Dr. Joe Schwarcz describes his job at Montreal’s McGill University as keeping people out of the “clutches of charlatans.”
Schwarcz, who is director of the university’s Office for Science and Society as well as the author of 10 books on nutrition, said there is a lot of confusing information about food.
Fish are a good example, he told the Saskatchewan Fruit Growers Association’s annual meeting held in Saskatoon Jan. 16 as part of Crop Production Week.
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People are told to eat fish because it is good for the brain and contains omega 3 fats good for the heart. However, recent research has found that some popular fish contain mercury and other toxic compounds because of pollution.
The answer to such a problem is to fall back on the advice of ancient Greek doctors who said food should be our medicine and that the dosage makes the poison.
Schwarz said fish is fine to eat two or three times a week. Only pregnant women and people who eat fish every day should be concerned.
Food becomes a fad when favourable research is reported. He said that’s what made oats and its beta glucans so popular, taking it out of the mouths of horses and onto our plates.
While Cheerios trumpets its oat content, Schwarz said a person would have to eat five servings of the cereal to get the same value as 1½ cups of hot, cooked oatmeal.
Tropicana has fortified some of its fruit juice with omega 3 and a person can consume 50 milligrams of that healthy fat per serving. However, Schwarcz cautioned, remember the dose. The body needs 1,000 mg a day, so consumers would have to drink 20 glasses to get an adequate daily consumption.
He urged people to use food rather than pills and vitamin supplements to keep healthy. He said the best thing they can do is eat more fruit and vegetables, and of different colours and combinations.
