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The battle over wild vs. farmed fish
By Dr. Sanjay Gupta
(CNN) -- Many people this week were interested in stories about the difference between wild and farmed fish, and mercury levels in the fish. Here is my take on it: If you can, try to eat mainly wild fish. Why? Because being out in the wild allows the fish to eat the kind of food that increases their omega-3 fatty acids. Wild fish also tend to have more muscle and less fat. All of this points to a heart-healthy choice, which is probably the reason you eat fish in the first place. Additionally, farmed fish often have higher levels of PCBs -- a potential carcinogen. Farmed fish are given pesticides and antibiotics, and are sometimes even injected with dye to make them appear more like their wild counterparts. There are, however, advantages to farmed fish for the world at large: They represent a cheaper and more easily accessible source of protein, and can feed entire communities indefinitely. As far as mercury levels go, in one small study, there was no significant difference between the farmed and wild fish. Remember that mercury toxicity can cause depression, fatigue, hair loss and skin changes. Average American adults eat approximately 15 pounds of fish per year. I think I'll try to make my portion at least two-thirds wild. Thanks for reading "The Pulse," my weekly column on the week's top health and medical news. Here are more stories making headlines this week. Preventing congestive heart failureA new study shows that people over 40 have a 1-in-5 chance of developing congestive heart failure. That risk doubles for people with existing high blood pressure. The disease can result from high blood pressure or heart attacks. Both cause the heart to work harder to pump blood, wearing out the heart and causing it to enlarge and thicken. Over time, the heart can fail. Controlling high blood pressure and preventing coronary artery disease can stave off this potentially deadly condition. Click here for more on the study and to find out how to stay healthy. Fighting Alzheimer's with hormone therapyThe debate over post-menopausal hormone replacement therapy continues. A study published Tuesday found that HRT might help prevent Alzheimer's disease when the drugs are used for more than 10 years. Previous research found hormone replacement therapy to be less beneficial than previously believed, increasing the risk of breast cancer and heart attacks among long-term users. According to this week's study, women who used HRT drugs for at least a decade were 2.5 times less likely to develop Alzheimer's than women who had never used them. Click here to read the findings of the study, and the pros and cons of HRT. Reversing MS with cholesterol drugsA statin drug used to lower heart patients' cholesterol levels has improved and even reversed some of the debilitating symptoms of multiple sclerosis in mice. MS, a degenerative disease of the central nervous system, is thought to occur when the body's immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord. Its symptoms are unpredictable, ranging from fatigue to vision problems and paralysis. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco were able to prevent disease relapse in mice and reduce inflammation in the nervous system. Scientists urge physicians and their patients not to use statins to treat MS until the mice study finding is safely evaluated in humans, which could take several years. Click here for more information on MS and to find out how statins improved MS symptoms in mice.
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