fish oil Archives - Page 6 of 8

Skate liver oil could boost fishing industry

March 13, 2017 — Two engineers showed up at the Chatham Fish Pier a few winters ago and struck up a conversation with some fishermen who were unloading their catch.

Steve Daly and Bill Hannabach asked for some of the fish because they were doing research for a new business venture. The fishermen obliged and the men took home totes with a variety of species.

“You have two rubes from out of town. They could have easily said get out of here,” said Daly with a grin. “They didn’t know what we were doing. We could have been making fertilizer, we could have been making pottery.”

This week Daly and Hannabach were once again at a Cape Cod dock, this time at Saquatucket Harbor in Harwich, with some of the same fishermen they had met when they first began experimenting with everything from monkfish to dogfish. But now they had with them the results of their foray into the fishing industry, their first product, MassOMEGA: New England’s Wild Fish Oil, set to be launched today and almost totally made from winter skate brought in by local fishermen.

“We have taken some of Nick’s skates, basically pulled the oil out and purified it,” said Daly, standing beside Nick Muto and his 40-foot boat the Dawn T.

Muto had just come in with his crew after close to 30 hours at sea with a hold full of skate.

“It is truly an amazing fish oil. It’s better than cod liver oil. Skates have such a high level of omega-3s. Tuna is a close second, but after that it drops off significantly,” Daly said.

Muto, as many fishermen do, keeps the wings of the skate to sell, but usually throws the bodies, or racks, overboard. But after fellow fisherman Doug Feeney introduced him to Daly and Hannabach, Muto carved up the skate bodies and gave the businessmen a big bag of livers.

The fishermen knew that capitalizing on an under-utilized fish in a sustainable way was important to the small boat fishery as well as the economic health of the wider community. They also knew that fishermen were busy fishing and running a business and lacked outside investment to launch new products.

Read the full story at Wicked Local

Danish Study Links Fish Oil During Pregnancy With Lower Asthma Risk In Kids

December 29, 2016 — Studies of fish oil and health are like studies about coffee — there’s plenty of contradictory information out there.

With that in mind, here’s the latest turn: A Danish study finds that women who took fish oil supplements during pregnancy reduced the risk of asthma in their children.

“I would say that the finding that the effect was there was maybe not the surprise, because there have been indications,” says the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Hans Bisgaard, of the University of Copenhagen. “But the magnitude was very surprising to us.”

Bisgaard is a pediatrician and runs a privately funded research enterprise called the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood. He is not the first person to study whether fish oil supplements during pregnancy can affect asthma, but his study was large and carefully designed.

Researchers gave 2.4 grams of either fish oil capsules or olive oil capsules to more than 700 pregnant women during the third trimester of pregnancy. (Nobody knew which capsules contained the fish oil.)

They then monitored the health of the children for at least five years. And it turns out that 17 percent of the children in the fish oil group had developed persistent wheezing or asthma by the age of 5, compared with 24 percent of children in the group that got olive oil. That’s about a 30 percent reduction in cases of asthma or wheezing. (Because the Danish study included “persistent wheezing,” it’s not possible to compare these rates with asthma rates in the U.S.)

Bisgaard and his colleagues report their findings in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine. He says by far the biggest benefit seemed to be among babies born to women who initially had low blood levels of the lipids found in fish oil.

Read the full story at NPR

Taking Fish Oil During Pregnancy Is Found to Lower Child’s Asthma Risk

December 29, 2016 — Women who took fish oil during the last three months of pregnancy significantly lowered the risk that their children would develop asthma, a study in Denmark has found.

Among children whose mothers took fish-oil capsules, 16.9 percent had asthma by age 3, compared with 23.7 percent whose mothers were given placebos. The difference, nearly 7 percentage points, translates to a risk reduction of about 31 percent.

But in the study released on Wednesday, the researchers say they are not ready to recommend that pregnant women routinely take fish oil. Although the study found no adverse effects in the mothers or babies, the doses were high, 2.4 grams per day — 15 to 20 times what most Americans consume from foods.

Before doctors can make any recommendations, the study should be replicated, and fish oil should be tested earlier in pregnancy and at different doses, Dr. Hans Bisgaard, the leading author of the study, said in an email. He is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Copenhagen and the head of research at the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, an independent research unit.

Doctors are eager to find ways to prevent asthma, a chronic disease that causes wheezing, coughing and breathing trouble, and that sends many families to the emergency room again and again.

The incidence has more than doubled in developed countries in recent decades. More than six million children in the United States have asthma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as do more than 330 million children and adults worldwide, according to the Global Asthma Network.

Dr. Bisgaard said it was not possible to tell from the study whether pregnant women could benefit from simply eating more fish. Pregnant women are generally advised to limit their consumption of certain types of fish like swordfish and tuna because they contain mercury. But many other types are considered safe, especially smaller fish like sardines that are not at the top of the food chain and therefore not likely to accumulate mercury and other contaminants from eating other fish.

The results were published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The scientists bought fish oil from a company that makes it, but they said the company had no role in the study. The research was paid for by the Danish government and private foundations.

Read the full story at The New York Times

IFFO RS hits milestone for certification of fishmeal and fish oil production facilities

December 15, 2016 — Almost 45 percent of the global output of fishmeal and fish oil will be certified as responsibly sourced, according to IFFO RS Ltd., the marine ingredients certification organization.

A total of 118 factories in 16 countries have received recognition under the group’s RS Certification Program, which verifies responsible sourcing and production of marine ingredients. Fisheries covered by the IFFO RS certification include anchovy from Peru, pollock from Alaska, sprat in Denmark and Norway, boarfish in the U.K. and Faroe Islands, menhaden from the Gulf of Mexico, and many others, the group said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

13 Benefits of Taking Fish Oil

October 20, 2016 — Fish oil is one of the most commonly consumed dietary supplements.

It’s rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are very important for your health.

If you don’t eat a lot of oily fish, taking a fish oil supplement could help you get enough omega-3 fatty acids.

Here is an evidence-based guide to fish oil supplements and their health benefits.

What Is Fish Oil and Why Should You Care?

Fish oil is the fat or oil that’s extracted from fish tissue.

It usually comes from oily fish such as herring, tuna, anchovies and mackerel. Yet sometimes it’s produced from the livers of other fish, as is the case with cod liver oil.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends eating 1–2 portions of fish per week. This is because the omega-3 fatty acids in fish provide many health benefits, including helping protect against a number of diseases.

But if you don’t eat 1–2 portions of fish per week, fish oil supplements can help you get enough omega-3s.

Entrepreneurs getting creative with seafood byproducts

September 28, 2016 — Global fisheries are missing out on millions of dollars in profits from seafood byproducts – including fish oil, fishmeal and lesser-used parts of the fish such as the skin and intestines.

According to a recent study from the Marine Ingredients Organization (IFFO) and the University of Stirling Institute of Aquaculture (in Stirling, United Kingdom) found that, even though there is increasing availability of raw material from aquaculture byproducts, there is significant underutilization of by-products from both wild fisheries and aquaculture.

Fisheries could also be using their by-products for cosmetics, clothing leather, supplements and other products that are more profitable than fishmeal, Thor Sigfusson, founder of the Iceland Ocean Cluster, told SeafoodSource.

Nearly 20 million tons of raw material is used annually for the production of fishmeal and fish oil globally, according to the model used by the University of Stirling researchers. However, only around 5.7 million tons of by-products are currently processed to produce fishmeal and fish oil. An additional 11.7 million tons produced in processing plants which are currently not collected for marine ingredient production.

“If all fish were processed and all the byproduct collected, it is estimated that globally there would be around 36 million tons of raw material available, producing about 9.5 million tons of fishmeal and 1.5 million tons of fish oil,” according to the University of Stirling/IFFO report.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Omega 3s Linked to Lower Risk of Diabetes Complications

August 19, 2016 — Eating oily fish may lower a person’s risk for diabetes-related vision problems, study suggests.

People who consume omega 3s may prevent a complication from diabetes that harms a person’s eyes and vision, according to a new study released Thursday.

In the report, published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology, researchers looked at over 3,500 people in Spain with type 2 diabetes who were participating in a trial looking at the effects of keeping a Mediterranean diet. The people were followed for about six years.

Read the full story at Time

Latest Scientific Analysis Supports Increased Atlantic Menhaden Quota

Aug 1, 2016 – The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition:

WASHINGTON (MFC) – An analysis conducted by scientists at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) finds that the coastwide Atlantic menhaden quota can be substantially raised without impacting the sustainability of the species.

In a memo by the ASMFC’s Atlantic Menhaden Technical Committee on June 22, the Committee described projections it ran using nine different potential quota levels for the 2017 fishing season. These projections found a 0 percent chance of overfishing menhaden in 2017, even when menhaden quota was increased by up to 40 percent. Projections were run 1,000 times for each potential quota level to ensure that a full range of potential scenarios were accounted for in the estimates.

The Atlantic Menhaden Technical Committee is composed of 21 scientists from 13 states along the U.S. Atlantic coast and the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Committee’s projections were short-term (2014-2017) to eliminate uncertainty inherent in longer-term projections.

The ASMFC will hold its summer meeting August 2-4 in Alexandria, Va., where it will discuss, among other topics, Atlantic menhaden, and the possibility of raising its quota for 2017.

Atlantic menhaden catch totaled 171,900 mt tons in 2014. The ASMFC set menhaden quota at 187,800 mt for 2015 and 2016.

In 2015, the ASMFC’s Atlantic menhaden stock assessment found that the menhaden stock was healthy and sustainably managed, with the species neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing. It also found that fishing mortality is at an all-time low, and that menhaden fecundity (egg production) has been strong in recent years. Based on these findings, the ASMFC raised the menhaden quota by 10 percent last year.

Menhaden are used to produce fishmeal, fish oil, and fish solubles due to their high concentration of healthy Omega-3 fatty acids. They are also prized for their use as bait in other fisheries.

About the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition

The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries. Comprised of over 30 businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the menhaden industry to ensure that members of the public, media, and government are informed of important issues, events, and facts about the fishery.

View the release here

JACK WHITACRE: When a fish is more than a fillet

FREEPORT, Maine — The expression “Waste not, want not” originated in America. By surveying the best seafood utilization practices around the world, Maine could lead the United States in reviving thrift and increasing profits and sustainability.

Maine lobster has become synonymous with value. But what if there were additional profits waiting to be unlocked in what we currently toss out?

Surprisingly, chitin, a natural polymer found in lobster shells, can be harvested and amassed for high-value agricultural, industrial and medical applications. Chitin from crustacean shells is just one example of 100 percent seafood utilization.

Just like Native Americans used every part of the buffalo, there are now opportunities to fully use seafood and push upward on the value chain. Investing time and resources in the utilization movement could generate new jobs, products and startups in Maine and beyond.

The Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins University estimates that the United States wasted 4.6 million metric tons of edible and inedible seafood from 2009 to 2013. During this same period, the center calculated, at least 1.8 trillion milligrams of fish oil was wasted.

With raw fish oil selling for $9 a pound and fish oil capsules selling for $370 a pound, the raw oil wasted in the United States represents millions of dollars in potential value if worked up to pharmaceutical quality. This is just one example of an opportunity for economic and environmental improvement.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

No clear evidence fish oil linked to prostate cancer

May 31, 2016 — Q: I have really high triglyceride levels (over 600). My cardiologist wants me to take fish-oil supplements.

I’m worried, though, because I have read fish oil can increase the risk of prostate cancer, which runs in my family. I feel torn between my heart health and my prostate risk.

What can you tell me?

A: Fish oil and a low-carb diet can help bring down triglycerides, so your cardiologist is justified in this recommendation (Journal of Clinical Lipidology, January-February 2014).

A review of 36 studies over the past 20 years found no consistent evidence of a link between fish oil and prostate cancer (Journal of the American College of Nutrition online, Nov. 23, 2015).

Read the full story at the Seattle Times