Tilapi-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

I’m pretty much a libertarian when it comes to seafood; I have an “anything goes” mentality. So long as it isn’t fried, you name the seafood, and it’s a good bet because fish – from monkfish to whitefish, scallop to squid or crayfish to crab – are generally high in omega-3s, low in saturated fat and chockfull of quality and protein.

But there’s one fish that is quite low in omega-3s, so low that it’s lead me to become more reserved in my “anything goes” mantra. Granted, fish naturally vary in terms of how many heart healthy nutrients they contain, but the ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s fatty acids (the bad kind) is so disparate, it makes this a fish worth fretting over.

The fish I speak of is tilapia, one of the many mild flavored fish that’s become increasingly popular in recent years. Unlike other fish varieties where the population is dwindling – like cod – the tilapia population is burgeoning. In 2002 and 2003, for instance, there were well over 1.5 million metric tons culled from the ocean each year. That number is expected to jump to 2.5 million tons come 2010.

Because of the abundance of tilapia, its price is very inexpensive, making it an especially appealing option for seafood enthusiasts at a time when money is tight. But as researchers from Wake Forest University (Go Demon Deacons!) have discovered, the ubiquity with which it’s appeared on dinner plates around the country could translate into a “dangerous situation.”

Lead researcher Dr. Floyd H. Chilton of Wake Forest’s Center for Botanical Lipids said those two words in an interview recently, explaining that many are under the false impression that any seafood will do if one wants to improve their cardiovascular health. He and his team of researchers’ findings prove otherwise.

The average cut of salmon has about three to four grams of omega-3s in it. When researchers analyzed how much omega-3 content a tilapia of the same weight had (100 grams), the tilapia’s omega-3 content was a fraction of the salmon’s, about half a gram!

Now, if the tilapia was just low in omega-3s, that alone wouldn’t make it a fish worthy of worry. It’s the combination of the low amounts of omega-3s with the high amounts of omega-6s that’s the problem. As the researchers discovered, the omega-6 content compared to its omega-3 content yielded a ratio of 11:1. That’s 11 times more omega-6s than omega-3s!

The researchers note that the fish analyzed were farm-raised tilapia, and as I’ve written about farm-raised fish in the past, the chemicals in these fish are carcinogenic Further, as the Wake Forest University researchers point out, the diets of farm-raised tilapia are highly unnatural, eating things that aren’t very nutritious and are very inexpensive. This translates to a tilapia sold on the market for cheap price in dollars, but a steep cost in health. Omega-6s contribute to a gamut of diseases and can exacerbate pre-existing conditions like heart disease, arthritis and asthma.

In summary, when choosing what fish to have for dinner tonight, resist the tempting tilapia’s low price, for while it’s good for the consumer’s buck, does it have any significant health properties? No such luck.