A fish tale.

• Position: Benefits from eating fish

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AS CLINICAL and epidemiological studies suggest, omega-3 fatty acids are extremely important to our overall health. Because our bodies cannot make enough of these special fats to meet our needs, we are dependent on obtaining them from our diets. That is the simple definition of an "essential" fatty acid, but it really should not be that hard to get enough omega-3s from our food. All we have to do is eat a minimum of two servings of fatty fish each week and we will consume the American Heart Association's recommended intake. Excellent sources are herring, mackerel, sea bass, sardines, salmon, and trout, points out Machelle M. Seibel, professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Massachusetts, Worcester, and medical director of Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc., Waltham.

However, according to the ICR Survey Research Group, Americans are far less likely to eat fresh fish than almost any other food. In fact, just over one-third ate fresh fish during a recent one-week period--compared with 77% who consumed beef; 52%, pizza; and 50%, french fries. The survey further revealed that of those who did eat fish, the median intake was only one serving per week.

Why don't Americans eat more seafood? With so many media reports describing worrisome levels of toxins such as mercury, dioxins, and PCBs, it is not surprising that the most commonly expressed reason was concern about contaminants (48%). Other reasons were smell (46%), cost (43%), and availability (44%). Although many consumers feel that farm-raised fish are safer because they are spared from the contaminants that are present in the ocean, scientists have found that farm-raised salmon actually carried higher levels of pollutants than wild salmon due to the fishmeal fed to them. That is cause for concern, Seibel maintains, since 90% of the fresh salmon consumed in the U.S. is farmed. This particularly is worrisome for pregnant women and nursing moms whose babies would be exposed at a vulnerable time in life.

Despite the risk of pollutants, we still need to get the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, Seibel advises, as their benefits to the heart are longstanding. In the 1970s, researchers found that Eskimos in Greenland virtually had no heart disease even though their diets were extremely high in fat. It was determined that a majority of the fat they were consuming was omega-3 fatty acids derived from fish, which help to reduce the very processes...