Newswise — The FSA has today issued new advice on eating oily fish and, for the first time, is able to recommend maximum levels at which the health benefits of preventing heart disease clearly outweigh the possible risks from dioxins. Based on independent expert advice the Agency recommends that men and boys, and women past child bearing age, can eat up to four portions of oily fish a week. Women of child bearing age, including pregnant and breast-feeding women, and girls, can eat up to two portions of oily fish a week.
Long standing public health advice continues to be that people should eat at least two portions of fish a week, and that one should be oily. There is good evidence that eating oily fish reduces the risk of death from heart disease, which killed 117,500 people in 2002. On average, people in the UK eat a third of a portion of oily fish a week. Seven out of ten don't eat any at all.
Because some oily fish contain chemicals such as dioxins and PCBs, which accumulate over time in the body and could have adverse health effects if consumed over long periods at high levels, the FSA asked its expert advisers in June 2003 to examine the evidence on the risks and benefits of eating oily fish. The levels of dioxins in oily fish vary and some types, such as herring, tend to have higher levels than others, such as trout. The experts based their recommendations on people eating different types of oily fish.
Dioxins and PCBs are environmental pollutants and people accumulate them through eating foods containing fat such as milk, meat, fish and eggs. Exposure to dioxins in foods has fallen by around 70% over the last 10 years and continues to decline following the strict environmental controls that came into effect in 1992.
FSA Chairman Sir John Krebs said:
" Eating oily fish is a simple way for people to reduce the risks of heart disease. But most people don't eat any. Eating just one portion of oily fish a week has clear cut health benefits. This extensive review of the scientific evidence has reduced the uncertainty about how many oily fish people can safely eat without the benefits being outweighed by the risks.
"I would like to thank Professor Jackson and the members of his expert group for their hard work and rigorous examination of the scientific evidence, which has allowed the Agency to issue this new advice. "
Alan Jackson, Professor of Human Nutrition at the School of Medicine, University of Southampton, and Chairman of the expert group said:
"It was a challenge to weigh up both risks and benefits. We tried to focus in on exactly what were the benefits and risks, not just for the population as a whole, but for any particular groups. This enabled us to reaffirm the advice that everybody would benefit from eating oily fish and to conclude that any issues around high consumption were specific to women because of the possible risks to the unborn baby."
Eating oily fish " FSA advice
Men and boys, and women past child bearing age or who cannot or are not intending to have children, can eat up to four portions of oily fish a week before the possible risks might start to outweigh the known health benefits
Girls and women who may become pregnant at some point in their lives can eat between one and two portions of oily fish a week to get the known health benefits whilst limiting any possible effects on any children that they may have in the future
Pregnant and breast feeding women can also eat between one and two portions of oily fish a week, and should do so not just for the health benefits to them but because oily fish also helps the neurological development of their babies. (The Agency already advises pregnant women, and women intending to become pregnant to avoid shark, marlin and swordfish and not to eat large amounts of tuna.)
Occasionally eating more than the amounts of oily fish advised by the Agency will not be harmful. Possible risks from chemicals such as dioxins are not immediate: they develop as the chemicals accumulate in the body over a long period of time.
Notes to editors
1. Copies of the expert group's report are available at http://www.food.gov.uk
2. The group of experts was drawn from two independent scientific committees that advise the Agency: the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). The expert group was established to consider the balance of risks and benefits of eating oily fish. Its membership was:
Chair: Professor Alan Jackson, Professor of Human Nutrition, School of Medicine, University of Southampton.
Members: Professor Ieuan Hughes (COT Chair), Professor and Head of Department of Paediatrics University of CambridgeProfessor J.Kevin Chipman (COT), Professor of Cell Toxicology, University of BirminghamProfessor Ian Rowland (COT), Professor of Human Nutrition and Director of Northern Ireland Centre for Diet and Health (NICHE), University of UlsterProfessor Christine Williams (SACN), Professor of Human Nutrition, University of ReadingDr Timothy Key (SACN), University of Oxford, Cancer Research UK Epidemiology, Radcliffe Infirmary 3. Links to facts on fish consumption and dioxin levels on http://food.gov.uk
4. The advice is additional to existing Agency advice that pregnant women and women intending to become pregnant and children under 16 should not eat shark, swordfish and marlin. Pregnant women and women intending to become pregnant should also limit the amount of tuna they eat to no more than two tuna steaks or four medium-size cans of tuna a week. This is because of the levels of mercury in these fish. At high levels mercury can harm a baby's developing nervous system.
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