BEAWARE OF TILAPIA FISH AND MUSTARD OIL

DO YOU LOVE YOUR HEART?

MUSTARD OIL

Saturated fat is atherogenic and unsaturated fat is heart healthy.

• As saturated fat content is the lowest in comparison to some other commonly used cooking oils, mustard oil is considered as heart healthy. But problem is ERUCIC ACID.

MUSTARD OIL• FAT CONTENT OF SOME OTHER EDIBLE OILS

CONSUMED IN BANGLADESH.

• SOYBEAN:• Mono-unsaturated: 23%• Poly-unsaturated: 58%• Saturated: 14%.

• SUNFLOWER:• Mono-unsaturated: 20%• Poly-unsaturated: 58%• Saturated: 16%.

MUSTARD OIL

FAT CONTENT:• Mono-unsaturated fatty acids: 60%• Erucic Acid: 42%*******• Oleic Acid: 12%• Poly-unsaturated fatty acids: 21%• Omega-3: 6% • Omega-6: 15%• Saturated fatty acids: 12%• Ref: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference,

Release 21 (2008)

What is Erucic acid?

• It is an Omega-9 (22:1) fatty acid.

• Studies on rats, pigs and monkeys showed that regular intake of erucic acid leads to myocardial lipidosis which ultimately leads to increased incidence of heart diseases including cardiomyopathy.

• FDA: consuming any food item containing erucic acid >2% is dangerous for health..

Erucic Acid

• The Food Standards Agency, UK: 23rd. December 2004 banned mustard oil and mustard oil containing food like “Satkora Pickle” (April 2006) in UK market due to high content of erucic acid.

Erucic acid

• Indian Council of Medical Research: Research paper: 1983.

• Main edible oil:• In West Bengal: Mustard oil.• In Madras: Peanut oil.• In Trivandrum: Coconut oil. Hearts were examined from Calcutta-100,

Madras-38 & Trivandrum-25.Only hearts from Calcutta found to contain erucic

acid up to 9.9%.

Erucic acid

• K Srinath Reddy of the Department of Cardiology at AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical sciences) said erucic acid does not metabolise well in the body and weakens the heart muscles. Mustard is considered good for heart but its erucic acid content is a concern.

Tilapia Fish

• The American Heart Association tells us to eat fish at least twice in a week in order to help keep our hearts healthy.

• Why we need to eat fish?

• This is because of the high Omega 3 fatty acid content in most fish.

Tilapia Fish

• Research at Department of Internal Medicine, Section on Molecular Medicine, Wake Forest Center for Botanical Lipids, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, USA & published in J Am Diet Assoc. 2008 Jul;108(7):1131-3.

• Suggest that tilapia may be worse for your heart than eating bacon or a hamburger.

W H Y?

•High content of Omega-6 specifically arachidonic acid in Tilapia.

Tilapia Fish

• Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids belong to essential fatty acids.

• Omega-6 : Omega-3 must be 4 : 1 or less.

• This ratio in Tilapia is 11:1 to 20:1

Tilapia Fish

• Why Omega-6 is bad and Omega- 3 is good?

• Both Omega-6 (arachidonic acid) and Omega-3 fatty acids produce physiologically active compounds like Prostaglandins, Prostacyclins, Thromboxanes and Leucotrienes.

• Common names of these compounds are Eicosanoids (20 carbon containing compounds)

Tilapia Fish

• Omega-3 produce eicosanoides which are anti-inflammatory, anti-prothrombotic and anti-arrhythmic.

• Actions of eicosanoides from Omega-6 are just opposite e.g. pro-inflammtory, pro-thrombotic and induce arrhythmia.

Tilapia Fish

• ASPIRIN as anti-platelet drugs used to prevent heart attach and stroke.

• HOW ASPIRIN WORKS?

• Arachidonic acid transforms into inflammatory prostaglandins and thromoxanes leading to platelet aggregation by the action of cyclooxygenese (COX-1 & COX-2).

• Aspirin inhibits COX-1 and modifies COX-2.

Tilapia Fish

• Chronic inflammatory process is the key pathophysiology of atherosclerosis. Pro-inflammatory together with pro-thrombotic and pro-arrhythmic actions of Omega-6 derivatives lead to coronary artery disease, stroke and other atherosclerotic and cardiovascular diseases.

• Reminder: Omega-6:Omega-3 is 11:1 to 20:1 in tilapia fish.

Daily arachidonic acid required: 112mg.

Daily fat required: 65gm

100gm. Hamburger contains 34mg of arachidonic acid.

100gm. Bacon contains 191mg of arachidonic acid

100gm. Tilapia fish contains 200-300mg. of arachidonic acid.

Conclusion

• Very low content of saturated fat in mustard oil may be the healthier edible oil, but high content of erucic acid is risky for heart.

• Very high content of Omega-6 in Tilapia fish leads to high level of pro-inflammatory eicosanoides which stimulate atherosclerotic process leading to CAD plus cancer, asthma and many other diseases.