How Could Dispatches' 'Science' be so Misleading?

How Could Dispatches' 'Science' be so Misleading?

PERTH, Scotland, December 19/PRNewswire/ --

- And how Damaging Could This be for our Health?

The Channel 4 documentary series Dispatches broadcast a "Christmas
Dinner" edition at 9pm on Monday 19th December, billed as a "programme
revealing the truth about what's in your Christmas dinner". Focusing, among
other foods, on smoked salmon, the programme made a number of misleading
claims about fat levels and the health benefits of farmed salmon.

After months of programme making Dispatches contacted Scottish Quality
Salmon at short notice to provide a written comment. This suggests 'agenda
TV' by marshalling negative comments to fit a pre-ordained stance but
'allowing' a last minute balancing comment from the industry to provide
objectivity.

However, Dispatches appeared to have presented misleading or inaccurate
facts.

- It suggested that, because oil-rich fish also contains Omega-6, a
beneficial essential fatty acid (as long as it is consumed in the correct
proportions in the diet), salmon consumption may lead to disproportionate
Omega-6 consumption. However, the contribution of Omega-6 to the diet by
oil-rich fish is miniscule and, effectively, irrelevant compared to the other
sources of Omega-6 in the diet such as cereals, eggs, poultry, most vegetable
oils, whole-grain breads, baked goods, and margarine. Moreover, the
contribution of Omega-3 to the diet from oil-rich fish is immense. As the
only readily available source of dietary Omega-3, consuming oil-rich fish is
even more important to maintain a balance with Omega-6. Suggesting that
eating Scottish Farmed Salmon may have a negative effect on this balance is
incorrect. The opposite is true.

- It suggested that higher fat levels in farmed salmon versus those found
in wild salmon are, nutritionally, a bad thing. Again, the opposite is true.
Wild salmon have low levels of fat and thus low levels of Omega-3 essential
fatty acids, the nutritional component that makes oil-rich fish so beneficial
to health. Scottish Farmed Salmon has higher fat levels and guaranteed
minimum levels of Omega-3s, ensuring that it delivers the health benefits
that so many consumers are seeking. (The guaranteed minimum Omega-3 content
is 1.2g per 100g of Scottish Farmed Salmon, but this is frequently exceeded
by a factor of 2 or more).

- The programme also made casual criticism of quality, welfare and
environmental standards in Scottish salmon farming. However, Scottish Farmed
Salmon would not be awarded the Label Rouge mark in France, Protected
Geographical Indicator (PGI) status by the EU, and RSPCA Freedom Food and
Soil Association Organic qualifications on some farms, unless its quality and
working practices were of the highest order.

- Finally, scaremongering is bad for our health. This is, at least, the
opinion expressed in this excerpt from the American Journal of Preventive
Medicine, following other recent attempts to frighten consumers away from one
of the most nutritious - and delicious - foods available:

"The recent decreases in fish consumption have probably been influenced
by not only fears about mercury, but also by a widely publicized report in a
prominent journal(7) that farmed salmon contains measurable amounts of
organochloride compounds. That publication was particularly troublesome,
perhaps even irresponsible, because the implied health consequences were
based on hypothetical calculations and very small (lifetime risks of
less than or equal to 1:10,000). In contrast, the benefits of eating salmon
are based on human data at the doses actually consumed and, as pointed out by
Cohen et al(2). In the present analysis, are likely to be at least 100-fold
greater than the estimates of harm, which may not exist at all. Because the
report on organochloride consumption almost certainly contributed to a
reduction in fish consumption, that publication likely caused substantial
numbers of premature deaths. Although the monitoring of contaminant levels in
foods is an important function, reports of findings in places where
widespread publicity is likely should be accompanied by at least a
qualitative balancing of likely risks and benefits of changing consumption
of the foods being considered."

(2) Cohen JT, Bellinger DC, Connor WE, et al. A quantitative risk-benefit
analysis of changes in population fish consumption. Am J Prev Med
2005;29:325-34.

(7) Hites RA, Foran JA, Carpenter DO, Hamilton MC, Knuth BA, Schwager SJ.
Global assessment of organic contaminants in farmed salmon. Science
2004;303:226-9.

Source: Fish - Balancing Health Risks and Benefits, by Walter C Willett
MD DrPH, Harvard School of Public Health, Am J Prev Med 2005;29 (4)

www.scottishsalmon.co.uk

Source: Scottish Quality Salmon

For further information please contact: Julie Edgar or Ken Hughes, Scottish Quality Salmon, Tel: +44-(0)1738-587000

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