Cancer Patients, Know Where Your Seafood Came From

Seafood isn’t for everybody. Some could also be postpone by its delicate texture, briny taste or an aroma that will scent, nicely, fishy.

For others, seafood is a crucial a part of a nutritious diet. Most fish is excessive in protein, low in fats and wealthy in omega-3 fatty acids, believed to be vital for coronary heart and mind well being. Fish can be a flexible meals to organize: It may be poached, grilled, broiled, fried, served with any variety of sauces and sides and even eaten uncooked (until you’re a most cancers affected person—extra on that later).

On the love-hate scale for fish, most cancers sufferers might discover themselves someplace within the center. Fish is mostly a wonderful supply of low-fat protein. However sufferers battling loss of appetite, nausea and digestive issues introduced on by cancer treatment might discover the feel and aroma unappetizing. 

Nonetheless, it’s a good suggestion for sufferers attempt to incorporate some fish into their diets, if they’ll, says Carolyn Lammersfeld, Vice President of Integrative Care at Most cancers Remedy Facilities of America^® (CTCA). And also you don’t must eat numerous it to garner its advantages.

“A 3- to 4-oz. portion a pair occasions every week is sweet,” Lammersfeld says. “That is in all probability all you have to get the well being advantages.”

On this article, we’ll discover:

Should you’re taken with studying extra concerning the dietary assist or different integrative care providers we provide most cancers sufferers at CTCA^®, or if you wish to converse with somebody about your most cancers remedy choices, call us or chat online with a member of our group.

Seafood’s dietary worth

Seafood is an umbrella time period for dozens of species that are available quite a lot of styles and sizes, from crustaceans like clams, crabs and crawfish to sorts as fish as small as smelts and as giant as swordfish.

Contemplating their variations, most fish and shellfish have comparable nutritional profiles. As an example, a 3-oz. serving of cod, a really wholesome fish, has solely 90 energy, 1 gram of fats and 20 grams of protein, whereas a dozen small clams have 110 energy and 1.5 grams of fats and 17 grams of protein.

Most seafood, in truth, is excessive in protein, with most typical varieties starting from 16 to 27 grams per serving. Seafood is also excessive in potassium, selenium, iron and B nutritional vitamins, and it’s wealthy in omega-3 fatty acids, a substance the physique can’t produce by itself so it should get it from meals. These essential fats are believed to assist blood well being, hormone manufacturing and cell signaling. Salmon, tuna, anchovies and mussels are among the many greatest sources of omega-3 fatty acids.

For most cancers sufferers battling digestive points and weight loss, seafood might assist them keep a wholesome weight whereas offering key vitamins.

“The omega-3 fatty acids are most concentrated in fish and will assist stop cachexia, or muscle losing, for sufferers who’re battling urge for food and weight reduction,” Lammersfeld says. “I encourage sufferers to eat a reasonable quantity of fish. Or, if they’ll’t, to take a superb complement.”

Excessive-quality fish oil dietary supplements are good substitutes for many who don’t like or can’t tolerate seafood, Lammersfeld says. To cut back potential aftertaste of fish oil merchandise, she recommends storing them within the freezer and taking them out simply earlier than meals.

Some seafood is excessive in sodium and ldl cholesterol. As an example, a serving of blue crab has 95 milligrams of ldl cholesterol, almost one-third of the every day really helpful quantity, and 330 milligrams of sodium, 14 % of the every day really helpful quantity. Three ounces of shrimp has greater than half the steered consumption of ldl cholesterol.

Dietary profile of some frequent seafood

Does fish trigger most cancers?

That query made headlines just lately when a Brown College research steered that fish consumption was “positively related to threat of each malignant melanoma and melanoma in situ.” However the researchers stated extra research was wanted and stopped wanting suggesting folks scale back their fish consumption or cease consuming it.

However, researchers stated, if there’s an affiliation between seafood consumption and melanoma, it’s due to the toxins within the fish, not the fish themselves.

“We speculate that our findings may probably be attributed to contaminants in fish, similar to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, arsenic and mercury,” research creator Eunyoung Cho, ScD, an affiliate professor of dermatology and epidemiology at Brown College, said in a news release.

The place does your fish come from?

It does no good to extend the quantity of fish in your nutritious diet if that fish isn’t wholesome to eat.

Fish are solely as wholesome because the waters during which they swim. And when these waters are polluted, the fish might soak up a few of these toxins and move them on to those that eat them. The truth is, that’s partially how fish construct up toxins to start with. Small fish with toxins are eaten by larger fish, that are eaten by larger fish, and so forth. With every hyperlink within the meals chain, the bigger fish construct up extra toxins.

In recent times, research on the quantity of harmful substances in fish have produced disturbing findings. As an example:

A 2016 study by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego  discovered that fish all over the world had been contaminated with industrial and agricultural pollution.

A 2019 report published in Nature stated “fish are the predominant supply of human publicity to methylmercury, a potent neurotoxic substance.”

In 2021, Canadian researchers published a report concerning the alarming quantity of microplastics present in fish from the Nice Lakes.

“It’s vital to know the place your fish got here from,” says Pankaj Vashi, MD, AGAF, FASPEN, Gastroenterologist and Vice Chief of Workers at CTCA Chicago. “Should you’re consuming fish out of Lake Michigan, you gained’t wish to eat it greater than as soon as every week, at most. However when you’re getting your fish from a superb supply, from the open ocean waters, you’ll be able to actually eat it extra often.”

Some bigger fish, particularly shark and swordfish, are usually excessive in mercury and different contaminants. Consuming giant quantities of fish that will have excessive ranges of mercury, PCBs and different pollution might enhance the chance of sickness or illness. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says youngsters and girls who’re pregnant or breastfeeding ought to restrict or keep away from consuming fish or shellfish from sure waters.

Lammersfeld recommends utilizing any considered one of quite a lot of telephone apps that assist decide whether or not fish choices in shops or eating places got here from accountable and sustainable sources which can be prone to produce wholesome merchandise.

Should you’re given fish that another person caught, the EPA recommends asking the place it got here from and whether or not consumption advisories had been issued for these waters.

Eat this fish, not that one

Most fish make good decisions as a part of a nutritious diet—however some greater than others.

The EPA categorizes fish as “greatest decisions,” “good decisions” and “decisions to keep away from.” Amongst them:  

Finest decisions: Salmon, cod, flounder, perch, clams, oysters, scallops, lobster, crab, sole, squid, tilapia

Good decisions: Bluefish, grouper, halibut, mahi-mahi, Spanish mackerel

Selections to keep away from: King mackerel, orange roughy, swordfish

Tuna, a extremely popular fish, is on all three lists, relying on the sort. Canned mild tuna is on the most effective record, albacore and yellowfin are on the nice record, and big-eye tuna is on the record to keep away from.

Most cancers sufferers, particularly those that have had a stem cell transplant, are present process chemotherapy or in any other case have a compromised immune system, shouldn’t eat uncooked fish, together with clams, oysters or sushi, Lammersfeld says.

“They’re at a a lot increased threat of growing a foodborne sickness,” she says. “Slightly bacterium which may make most individuals a little bit sick has the potential to make a most cancers affected person actually sick.”

Should you’re taken with studying extra concerning the dietary assist or different integrative care providers we provide most cancers sufferers at CTCA, or if you wish to converse with somebody about your most cancers remedy choices, call us or chat online with a member of our group.