Despite all the health benefits of eating fish, many people are worried about the dangers posed by environmental pollutants found in fish such as mercury, PCBs and dioxins.
In what they claim to be the “single most comprehensive analysis to date of fish and health”, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) reviewed the evidences of major health effects of omega-3 fatty acids, major health risks of mercury, and major health risks of PCBs and dioxins in both adults and infants/young children.

Based on a long-term (1987-2004) study of 90,000 Swedish women, eating at least one portion per week of fatty fish such as salmon, raw herring, sardines and mackerel significantly reduced the risk of renal cancer by 74 per cent compared with those who never ate fatty fish.
“This is the first time that a link between the consumption of fatty fish and renal cancer has been studied,” says Professor Alicja Wolk, one of the scientists working with the study. “The reason previous studies have been unable to demonstrate a link between fish consumption and renal cancer is that they made …read more

Aside from being good for the heart, the omega-3 fatty acids typically found in cold water fish may also help in treating prostate cancer. In animal trials, researchers have shown that feeding mice with a 1:1 ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids reduced prostate tumor growth rates and lowered PSA levels.
The most likely mechanism for the tumor reductions, according to researchers, was due to an increase of the prostate tumor omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA and a lowering of the omega-6 acid known as arachidonic acid. These three fatty acids compete to be converted by cyclooxgenase enzymes …read more