Choose You Blog

Earlier this week on the news I heard the question that fishing communities (like the one on the waterfront in mine) have dreaded: is seafood from the Gulf dangerous? Can it give me cancer?

In my town, the peninsula on which our entire fishing community operated — boat piers for the fishing and shrimping vessels and shacks for selling the day’s catch — was pretty much completely wiped out by Hurricane Ike (you know, the other hurricane, immediately after Katrina, the one everyone forgets all the time, the one that wiped out this coast here in Texas, the coast that seriously, one person said to me, “Well if Texas seceded your damage wouldn’t be our problem anyway.” Nice. As if feeling like the Jan Brady of the Gulf Coast wasn’t enough already, “Katrina Katrina Katrina.”). After Ike, that fishing community rebuilt itself so quickly I was surprised, and they came back better and nicer than ever. They really didn’t need a massive oil spill…but then, who did?

The areas where they fish have been declared safe, and there’s pretty stringent restrictions on fishing and selling of fish, anyway — even if buying out of a waterfront shanty seems pretty casual. Local sellers have begun advertising “non-Gulf” seafood or “farmed seafood” as well as “oil-free seafood.” But that’s locally — what do the people in the rest of the US where bulk seafood is shipped see?

Apparently nothing reassuring and they’d rather not take the risk — and apparently, according to the news story I heard — that’s because they’re afraid it will give them cancer. Not just from the oil, but from the other agents, such as dispersing agents. But lest you focus too heavily on dangers of domestic Gulf seafood, consider the story that imported seafood was discovered to be contaminated with antibiotics and chemicals, which have been linked to cancer and anemia according to this news article.

I’m no expert so I don’t know if any seafood — domestic or imported — is truly safe or has the potential to cause cancer (and I’m not sure if anyone knows), and truthfully, it doesn’t seem as if the FDA has a solid track record of perfect food safety, but when it comes to domestic products, I have  a much higher level of faith. The FDA and NOAA are working together to systematically test the nesting beds and water for popular Gulf seafood. I’m pretty sure right now they are hyperaware of the microscope they are under, and I feel certain their vigilance is set to high.

All of this is beyond my control, though. I can only control what decisions I make, and truthfully, I love my Gulf seafood and if the FDA says it’s safe, I’m going to trust that. That’s me.

What else I can control are the things that we know for sure harm my health and have a higher chance of causing cancer, for example:

According to a new study published in Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, “People with bigger waists had a higher risk of death from causes including respiratory illnesses, heart disease and cancer.

Other research has linked waist size to dementia, heart disease, asthma and breast cancer.

Bulging bellies are a problem for most Americans older than 50. It’s estimated that more than half of older men and more than 70% of older women have waistlines that are bigger than recommended. It’s a growing problem: Average waistlines have expanded by about one inch per decade since the 1960s.”

What’s the solution? The Wall Street Journal article includes that tidbit too:

“Even if you haven’t had a noticeable weight gain, if you notice your waist size increasing that’s an important sign,” said the study’s lead author, Eric Jacobs, strategic director of pharmacoepidemiology at the American Cancer Society, which funded the study. “It’s time to eat better and start exercising more,” Dr. Jacobs said.

There are more headlines about healthy, low fat eating (which for me, includes fish):

Study Links Processed Red Meat to Bladder Cancer (WebMD News)
Eating large amounts of processed red meats may raise the risk for developing bladder cancer, according to a new study. (Examines study from ACS journal CANCER)

Mediterranean diet tied to lower breast cancer risk (Reuters)
Women who follow a traditional Mediterranean diet may have a lower risk of developing breast cancer after menopause than women with different eating habits, a new study suggests.

Obesity Rates Keep Rising, Troubling Health Officials (The New York Times)
Americans are continuing to get fatter and fatter, with obesity rates reaching 30 percent or more in nine states last year, as opposed to only three states in 2007, health officials reported on Tuesday.

A food bill we need (The Washington Post)
Last spring, a class of fifth-grade students from Bancroft Elementary School in the District descended on the South Lawn of the White House to help us dig, mulch, water and plant our very first kitchen garden. In the months that followed, those same students came back to check on the garden’s progress and taste the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor. Together, they helped us spark a national conversation about the role that food plays in helping us all live healthy lives.

We know about the well-known, well-studied links to cancer, heart disease and overall health problems: unhealthy diets, obesity, lack of exercise, smoking, unprotected skin, and not getting regular checkups.

Hence the planks in the Choose You platform:

• Eat right
• Get active
• Quit smoking
• Get regular health checks
• Protect my skin

I’m not saying we shouldn’t keep out a close ear and eye when it comes to Gulf seafood. I’m just saying, choose to eliminate it or keep it in, either way, but make sure whichever way you go, you focus on the things you can control, which are the choices you make towards good health.

Big fear from scares such as “dispersing agents create cancer causing shrimp”  can make me want to throw up my hands in a big, “What’s the point anyway, if one thing won’t get me another one will!” But I think that’s focusing on things I can’t control versus things I can. Whatever happens, I want to know I did what I could.

So I’ll eat fish, exercise, wear sunscreen, see my doctor,  and stay healthy. On the Gulf.