How healthful is fish, really Can we balance mercury and omega 3 fats Essay

How healthful is fish, really Can we balance mercury and omega 3 fats - Essay Example In this respect, the level of pollution and its harmful effects on human beings as a function of the fish and seafood that we eat has perhaps been understood for a longer period of time than has the plethora of positive health effects that omega 3 can portend. Therefore, this brief analysis will consider the pros and cons of eating fish as a determinant of maintaining one’s overall health. However, rather than being a paper that is concentric on a deep and complex understanding of medical statistics and figures, the essay will seek to lay out a logical rubric, supported by medical evidence, for the reasons why the health benefits of eating omega 3 fatty acids far outweighs the overall risks of poisonous/cancerous substances that may or may not be found to a lesser or greater degree within the body of the fish or shellfish itself. In this way, it has long been understood that many types of fish and seafood act as a type of biological filtration system for the natural environmen t (Oken 1718). In this way, some (but notably not all) types of fish and/or seafood have what can only be described as unnaturally high levels of heavy metals and other types of potentially poisonous materials that have been collected in their bodies due to the types of food that is ingested as well as certain key environmental determinants. As such, as researchers have begun to understand the manner in which these creatures collect high concentrations of heavy metals and other types of potentially damaging poisons within their bodies (Rosenberg 8). Accordingly, in order to understand the ways that this effect the human being, a high number of studies have been conducted that have sought to measure and quantify and project the level to which these toxins have exhibited or will possibly exhibit in the future a negative health impact on those who regularly incorporate fish or shellfish into their diet (Marona 55). The end result of the majority of these studies have indicated that alt hough the heavy metals, to include mercury, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and others, can have the effect of increasing one’s overall risk of developing a type of cancer, the overall statistical incidence of the increase in cancer rate is so miniscule as to not warrant a cessation of eating fish/shellfish so as to avoid the negative health consequences that are exhibited by the existence of mercury/PCBs etc (Foran 15). Such an understanding is of course at odds with some members of the medical science community that continue to put forward the idea that the existence of key poisons and heavy metals within these fish/shellfish as a function of health risk are not always exhibited within the short time span that some of these studies have taken into account (Olson 133). Naturally, when comparing the net positive of eating fish/shellfish as compared to the net health risks associated with the potential ingestion of various concentrated heavy metals and poisons, one must consi der the fact that reduction of risk with regards to the what omega 3 fatty acids provide with respect to heart health is greatly more statistically significant than the increased of risk of certain types of cancer associated with the ingestion of certain impurities. Such an important distinction is useful to note due to