I’ve seen too many warnings lately claiming “TILAPIA IS WORSE FOR YOU THAN BACON!!!!” that I just have to step in with Dr. Mom’s voice of reason.
To these worry warts who have nothing better to do than try to attract readers by scaring the heck out of them, I say, “Hogwash and pig whistle.” (all pun intended). I haven’t eaten bacon since 1984, since I started limiting my diet to kosher food. Nonetheless, there are plenty of “experts” (however you define that word) who say bacon has as much a place in a balanced diet as raw fruits and vegetables. And, according to my two mantras, “Eat less CRAPF (the P is silent) and move your self more” and “Moderation in almost all vices (but never smoke),” I would probably agree with them. But all this “Tilapia is worse than bacon” stuff is really an overreaction by pundits misreading real scientists research.
Let’s take a look at the real facts on the whole “Tilapia vs. Bacon Scare” and then talk about real people eating real food for a change.
Back in 2008 (seven years ago, friends) Floyd H. “Ski” Chilton, Ph.D. and his team of researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine released a study comparing fatty acid levels among popular fish. They found that tilapia contained far less omega-3 fatty acid than other American favorites, such as salmon and mackerel. According to the paper, salmon also has a “more favorable” omega-3 to omega-6 ratio.
I agree with with both of these statements and I recommend eating salmon more often than tilapia to get more omega-3s. While both fatty acids are important, omega-3 has anti-inflammatory properties that play a critical role in brain development and cognitive function and may prevent diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
But how did all these pundits who probably don’t know their gills from their pigtails end up comparing fish to bacon. Well, Dr. Chilton’s report also said something about the inflammatory potential of hamburger (80 percent lean) and pork bacon is lower than the average serving of farmed tilapia (100 g). What Dr. Chilton’s report really stated was farmed tilapia contains high levels of arachidonic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid that, while necessary to help repair damaged body tissues, has been linked to brain disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and may exacerbate inflammation.
That set off alarm bells among nutritionists. And being the media-savvy fire-in-a movie-theater-screaming group of opportunists they are, they started running around warning the world, “TILAPIA IS WORSE FOR YOU THAN BACON!!!!”
The truth, however, can be found coming from the horse’s mouth itself. Dr. Chilton, the professor of physiology and pharmacology who directed the Wake Forest study, says the comparison of tilapia to pork bacon was taken out of context.
“We never intended to paint tilapia as the cause of anything bad. Our goal was to provide consumers with more information about their fish,” Chilton said. “If your doctor or cardiologist is telling you to eat more fish, then you should look for varieties that have higher levels of omega-3 and avoid those with high inflammatory potential.”
Doctor Chilton’s own blog states, “The truth is, tilapia has as much omega-3 as other popular seafood, including lobster, mahi-mahi and yellowfin tuna. Tilapia is also very low in fat. A 4-ounce serving of tilapia has about 1 gram of saturated fat, 29 grams of protein and around 200 mg of omega-3. By comparison, a 1-ounce serving of bacon (about 4 strips) contains 4 grams of saturated fat, 10 grams of protein and 52 mg of omega-3.”
So people may not want to eat tilapia every day, but that doesn’t mean it has to be avoided altogether. It certainly fits well into my nutritional plan as not being CRAPF (the P is silent) and certainly has a place on my table in moderation, just as much as most other food does.
So, enjoy one reasonable portion of whatever fish you want at your next meal and then go live your life moving your self more to use us all you eat instead of letting it store itself as fat on your body.
Bye now. We’ll talk more later.