Is Talapia a Potential Source of Carcinogens?

There have been numerous reports over the past year or so of Chinese raised Tilapia being raised on animal feces.  But what is more concerning is the fact that, according to a recent report, certain potentially carcinogenic antibiotics have been used in fish farms. MSN reports:

"Eisenman wrote that as far as her agency is concerned, the only food-safety issue specific to Chinese seafood has been the types and levels of antibiotics used on the fish. An official FDA "Import Alert" was issued on June 27, 2013, that names China as having frequently used potentially carcinogenic antibiotics on its fish farms. The alert vows that the agency will stop any shipments of fish that contain antibiotics like malachite green, nitrofurans, fluoroquinolones, and gentian violet."

(http://news.msn.com/rumors/rumor-imported-chinese-tilapia-are-often-raised-on-feces )

The Monteray Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch also comments on this subject:

"Chinese farms do discharge the water without relevant treatment, however, and there is evidence that some banned chemicals - including antibiotics and fungal treatments (nitrofurans and malachite green) - are still used in Chinese tilapia production."
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?fid=195

So, although the FDA typically bans imports that contain potentially harmful chemicals/bacteria upon inspection, it seems logical to assume that some of these tainted products have slipped through at one time or another before they were on the FDA radar, and there is evidence that some of these chemicals are still being used.

The Monteray Bay Aquarium  Seafood Watch lists Talapia as an acceptable fish source now after some changes in production habits, but list Talapia from the US or Equador as a better choice.

(http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?fid=195)

Tilapia from China is commonly sold in supermarkets in the US, including Aldis and Walmart. For more information on FDA import alerts on seafood, go to their website:

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cms_ia/importalert_27.html

When considering nutritional value, Tilapia is low in Omega 3 and fish oil, and aside from cost effectiveness and taste, it is not the healthiest type of fish to eat. Be careful, though, because many other fish contain other harmful substances such as mercury.  For more detailed information on various fish, again, the Monteray Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch has great information on all types of fish and their potentially harmful substances at this website:

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org//cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?gid=49

Healthy Lifestyle May Referse Cell Aging

Here's an article that gives evidence supporting the idea that healthy lifestyles, including healthy eating, can actually reverse the aging process in cells, and reduce the risk of cancer:

Healthy Lifestyle Changes Might Reverse Cell Aging, Study Suggests
       

The Huffington Post | By Amanda L. Chan Posted: 09/16/2013 6:35 pm EDT | Updated: 09/17/2013 2:13 pm EDT
Taken from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/16/healthy-lifestyle-telomeres-lengthen_n_3916235.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living

Eat whole foods. Exercise. Meditate. Rely on supportive family and friends. All of these things have been linked, whether independently or together, with better health. And now, a new study shows it's never too late to start reaping the benefits of changing to healthy lifestyle -- and that those changes could even reverse cell aging.
The study, published in the journal The Lancet Oncology, shows that healthy lifestyle changes can have an impact on aging and age-related diseases on a cellular level, by increasing the length of telomeres. Telomeres are the "caps" that protect the ends of chromosomes, similar to how shoelaces have plastic caps to stop them from fraying.
Shorter telomeres have been linked in previous research with cell aging and increased risks of age-related diseases like cancer and dementia, as well as premature death.
"We know from earlier studies that eating an unhealthy diet, smoking cigarettes, being under chronic emotional stress, loneliness and depression may shorten telomeres. But this is the first one we can actually increase the length of them," study researcher Dean Ornish, M.D., told HuffPost. Ornish is the founder and president of the Preventive Medical Research Institute, clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and medical editor at HuffPost. He's also conducted extensive research throughout his career evaluating the effects of lifestyle changes on coronary heart disease.
For the study, Ornish and colleagues assigned 35 men with low-risk prostate cancer, who were not being treated for their cancers but were undergoing active surveillance, to one of two groups. One group of 10 men was instructed to make lifestyle changes -- including eating a plant-based, vegan diet of whole foods, exercising moderately, receiving social support, and practicing stress-management strategies such as mindfulness and yoga -- for five years, while the other group of 25 men was not instructed to make any lifestyle changes. All of the study participants' telomeres were measured at the start of the study.
Researchers followed up with the men after the study period, when they again measured their telomeres. They found that telomere length actually increased among the men who were assigned to undergo the lifestyle intervention, by an average of 10 percent. Meanwhile, telomere length decreased by an average of 3 percent among the men not assigned to a lifestyle intervention.
They also found that the amount telomeres lengthened was linked with the degree to which the men implemented the healthy lifestyle changes, with those making more changes experiencing greater lengthening of their telomeres.
Telomere research is still young, and more research is needed to understand what exactly a 10 percent average increase in telomere length translates to in terms of disease and death risk. But the findings do tell us that "our genes are predisposition, but not our fate," Ornish said. "To the extent we're wiling to make changes to diet and lifestyle, we can change things that were once thought to be impossible."

Superfoods may help prevent and treat prostate cancer

I recently read this article in  Cure magazine (Fall 2013, Vol 12, No. 3, p. 18) which shows the benefits of superfoods and their effects on cancer outcomes.

This article shares the results of a study in the U.K. in which men with early-stage prostate cancer saw a decrease in prostates specific antigen levels by 63 % when taking a super food supplement "Pomi-T", which contains the super foods pomegranate, green tea, turmeric and broccoli. 

Here is the article from curetoday.com
http://www.curetoday.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/article.show/id/2/article_id/2168

Superfoods Study Keeps More Men on Active Surveillance

BY JENNIFER NASSAR
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

Dietary supplement Pomi-T seems to lower biomarker levels associated with prostate cancer, while delaying the time between diagnosis and active treatment.
A U.K.-based study involving 203 participants found that men with early-stage prostate cancer who took Pomi-T, which contains pomegranate, green tea, turmeric and broccoli, saw their prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels decrease 63 percent when compared with men who took a placebo. The median age of participants in the trial was 74.

Most of the participants were on active surveillance for prostate cancer, but some had been treated for the disease and had experienced a PSA increase.
Robert Thomas, a consulting oncologist at Cambridge University Hospitals and lead researcher for the six-month study, considered the study a success.
Participants in the Pomi-T group were able to remain on active surveillance longer than men in the placebo group, something Thomas calls “particularly exciting,” considering one alternative, hormone therapy, can have uncomfortable side effects. “In the early stages, men were not taking any other treatments—so it is easier to attribute the effect on the cancer to the actual Pomi-T,” Thomas says.
The next step for the research team will be to organize a study of men who are at high risk of relapse and those with metastatic disease who are on hormone therapy. Pharmaceutical companies have also offered to sponsor more research.
“We will also be looking eventually at individuals with other slow-growing tumors, which have risen from other parts of the body, including breast, bowel, bladder and ovary,” Thomas says.