Nutrition

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS — October 23, 2012 — The Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) has said eateries from Bar Harbor to Boston will highlight Atlantic pollock Oct. 26–Nov. 4 as part of an effort to cultivate markets for lesser-known seafood.

This is the final and largest 10-day Out of the Blue promotion as well as the first to include participants from Massachusetts.

“Strong consumer response to Out of the Blue has steadily increased participation by restaurants and retailers,” said Sam Grimley, GMRI Sustainable Seafood Project Manager. “With 29 participants and the high availability of pollock in the marketplace, we expect this to be one of our strongest promotions.”

According to the GMRI eight new establishments joined the program this round, including Boston University, Bates College and the L.L.Bean Executive Dining Hall. Each will serve pollock throughout the promotional period to raise awareness of this abundant yet unfamiliar fish.

Often confused with the ubiquitous Alaskan pollock found in fish sticks and imitation crab meat, Atlantic pollock is a different species in the cod family with darker meat and a sweet, delicate flavor. Despite its commercial viability, only 26 percent of the allowable catch was harvested from the Gulf of Maine in recent years.

“Pollock is a species of fish that, I like to say, doesn’t get a lot of respect,” said fisherman Rob Odlin of Scarborough. “You don’t want to get fish from Mexico when you can buy it at the local market, and it was caught by a local fisherman. It’s so unnecessary when there is so much abundant seafood right out our back door.”

A group of fishermen and chefs collaborated with GMRI to select pollock and the three other Out of the Blue species based on taste, availability and sustainability. Previous promotions took place throughout the summer and featured whiting, Acadian redfish and Atlantic mackerel.

“By increasing consumer awareness, Out of the Blue helps develop healthy markets for a greater diversity of Gulf of Maine seafood,” said Jen Levin, GMRI Sustainable Seafood Program Manager. “Consumers can have significant influence on the sustainability of their local seafood industry, and we hope they continue to ask for these species long after the promotions have ended.”

 

Seafood.com is a subscription-based website. The article is reprinted with permission 

 

 

WILMINGTON, NC — October 23, 2012 — Topsail selects. Lockwood Folly rocks. Masonboro clusters. This is the local lingo that labels our beloved bivalves. With oyster season's official opening last week, these names and others are appearing once again, scrawled anew across chalkboards of area fish houses as mollusk maniacs dream of rollicking roasts and raw bars.

But when it comes to oysters, there might not be any name more widely recognized than Stump Sound. Occupying a prime spot on the backside of Topsail Island's north end, Stump Sound has long produced oysters that area residents associate with best-in-show qualities.

Environmental scientist Russ Barbour says this isn't just a coincidence; oysters develop a sense of place some palates find every bit as distinguishable as a fine wine's terroir.

"Here's the thing: All of those oysters are the same species: Crassostrea virginica," said Barbour, a New Bern native who admits a personal bias despite his years of objective scientific study, thanks to passing many weekends shucking bushels of Stump Sound oysters at his grandfather's place in Sneads Ferry as a child. "What happens is you get variations in flavor based on where they're living. Stump Sound has a certain set of conditions, a little higher salinity in the water, so they usually have a saltier flavor."

 

Read the full article at Star News Online

 

 

October 19, 2012 — Icelanders believe that their high consumption of ocean fish and fish oil helps them cope. Oil-rich cold-water fish like salmon, cod, and sardines, fish oil supplements, and some plant-based foods like walnuts contain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which research on other mood disorders suggests have an antidepressant effect. We've known for quite a while that eating fish correlates negatively with major depressive disorder.

Omega-3s affect the nervous system in other ways as well, which we're still coming to understand. We do know that nerves in the brain are so sensitive to omega-3 levels that a deficiency leads to problems with learning and memory, and evidence shows supplementation may protect against nerve damage due to trauma or aging. Omega-3s can change the composition of the membranes that surround cells in the brain and blood, and may improve their ability to function.

It's not just the absolute amount of omega-3s that you take in, but also the amount relative to your levels of omega-6 fatty acids. The risk for depression may increase with a high ratio of omega-6 fatty acids — found in corn, safflower, and soybean oil, and common in processed foods — to omega-3s. 

 

Read the full story in the Atlantic Monthly 

 

 

October 19, 2012 — Bailes and other doctors on McCloy's team resisted the "wait and see" course common in these types of cases and began an unorthodox treatment regimen, including hyperbaric oxygen treatments and high doses of fish oil. "The concept was then trying to rebuild his brain with what it was made from when he was an embryo in his mother's womb," Bailes said. That's the theory behind using omega-3 fatty acids to heal brain injury. The human brain, which itself is a fatty mass, is about 30% composed of omega-3 fatty acids, according to Lewis. In his words, high doses of omega-3 fatty acids, since they mirror what is already in the brain, could facilitate the brain's own natural healing process.

"It really gets down to what I would call my brick wall analogy," Lewis said. "If you have a brick wall and it gets damaged, wouldn't you want to use bricks to repair the wall? And omega-3 fatty acids are literally the bricks of the cell wall in the brain."

Most of the studies about omega-3 for traumatic brain injury are in animals, but they indicate potential for healing the human brain.After a trauma, the brain tends to swell, and the connections between some nerve cells can become damaged, while other cells simply die.

National Institutes of Health research suggests that omega-3 fatty acids may inhibit cell death and could be instrumental forreconnecting damaged neurons.

Another recent study revealed genes that are activated to contain massive damage — especially inflammation — when the brain is injured. What activates those genes: omega-3."We have strong data that suggest omega-3 will activate good proteins to cope with brain damage and turn off proteins that cause neuroinflammation," said Dr. Nicolas Bazan, director of the Neuroscience Center of Excellence at LSU Health in New Orleans and author of the study.

And besides that, according to Bailes and Lewis, fish oil may be the only solution for brain damage that continues after a traumatic brain injury patient has been stabilized.

"There is no known solution; there's no known drug; there's nothing that we have really to offer these sorts of patients," said Bailes, who along with Lewis received money from companies that make fish oil after their treatment of Ghassemi and McCloy.

The damage to McCloy's brain was profound, according to Bailes. Not only did it experience massive cell death, the protective sheath around McCloy's nerve cells had been stripped during the hours of exposure to toxic gases. That sheath, called myelin, allows brain cells to communicate with one another.

Bailes consulted with a fish oil expert and eventually decided that administering 20 grams a day of omega-3 fish oil through a feeding tube might repair the myelin sheath. (For comparison: A typical supplemental dose for someone with an uninjured brain is about 2 grams a day.)

"We decided to throw the kitchen sink at him," Bailes said. "If we were going to fail, we were going to fail with all guns blazing, so we gave him a very high, unprecedented dose to make sure we saturated and got high levels in the brain." Less than three weeks after the mine disaster, McCloy was emerging from his coma. Three months after that, he was walking and speaking.

 

Read the full story on CNN

 

 

October 16, 2012 — Increased intakes of fish, and the omega-3 fatty acids they contain, may reduce the risk of stroke, says a new study.

Read the full story on Nutra Ingredients

 

 

WELLESLEY HILLS, Mass. — October 16, 2012 — Roche Bros. today announced a seafood traceability program in conjunction with their longtime seafood partner, Foley Fish, a fourth generation seafood processor based in New Bedford and Boston.

The new Sea Trace program provides increased transparency regarding where the seafood at Roche Bros. comes from and validates that the seafood is sustainably harvested and naturally processed. Customers will now be able to scan codes for select species to see a photo of the fishing boat, the location fished and even a description of the fishing gear used.

Leveraging educational materials from Foley Fish, the supermarket will list the fishery management programs associated with each species offered. Laura Foley Ramsden, owner of Foley Fish, serves on the New England Fishery Management Council.

“Fishery management is complex. Just labeling the product red, yellow or green oversimplifies it and doesn’t give the consumer enough information to make a well-considered choice," Ramsden said. “We want to encourage customers to select U.S.-caught fish with good conscience; knowing that the seafood has been harvested sustainably and handled naturally at the Foley plant to maintain its 'just caught' flavor."

Once harvested, fish destined for sale at Roche Bros. are cleaned and filleted exclusively at Foley Fish, without any chemicals or adulteration. Foley delivers directly to Roche Bros. stores.

 

Read the full PR Newswire release at the New Bedford Standard Times

 

 

October 11, 2012 — Americans now eat more seafood than the Japanese, making the country second only to China in fish consumption, according to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Still, 91 percent of that seafood is imported – either wild-caught by crews from another country, caught by Americans but processed overseas or grown in fish farms elsewhere.

Programs like the one run by Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Fla., may one day change that.

“There is no doubt in my mind that aquaculture is here to stay and that Florida will be a big part of that future,” said John Scarpa, who teaches molluscan classes in the program.

Fishermen face the same question as ranchers and farmers: How do you feed the 9 billion people that will be here by 2050?

“There is no more (additional) food coming out of the ocean,” Scarpa said. “People seem to have a bit of trouble with that concept. We can grow more and more terrestrial animals like chickens. But when we talk about fish, we simply cannot catch more (wild) fish than we are catching now.”

To feed a growing worldwide population, seafood producers have turned to aquaculture, which already supplies half of the fish consumed each year.

Indian River State College has run a program for 15 years in cooperation with Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, allowing studies to get a two-year certificate in aquaculture.

“We are in a great partnership with Harbor Branch and are poised to go in the right direction,” Scarpa said.

Students can get an associate of applied science (AAS) degree or an associate of science (AS) degree, which includes credits that may transfer to a larger school.

But the agriculture school also launched a four-year program in 2008, continuing with the first two years of hands-on ag training but adding two years of business-focused schooling.

“You might think, what does business have to do with aquaculture or agriculture? But anybody with four years or more of education is going to be in management. He or she is going to need management skills and training,” said Ann McMullian, who heads the agriculture department at Indian River.

Even in the first two years, students are required to write up a business plan; that education becomes more in depth as a student pursues a four-year degree.

“You can grow a crop, but if you don’t have any business savvy, you aren’t going anywhere,” said McMullian.

 

Read the full story here 

 

 

October 9, 2012 — The amount of fish a woman eats while pregnant may affect her child's chances of developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Eating fish twice a week was linked to about a 60 per cent lower risk of a child developing certain ADHD-like symptoms, according to research from the Boston University School of Public Health.

Elevated mercury levels, which can occur from eating certain types of fish, such as tuna and swordfish, were also tied to a higher risk of developing ADHD symptoms such as a short attention span, restlessness or being easily distracted.

'The really important message is to eat fish,' said assistant professor Sharon Sagiv, the study's lead author.

She added that pregnant women should avoid 'big' fish, such as tuna and swordfish, which typically contain the most mercury. Instead, they should opt for haddock or salmon.

The research was published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Past studies looking at the link between mercury and ADHD – a condition estimated to affect up to 5 per cent of school-aged children – have produced conflicting results.

ADHD is the most common behavioural disorder in the UK.

Most children are diagnosed between the ages of three to seven, with boys more commonly affected.

Many people with ADHD also have learning difficulties and sleep disorders.

For the new study, the researchers followed 788 children born in Massachusetts between 1993 and 1998.

They used hair samples taken from the mothers after delivery to test their mercury levels, and food diaries to see how much fish they had eaten.

Then, once the children were about eight years old, the researchers asked their teachers to evaluate the children's behaviour to see how many exhibited ADHD-like symptoms.

After taking all of the information into account, the researchers found that one microgram of mercury per gram of a mother's hair – about eight times the average levels found in similar women's hair in another analysis – was linked to a 60 per cent increase in the risk of their child exhibiting ADHD-like behaviors.

But there was no link below one microgram of mercury per gram of a mother's hair.

 
Read the full story in the Daily Mail
 

 

 

 

 

October 6, 2012 — Eating fish from time to time may reduce risk of stroke, particularly ischemic stroke, according to a new study in European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

 P Xun of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, NC and colleagues conducted the study and found people eating fish 5 times a week, compared with those eating fish less than once a month was associated with 13 percent reduced risk of stroke.
 
Included in the study were 16 cohort studies, found in databases MEDLINE and EMBASE, of 402,127 individuals with 10,568 incident cases of stroke who were followed up for an average of 12.8 years.

Compared with those who never ate or ate fish less than once per month, those who ate 1 to 3 times per month, once per week, 2 to 4 times per wee, and 5 times per week were at 3 percent, 14 percent, 9 percent and 13 percent reduced risk for stroke, respectively.

The association varied from location to location. An inverse association between fish consumption and stroke incidence was found in studies conducted only in North America. The modest inverse associations were stronger for ischemic stroke than hemorrhagic stroke.

 

Read the full story here

 

 

October 5, 2012 — It seems there’s a never-ending see-saw battle in scientific research about certain consumables. Red wine will decrease incidence of cardiovascular disease! No it won’t. Dark chocolate will lower your body mass index! Or not.

Seafood is no different. For every report that Omega 3 fatty acids are the fountain of youth, there’s another study warning seafood lovers about looming poison from excessive quantities of heavy metals, especially mercury. But are Omega 3s really that beneficial? And what to make of reports that selenium in fish can counterbalance the negative effects of mercury? And just what the hell is selenium, anyway? What’s the truth about fish?

Of course, there’s no black-and-white answer, but I’ll try to sort through a few of the bigger issues and provide a bit of guidance about what to look for at the fish counter to maximize the benefits and reduce your risk.

First of all, a disclaimer: I’m an ocean policy wonk, not a doctor, so take all this info with a grain of salt (figuratively, people, watch that blood pressure!) and ask your doctor if you have deeper questions—particularly if you’re pregnant.

Here’s what the Mayo Clinic has to say about Omega 3’s. (I’m using the Mayo primarily because my mother-in-law treats it like an oracle. And if there’s one lesson from this column that has nothing to do with fish it’s that you should seize every chance you get to make nice with your mother-in-law.)

There is supportive evidence from multiple studies that suggests the intake of recommended amounts of [fatty acids] DHA and EPA in the form of dietary fish or fish oil supplements lowers triglycerides; reduces the risk of death, heart attack, dangerous abnormal heart rhythms, and strokes in people with known cardiovascular disease; slows the buildup of atherosclerotic plaques (“hardening of the arteries”), and lowers blood pressure slightly.

Omega 3s from fish are considered superior to Omega 3s from other sources such as eggs or flax seeds because they contain the fatty acids DHA and EPA (let’s go ahead and skip the multisyllabic mouthfuls that make up these guys’ actual names), which are the gold standards when it comes to proteins.

Or are they? Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal wrote about a study that found no evidence of benefits from use of Omega 3 supplements. Yet the article goes on to describe various ways in which this study was potentially skewed, and it notes that:

Thousands of studies since the 1970s have shown that people with high levels of omega-3s have lower triglycerides, lower blood pressure, lower LDL cholesterol, less inflammation and a lower risk of heart disease. Those with low levels of omega-3s are more likely to be depressed, to commit suicide and have memory loss and brain shrinkage as they age.

So let’s see, one study saying there’s no discernible positive impact, against thousands of studies over four decades showing Omega 3s can make your heart work better for longer and prevent your brain from shrinking. I know whose side I’m on. Score one big thumbs up for fish.

 

Read the full story at the Center for American Progress