Why you must eat Uganda fish
Jan 16, 2007
A MEAL of fish offers more than a full stomach. Apart from the essential nutrients for our health, there are medicinal advantages both in disease treatment and prevention.
By Justus Masa
A MEAL of fish offers more than a full stomach. Apart from the essential nutrients for our health, there are medicinal advantages both in disease treatment and prevention.
The most essential element found in the fish is the fat known as omega-3 fatty acids. These are long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 LC PUFAs), which are natural and organic. They are unique from other fatty acids by their many double bonds (polyunsaturated).
The nutritionally important omega-3 fatty acids in human physiology are alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
Such types of fatty acids have long been associated with many marine and cold water fish of the temperate regions, such as the cod, salmon, herring, tuna, anchovies and sardines, which have provided most of the commercially produced omega-3 fatty acid supplements.
But now, thanks to a research carried out by the Department of Chemistry at Makerere University, it has been established that these essential fatty acids also exist in our local fish in very similar amounts to those traditional sources.
Research sponsored by NUFU Fish Oil Project and partly by the Germany Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) established that oils extracted from blubber tissues of the Victoria perch (empuuta - Lates niloticus) and from adipose tissues and the liver of the lungfish (mmamba - Protopterus aethiopicus), are rich in two nutritionally important omega-3 LC PUFAs and can make pharmaceutical grade health supplements.
Why Omega-3 LC PFA?
All studies and researches agree that the health benefits of omega acids are virtually limitless and their clinical advantages very critical.
They stabilise disorders of cell membrane and cell receptor function, which include many neurological and mental disorders, as well as normal foetal (child in womb) development. They also stabilise many complications affecting pregnant and breastfeeding women.
A second, even larger clinical, category includes any condition which involves a chronic inflammatory process, which includes such disorders as atherosclerosis (where fats form a plaque deposit of cholesterol and lipids on the inner lining of arterial walls), heart disease, eczema (skin disease), autoimmune disease, and irritable bowel syndrome.
The omega-3 fatty acids also promote cardiovascular health by modulating a healthy stable heartbeat and maintaining blood vessels to support circulation throughout the body. It moderates cardiovascular risk factors such as abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias), bad cholesterol (elevated triglyceride levels), hypertension and maintains a healthy heart and circulation
Perhaps the reason fish is recommended especially for children and pregnant mothers is the contribution to the brain development. Omega-3 acids are critical to the development and function of the brain and the central nervous system. It is particularly important in pregnant and breastfeeding women and in infants. They have membrane-enhancing capabilities in brain cells. Not coincidentally, omega-3 fatty acids comprise about 8% of the average human brain according to the late Dr. David Horrobin, a pioneer in fatty acid research.
Thus as a vital component of our brain tissue and neurons, the fats are a legitimate “brain foodâ€. There are claims that one’s intelligence, cognitive skills and verbal reasoning skills are increased if your mother ate a lot of omega-3 when she was pregnant with you.
According to a September 2005 study from Louisiana State University, US, fish oil may help protect the brain from cognitive problems associated with Alzheimer’s disease and prevent senile degeneration.
Other health benefits include aiding normal vision and promoting healthy immune responses.
How do I get the omega-3 fatty acids?
Omega-3 acids can be acquired by a regular intake of oily fish, fish oils, or fish oil products.
There are Omega-3 fatty acid supplements from marine and coldwater fish available in most pharmacies as liquid oils or capsules. Seven Seas Codliver oil is the most common. There are capsules, which are convenient for those who cannot stand the odour of the oils and those who cannot take the oil orally.
However, you can make your own fish oils and store them for domestic use. This can be done by cooking fatty tissues with steam and then pressing or decanting the cooked tissues to extract the oil. An alternatively simple method is extraction of the oils by oven grilling at 110 degrees Centigrade for 90 minutes.
To prevent oxidation of the oils and preserve freshness, natural Vitamin E (d-alpha topopherol) can be added to the oils. It also supplies the body with the additional vitamin E it may need. Citrus or mint essence may be added to the oils to make it more palatable. The oils can be taken in liquid form or mixed with other foods like margarine.
Where else can you get omega-3 LC PUFA?
Only fish and other marine lipids have substantial quantities of omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Whereas the body has enzymes that can convert the shortest chain omega-3 fatty acid, ALA into EPA and DHA, clinical studies have shown the process to be inefficient. Vegetarians, for example, have to depend on their body’s limited natural ability to convert ALA into EPA and DHA, since their diet does not contain them.
There are research efforts tailored to produce bioengineered seed plants (transgenic plants), that can produce substantial amounts of EPA and DHA to supplement on the current exclusive supply from fish.
However, ultimately, these fatty acids have to be acquired from fish products.
How much do you eat?
The quantities taken per day are, in principle, dependent on an individual’s biochemical requirements. Medical research recommends consumption of fish at least once a week. The Food and Drug Administration of the US recommends a daily intake of omega-3 LC PUFAs of 0.9g/day while the American Heart Association, recommends a regular omega-3 LC PUFAs 1.0g/day for patients with coronary heart disease. Researchers believe the ideal omega-6 intake should be no more than four to five times that of our omega-3 intake.
Are there any health risks involved?
The greatest risk of fish oil omega-3 supplementation is heavy metal poisoning by the body’s accumulation of traces of heavy metals, in particular mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and cadmium as well as other contaminants (PCBs, furans, dioxins), which may be found especially in less refined fish oil supplements.
Some manufacturers of omega-3 supplements remove heavy metals and other contaminants from the oil through such means as molecular distillation, which increases purity, potency and safety.
To attain the recommended daily intake of about 1g/day of total Omega-3 fatty acids from oil obtained from Victoria perch, you need three tea spoonfuls per day (or 2ml/day) for adults. (Refer to table)
Researchers recommendations
The research, led by Dr. George Mpango, recommended that blubber (fatty tissues) generated during filleting of Victoria perch be harnessed into oil rich omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated for health supplementation. Pharmaceutical companies can process these oils for local and export markets.
Eating Victoria perch regularly may help to ward off some of the diseases of modern civilisation, which are mainly due to a high intake of saturated (meat products) and omega-6 fatty acids (vegetable oils) relative to omega-3 fatty acids.
The most important part of the lungfish is its liver, which has very high oil content. But it is so oily that most people find it difficult to eat directly as a sauce. Just grill or steam it to extract the oil for domestic markets and home use.
The Author is a postgraduate student and Research Fellow for the NUFU Fish Oil Project, Department of Chemistry, Makerere University and Lecturer at the Department of Chemistry, Kyambogo University
A MEAL of fish offers more than a full stomach. Apart from the essential nutrients for our health, there are medicinal advantages both in disease treatment and prevention.
The most essential element found in the fish is the fat known as omega-3 fatty acids. These are long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 LC PUFAs), which are natural and organic. They are unique from other fatty acids by their many double bonds (polyunsaturated).
The nutritionally important omega-3 fatty acids in human physiology are alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
Such types of fatty acids have long been associated with many marine and cold water fish of the temperate regions, such as the cod, salmon, herring, tuna, anchovies and sardines, which have provided most of the commercially produced omega-3 fatty acid supplements.
But now, thanks to a research carried out by the Department of Chemistry at Makerere University, it has been established that these essential fatty acids also exist in our local fish in very similar amounts to those traditional sources.
Research sponsored by NUFU Fish Oil Project and partly by the Germany Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) established that oils extracted from blubber tissues of the Victoria perch (empuuta - Lates niloticus) and from adipose tissues and the liver of the lungfish (mmamba - Protopterus aethiopicus), are rich in two nutritionally important omega-3 LC PUFAs and can make pharmaceutical grade health supplements.
Why Omega-3 LC PFA?
All studies and researches agree that the health benefits of omega acids are virtually limitless and their clinical advantages very critical.
They stabilise disorders of cell membrane and cell receptor function, which include many neurological and mental disorders, as well as normal foetal (child in womb) development. They also stabilise many complications affecting pregnant and breastfeeding women.
A second, even larger clinical, category includes any condition which involves a chronic inflammatory process, which includes such disorders as atherosclerosis (where fats form a plaque deposit of cholesterol and lipids on the inner lining of arterial walls), heart disease, eczema (skin disease), autoimmune disease, and irritable bowel syndrome.
The omega-3 fatty acids also promote cardiovascular health by modulating a healthy stable heartbeat and maintaining blood vessels to support circulation throughout the body. It moderates cardiovascular risk factors such as abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias), bad cholesterol (elevated triglyceride levels), hypertension and maintains a healthy heart and circulation
Perhaps the reason fish is recommended especially for children and pregnant mothers is the contribution to the brain development. Omega-3 acids are critical to the development and function of the brain and the central nervous system. It is particularly important in pregnant and breastfeeding women and in infants. They have membrane-enhancing capabilities in brain cells. Not coincidentally, omega-3 fatty acids comprise about 8% of the average human brain according to the late Dr. David Horrobin, a pioneer in fatty acid research.
Thus as a vital component of our brain tissue and neurons, the fats are a legitimate “brain foodâ€. There are claims that one’s intelligence, cognitive skills and verbal reasoning skills are increased if your mother ate a lot of omega-3 when she was pregnant with you.
According to a September 2005 study from Louisiana State University, US, fish oil may help protect the brain from cognitive problems associated with Alzheimer’s disease and prevent senile degeneration.
Other health benefits include aiding normal vision and promoting healthy immune responses.
How do I get the omega-3 fatty acids?
Omega-3 acids can be acquired by a regular intake of oily fish, fish oils, or fish oil products.
There are Omega-3 fatty acid supplements from marine and coldwater fish available in most pharmacies as liquid oils or capsules. Seven Seas Codliver oil is the most common. There are capsules, which are convenient for those who cannot stand the odour of the oils and those who cannot take the oil orally.
However, you can make your own fish oils and store them for domestic use. This can be done by cooking fatty tissues with steam and then pressing or decanting the cooked tissues to extract the oil. An alternatively simple method is extraction of the oils by oven grilling at 110 degrees Centigrade for 90 minutes.
To prevent oxidation of the oils and preserve freshness, natural Vitamin E (d-alpha topopherol) can be added to the oils. It also supplies the body with the additional vitamin E it may need. Citrus or mint essence may be added to the oils to make it more palatable. The oils can be taken in liquid form or mixed with other foods like margarine.
Where else can you get omega-3 LC PUFA?
Only fish and other marine lipids have substantial quantities of omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Whereas the body has enzymes that can convert the shortest chain omega-3 fatty acid, ALA into EPA and DHA, clinical studies have shown the process to be inefficient. Vegetarians, for example, have to depend on their body’s limited natural ability to convert ALA into EPA and DHA, since their diet does not contain them.
There are research efforts tailored to produce bioengineered seed plants (transgenic plants), that can produce substantial amounts of EPA and DHA to supplement on the current exclusive supply from fish.
However, ultimately, these fatty acids have to be acquired from fish products.
How much do you eat?
The quantities taken per day are, in principle, dependent on an individual’s biochemical requirements. Medical research recommends consumption of fish at least once a week. The Food and Drug Administration of the US recommends a daily intake of omega-3 LC PUFAs of 0.9g/day while the American Heart Association, recommends a regular omega-3 LC PUFAs 1.0g/day for patients with coronary heart disease. Researchers believe the ideal omega-6 intake should be no more than four to five times that of our omega-3 intake.
Are there any health risks involved?
The greatest risk of fish oil omega-3 supplementation is heavy metal poisoning by the body’s accumulation of traces of heavy metals, in particular mercury, lead, nickel, arsenic and cadmium as well as other contaminants (PCBs, furans, dioxins), which may be found especially in less refined fish oil supplements.
Some manufacturers of omega-3 supplements remove heavy metals and other contaminants from the oil through such means as molecular distillation, which increases purity, potency and safety.
To attain the recommended daily intake of about 1g/day of total Omega-3 fatty acids from oil obtained from Victoria perch, you need three tea spoonfuls per day (or 2ml/day) for adults. (Refer to table)
Researchers recommendations
The research, led by Dr. George Mpango, recommended that blubber (fatty tissues) generated during filleting of Victoria perch be harnessed into oil rich omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated for health supplementation. Pharmaceutical companies can process these oils for local and export markets.
Eating Victoria perch regularly may help to ward off some of the diseases of modern civilisation, which are mainly due to a high intake of saturated (meat products) and omega-6 fatty acids (vegetable oils) relative to omega-3 fatty acids.
The most important part of the lungfish is its liver, which has very high oil content. But it is so oily that most people find it difficult to eat directly as a sauce. Just grill or steam it to extract the oil for domestic markets and home use.
The Author is a postgraduate student and Research Fellow for the NUFU Fish Oil Project, Department of Chemistry, Makerere University and Lecturer at the Department of Chemistry, Kyambogo University