Inflammation Nation Addresses Sickening Superfoods
This article is based on the Book, Inflammation Nation, by Floyd H Chilton, PhD. with Laura Tucker This book is like two books in one. The first part explains the inflammation epidemic and sickening superfoods. I'll be targeting the superfood, salmon. The second part of the book recommends specific dietary steps you can take to reverse or prevent inflammatory disease in you or your a loved ones life. Dr. Chilton explains that although Americans have made huge strides in the health arena (handling polio, typhoid, pneumonia, etc), the noninfectious inflammatory diseases have gotten much worse. Chilton explains that epidemiologists, people who study diseases, tell us that even genetically similar people can have dramatically different levels of inflammation, depending on where you live. There have been studies of children from Pakistan who move to an industrialized country; they are ten times more likely to develop type 1 diabetes. People from Africa are much more likely to develop lupus after moving to an industrialized country. A comparison was done on the health of people in East Germany when they were still struggling with poverty and lousy health care and the West Germans who were enjoying the booming economy and among the highest standard of living. So why were there so many more people in West Germany who suffered from, asthma and allergies? After similar studies were done, the epidemiological evidence was clear: even in genetically similar populations who lived in close proximity, there is more disease in the industrialized and affluent societies. It is not just our genes, there is something in the environment that is making us sick. Many people believe the Pollution Theory. The children living with filthy water and bad air quality in East Germany suffered fewer cases of asthma. Chilton pokes holes in the Old Age Theory too. Children make up a large proportion of the new cases of diseases - not the elderly. Another theory he calls the Hygiene Hypothesis is the reverse of the pollution theory. It suggests that the cleanliness and increased use of antibiotics in developed countries have contributed to the allergy epidemic. Some believe because the children are not exposed to disease-causing bacteria their immune systems don't have the chance to develop normally through exposure to a variety of germs. There are studies of children on farms who rarely suffer from allergies compared to children not living on farms. The exposure to livestock and poultry seems to protect them from developing allergies and hay fever. Other studies show the more infections people suffer as children and having many siblings as an advantage, the fewer problems they have as adults. This theory is supported with strong facts but it warrants further study. Contrary to the hygiene theory is the fact that many infectious conditions trigger and increase, rather than decrease episodes of allergic disease like asthma.
Just about everyone thinks salmon is one of the healthiest protein choices you can make. It contains high levels of two essential omega-3 fatty acids. These acids have been proven to to lower blood pressure and triglyceride levels and impede the rapid growth of tumors. But, do you buy the farm raised salmon or go for the more expensive wild salmon? Chances are, you select the farm raised because it is difficult to find wild salmon at any price. So what is the big difference? It is the levels of AA or an omega-6 fatty acid called arachidonic acid. The AA causes us to produce too many inflammatory messengers, and too many inflammatory messenger cause the signs and symptoms of inflammatory disease. The messengers are prostaglandins and leukotrienes which are synthesized from AA is necessary so that the body's immune system is not left defenseless. When we have too much AA though, the cellular inflammation can begin. Chilton, states that a four ounce portion (tiny!) of farmed Atlantic salmon contains 1,306 milligram of AA or thirteen times the amount of daily AA. That is two weeks worth and way above the limit! Wild salmon has 175 milligrams of AA, about seven times less. There is a strong connection between the AA in our diets and inflammatory conditions such as Alzheimers, sugar diabetes, asthma and heart disease. The AA in our blood increases naturally as we age. You ad this with the fact the foods of the industrialized countries diets are chock-full of AA that problems are only going to get worse. One inflammatory condition often leads to another. Chilton explains that the wild salmon produce more EPA (the good oil) The fish swim around in cold water verses the warm water at the farms. algae is the largest part of the wild salmon diet and the omega-3 fatty acids are converted into the heart healthy and inflammatory healthy
EPA and DHA omega-3 oils. Pharmaceutical grade and contaminate free (suggestion)
The farmed salmon eat what they are given and have more omega-6 fats found in soybean and corn oil. These salmon eat enormous amounts of LA (linoleic acid) and it converts to AA. It is the AA loaded salmon that can be downright bad for people with inflammatory conditions. This is a sickening superfood.Here is when things flip-flop and an interesting example Dr. Chilton offered: Wild oysters contain more AA than farmed but they also contain more of the good EPA. Farmed rainbow trout contains 260 milligrams of EPA and 25 milligrams of AA. Whereas, wild rainbow trout has less of the good EPA (167 milligrams) and four times more AA (109) per serving. Dr. Chilton demonstrates that we can regain the balance lost by changes in our food supply by simply changing what we eat. The food you eat will work to improve your health, instead of growing an inflammatory disease. He ranks the different types of fish, provides great recipes, and offers a diet program you can live with!
THE NEUTRAL FISH: Their AA/EPA is moot - trout, swordfish, scallops, mussels. BAD FISH: Poor AA/EPA ratio and people with high risk of inflammatory conditions should avoid these: farmed Atlantic salmon, grouper, halibut from the Atlantic or the Pacific.
Seafood watch list from the Monterey Bay Aquarium
The National Geographic, February 2010 edition shows the floating salmon pens in the Chilean fjords. This region is spoiled now. The fish are fed fish protein and antibiotic pellets and this leads to the pollution of what used to be pristine waters. The result is oxygen poor waters and the spread of a contagious disease, salmon anemia. A study from the Environmental Working Group found that seven of ten farm salmon fillets bought at grocery stores in Washington DC, San Francisco, California, and Portland, Oregon were sixteen times higher in concentration of PCB's than wild ocean salmon and four times higher than beef or other seafood. Our livers need to be hard at work to detoxify chemical exposures thus needing certain nutrition for optimal function. More to come....
My article addressing the Mercury Issue & Liver Health
BACK To Inflammation Disease Connection℠
|
