One Study Calls Fish a Lifesaver, Another Is More Cautious

New York Times, Marian Burros
Published October 17, 2006

A REPORT about the risks and benefits of eating seafood, released yesterday by the Harvard School of Public Health, said consumption of fish reduces the risk of coronary death by 36 percent and total mortality by 17 percent. A similar report released simultaneously by the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, was not as optimistic, concluding that there is only enough evidence to say that consumption of fish, especially fatty fish like salmon and mackerel, "may" reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. The Harvard study, to be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association today, said the benefits of eating fish high in omega-3's strongly outweighs risks from contaminants like PCB's and dioxin found in high concentrations in fish like farmed salmon. Calling those risks "greatly exaggerated," Dr. Darius Mozaffarian, one of the two authors, said, "Seafood is likely the single most important food one can consume for good health." Dr. Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, public health and food safety at New York University, who described the "very sunny Harvard study" as "astonishing," remains unconvinced. "The report's conclusion that the risk of death can be reduced by 36 percent is just stunning," she said. "It would indeed make eating fish the single most important decision you can make for your health. But those of us who have been in nutrition for a long time have seen miracle foods come and go: vitamin E for heart disease, beta carotene to prevent cancer; now it's fish." Dr. Jos