even suggesting that consumption should be decreased, not increased. This is due partly to both mercury contamination and the Fukushima nuclear disaster which has contaminated a large percentage of fish species in the ocean with radioactive isotopes (see 8 Fish and Seafood Varieties You Should Never Consider Eating). Other factors include the prevalence of genetically modified feed in farming practices which makes up half of the world’s consumption.
Most food manufacturers, grocery chains and big box stores are not required to properly label their fish as farmed or wild. That’s likely because the public is largely unaware of the dangers associated with cheap, high profit farmed fish that is so abundant in the conventional food supply.
The most common farm-raised fish are: salmon, tilapia, sea bass, catfish, and cod.
A June 2013 report from the Earth Policy Institute noted that worldwide production of farmed fish now not only exceeds the production of beef, but that consumption of farmed fish is soon expected to exceed consumption of wild-caught fish. 2013 may well be the first year that people eat more fish raised on farms than caught in the wild reaching a record 66 million tons.
One of the reasons for the popularity of tilapia is that they are short-lived and primarily vegetarian and therefore do not accumulate substantial amounts of mercury by consuming other fish, as other common predatory food fish (such as tuna) do. This factor also means, as reported in a June 2013 National Geographic article, that tilapia are more efficient to farm because they eat lower on the food chain. This causes a world of problems to the detriment of human health.
One of the issues with tilapia farmed in China is that smaller, independent farmers face economic pressures to use animal manure rather than more expensive commercial feed for farmed fish, a practice which contaminates water and makes the fish more susceptible to spreading foodborne diseases.
A July 2009 report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the safety of food imports from China noted that in that country “Fish are often raised in ponds where they feed on waste from poultry and livestock” and cited an increased rate of FDA rejection of fish imports from China between 2000 and 2008.
Similarly, an October 2012 Bloomberg article observed that the FDA had rejected 820 Chinese seafood shipments since 2007, including 187 that contained tilapia, and furnished examples of the practice of using manure as feed for farmed fish in China.
U.S. tilapia consumption was expected to rise by over 3 million tons by 2013. A study from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine found that farm-raised tilapia, a very popular fish, has very low levels of omega-3s and very high levels of omega-6 fatty acids. We get much more of these fats than we need — they’re found in most snack foods, cookies, crackers, and sweets. The body constructs hormones from omega-6s that tend to increase inflammation (an important component of the immune response), blood clotting, and cell proliferation. Omega-3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory.
The Wake Forest researchers said that the combination of fatty acids in tilapia could pose a danger for some patients with heart disease, arthritis, asthma and other allergic and auto-immune diseases, all of which are linked to chronic inflammation. In fact, the investigators said that the fatty acid profile of tilapia is worse than that of 80-percent-lean hamburger, doughnuts and even bacon.
Farm-raised tilapia also has a lower protein content. Not only that, because farm-raised tilapia are kept in cages, they have the tendency to be fattier, and can have even higher concentration of omega-6 acids than their wild counterparts.
Dibutylin levels, a chemical used in PVC plastics is said to be 2 times higher in farm-raised tilapia compared to wild ones. Dibutylin is toxic and can impair immune system function while also contributing to inflammation. Dibutylin may be the reason as to why there is a rise in asthma, obesity, allergies and other metabolic disorders in recent years.
Dioxins are also typically higher in farmed tilapia. The problem with dioxins is that once it enters our system, it can take a very long time until it is removed from the body. The half life of dioxin is about 7 to 11 years.
So although tilapia has one of the lowest concentrations of mercury in fish, most people should avoid tilapia and stick to better choices with dense omega-3 content. Wild Alaskan salmon is much more expensive than many other types of fish but likely the best choice due to lower concentrations of contaminants. However, at the rate that Fukushima is radiating the ocean, there may be no clean sources of wild fish left in the next the decade.
Calculate The Mercury Level Safe For Consumption In Fish
Mae Chan holds degrees in both physiology and nutritional sciences. She is also blogger and and technology enthusiast with a passion for disseminating information about health.
http://preventdisease.com/news/13/111213_Why-You-Should-Avoid-Consuming-Tilapia.shtml
I have heard that not only is that tilapia is fed animal manure but they are also raised in a open human sewer like pond…… I tried that tilapia and it was the nastiest tasting and the nastiest texture I think I have ever tried. I will never eat that crap again, and then I found out about that open human sewer thing they raise fish over there. Nasty and gross.
Hey Digger not too long ago i bought some canned organic tuna. i contacted the company that distributed it asking them where it was harvested. they proudly said that it was pole fished out of the waters on the east coast of Japan. I guess you know what i did with that stuff. I have completely eliminated all sea food from my diet. why take the chance of eating cancer from fukushima.
LOL diggerdan, that’s exactly what my Hubby has been saying for as long as I’ve known him. “I ain’t eat’n Talapia. That’s the nastiest tasting sh$t on Earth…I ain’t eat’n no sh$t eat’n fish. Not Happening!”
The Talapia in this area comes from Honduras. This may or may not contain oil products from BP. They are farm raised. I have stopped eating fish from the gulf and the pacific. Salmon is turning orange in the Northwest, Seals and other mammals are losing their hair and coats to the radiation. The pacific is completely contaminated, as well as the gulf. The gulf stream is spreading BP’s legacy up the east coast, over to England and beyond. Due to corporations, our seas are dead or dying, and we have lost a quarter of harvestable food in the world. Yet here we are a fascist country with the corporations taking more and more with the TTP treaty, the trans-national pipeline, etc. One indignity after another, and we still let them rule over us. I can still grow my livestock, and harvest my garden, but I am being sprayed, regulated, and poisoned every step of the way. With the new ag. laws, there will no longer be any semi-clean food. Just what the Fascist corporations will allow us to eat. As for me and mine, we will serve the Lord, and let the bullets land where they may.
The high demand worldwide for talapia had taken the wild caught species to the point of being overfished and put on the endangered species list. The shift to farm raised is a good thing for preservation of the wild caught species demand, and yes, the asian sewer farms of various aquatic species are very nasty. I don’t eat talapia because of the endangerment status but farm raised is being overstated as dangerous levels of pvc’s/pcb’s and not as nutritious in omega fats which are misleading statistics. 2 times higher than what, .000001 parts per million? Omega levels are lower because they are sold to market quicker so its a very misleading article.
The whole article is aimed at getting people to eat wild caught pacific salmon again. The fishing industry has dropped off its bulk sales quota because of Fukashima.
I hope readers will investigate the success stories of talapia hydrofarming and discover the self-sustaining model of feeding many thousands of people with tons of vegetables and fish grown from one small hydrofarm.
what you say is great, but it would have to be done on a very “local” level to be able to ensure the food was safe from chicken shit. And even then the feeds that one could provide are nearly 90% GMO. So to eliminate one danger you take on another………
I raise livestock and know the troubles of securing GMO free feeds…even your most local Farm that supplies “grains” have all gone GMO to sustain the demand. If they stopped using the “product” they would go bankrupt in 1 growing season, no product to sell to pay the bills.
I agree with many non mainstream advocates of food sustainability……we have crossed a threshold in this nation that cant be undone without millions starving to death… TPTB have ruined the land,air,..and sea on purpose. “Control the food, control the people”
Our farm pond has been completely covered in duckweed, very thick. We have removed lots of it and then started spraying with Diquat. This is killing the weed. We have put tilapia fish in the pond now to eat this weed. My question is will this weed that has been sprayed with diquat effect the fish, like cause them to die. I haven’t sprayed anymore since the tilapia were put in the pond. We love to eat this fish and certainly do not want to do anything that would effect them. So, I guess my question is: “Can we continue to spray around the edge of water to kill this weed. Thanks for your help!