Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Paging Dr. Gupta: Fish Facts

Aired July 31, 2003 - 08:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Americans love their salmon. Only tuna and shrimp are more popular on the seafood menu, and much of the salmon we eat is farm raised. But a new study suggests that the fish might actually be a very unhealthy choice. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us with more on that this morning.
This is really scary stuff actually.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Yes, I don't know if they're ready to say it's unhealthy yet. I mean, there's a lot of good attributes to fish. They're high in iron, they're high in something known as Omega III fatty acids. They may counter depression in pregnant women. That's something that's been out there as well, and then they lower your risk of Alzheimer's.

But at issue here is something known as polychlorinated biphenols. There's this group out here -- I'm going to explain what that is in a second -- but there's this group out there called the Environmental Working Group, that basically went out there and decided to test all sorts of different fish around the country, both on the East Coast and the West Coast, 10 different samples, and seven of them they found that that there were actually high levels of these PCGs. What are they? Again, these polychlorinated biphenyls. They were banned in 1976, almost 30 years ago, and because of that, no one's putting them out there anymore. But they store themselves in all sorts of different places. Fish sometimes eat them, they sometimes get into their systems, and that's why you get higher levels in fish. There's no known natural sources. They may cause cancer, which is sort of the big thing here.

Now what's a little confusing about all of this, and there's been a lot of publicity about this recently, is how much is too much of these PCBs, and where are they going to be higher? We know they're high in salmon, but what kind of salmon? Wild salmon have 5 parts per billion. Farm salmon, about 27 parts per billion. The FDA says 2,000 parts per billion is fine. The EPA says 4 to 6 is getting a little too high. You can you see the confusion there already. What some people are saying is that number 2,000 dates back to a guideline established in 1984, 20 years ago. The EPA levels from 1999.

O'BRIEN: There are many people who are going ahead and actually eating farmed salmon, because they thought maybe the wild salmon would have mercury in it, which is another problem as well. And anybody, certainly when you're pregnant, they tell you avoid eating salmon, and so we thought farm salmon might be a better choice. It seems significantly worse. GUPTA: There's all sorts of different issues like that. Mercury is another issue as well. The mercury level has been out there as well for some time.

Here's the thing with mercury, is that the more predatory the fish, if you take a look at the list there, the higher levels of mercury they're going to have. What happens is that big fish eat small fish, and fish do contain mercury, so the more fish you eat, the higher the mercury levels are going to be in these predatory fish. And salmon as well is at risk.

And we do have a list of things that basically show you the differences between wild and farmed salmon as well. If you take a look, if really want to compare the two, there's different in the attributes of these types of salmon. The higher in protein is going to be the wild salmon, lower in saturated fat, higher in those Omega III fatty acids. I want to talk about that for a second. That's important. No traces of antibiotics. All of this in the wild fish, the wild salmon. Omega III fatty acids something people talk about a lot. It's probably good for your heart, which is why fish is good for your heart, protects against heart disease, again may counter depression in pregnant women, associated with lower risk of Alzheimer's.

O'BRIEN: As with many medical stories, you watch this, you say, OK, I love fish, I like to eat fish. What's the take-away? Don't eat fish? Don't eat as much fish? Only eat the wild fish and not the farm fish? Stick to some other kind of fish altogether, rather than salmon, even with the whole idea that the Omega III fatty acids are more prevalent in salmon? What do you do.

GUPTA: Well, here's the thing, fish is still a very healthy food. Wild fish probably is going to have some of those attributes and maybe a little higher in protein and things than the farmed salmon. I think people agree on that. For the most part, you're getting these Omega III fatty acids in any sort of fish you eat there, especially the salmon, and that's going to be good for you, good for your heart.

With regards to the PCBs, it's one of those things where, yes, the levels are higher in certain kinds of fish. Is that level going to be too much? The FDA says no. They say don't worry about this. The increase in your cancer risk is so low, so minimal, you're probably not going to need to worry about it.

O'BRIEN: It will be interesting to see if they change their mind on that number 2,000, in the years down the road.

GUPTA: They may change the guidelines.

O'BRIEN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, as always thanks. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired July 31, 2003 - 08:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Americans love their salmon. Only tuna and shrimp are more popular on the seafood menu, and much of the salmon we eat is farm raised. But a new study suggests that the fish might actually be a very unhealthy choice. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us with more on that this morning.
This is really scary stuff actually.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Yes, I don't know if they're ready to say it's unhealthy yet. I mean, there's a lot of good attributes to fish. They're high in iron, they're high in something known as Omega III fatty acids. They may counter depression in pregnant women. That's something that's been out there as well, and then they lower your risk of Alzheimer's.

But at issue here is something known as polychlorinated biphenols. There's this group out here -- I'm going to explain what that is in a second -- but there's this group out there called the Environmental Working Group, that basically went out there and decided to test all sorts of different fish around the country, both on the East Coast and the West Coast, 10 different samples, and seven of them they found that that there were actually high levels of these PCGs. What are they? Again, these polychlorinated biphenyls. They were banned in 1976, almost 30 years ago, and because of that, no one's putting them out there anymore. But they store themselves in all sorts of different places. Fish sometimes eat them, they sometimes get into their systems, and that's why you get higher levels in fish. There's no known natural sources. They may cause cancer, which is sort of the big thing here.

Now what's a little confusing about all of this, and there's been a lot of publicity about this recently, is how much is too much of these PCBs, and where are they going to be higher? We know they're high in salmon, but what kind of salmon? Wild salmon have 5 parts per billion. Farm salmon, about 27 parts per billion. The FDA says 2,000 parts per billion is fine. The EPA says 4 to 6 is getting a little too high. You can you see the confusion there already. What some people are saying is that number 2,000 dates back to a guideline established in 1984, 20 years ago. The EPA levels from 1999.

O'BRIEN: There are many people who are going ahead and actually eating farmed salmon, because they thought maybe the wild salmon would have mercury in it, which is another problem as well. And anybody, certainly when you're pregnant, they tell you avoid eating salmon, and so we thought farm salmon might be a better choice. It seems significantly worse. GUPTA: There's all sorts of different issues like that. Mercury is another issue as well. The mercury level has been out there as well for some time.

Here's the thing with mercury, is that the more predatory the fish, if you take a look at the list there, the higher levels of mercury they're going to have. What happens is that big fish eat small fish, and fish do contain mercury, so the more fish you eat, the higher the mercury levels are going to be in these predatory fish. And salmon as well is at risk.

And we do have a list of things that basically show you the differences between wild and farmed salmon as well. If you take a look, if really want to compare the two, there's different in the attributes of these types of salmon. The higher in protein is going to be the wild salmon, lower in saturated fat, higher in those Omega III fatty acids. I want to talk about that for a second. That's important. No traces of antibiotics. All of this in the wild fish, the wild salmon. Omega III fatty acids something people talk about a lot. It's probably good for your heart, which is why fish is good for your heart, protects against heart disease, again may counter depression in pregnant women, associated with lower risk of Alzheimer's.

O'BRIEN: As with many medical stories, you watch this, you say, OK, I love fish, I like to eat fish. What's the take-away? Don't eat fish? Don't eat as much fish? Only eat the wild fish and not the farm fish? Stick to some other kind of fish altogether, rather than salmon, even with the whole idea that the Omega III fatty acids are more prevalent in salmon? What do you do.

GUPTA: Well, here's the thing, fish is still a very healthy food. Wild fish probably is going to have some of those attributes and maybe a little higher in protein and things than the farmed salmon. I think people agree on that. For the most part, you're getting these Omega III fatty acids in any sort of fish you eat there, especially the salmon, and that's going to be good for you, good for your heart.

With regards to the PCBs, it's one of those things where, yes, the levels are higher in certain kinds of fish. Is that level going to be too much? The FDA says no. They say don't worry about this. The increase in your cancer risk is so low, so minimal, you're probably not going to need to worry about it.

O'BRIEN: It will be interesting to see if they change their mind on that number 2,000, in the years down the road.

GUPTA: They may change the guidelines.

O'BRIEN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, as always thanks. Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com