The medical community, whatever that is, has a terrible track record for giving good dietary advice. They are responsible for the old USDA food pyramid that sought to stuff people full of grains, and so made a lot of fat and unhealthy people. They are also responsible for all the wacko fat ideas that have been promulgated, changed, changed again and are still giving bad advice.

their research revealed that farm-raised tilapia, as well as farmed catfish, "have several fatty acid characteristics that would generally be considered by the scientific community as detrimental." Tilapia has higher levels of potentially detrimental long-chain omega-6 fatty acids than 80-percent-lean hamburger, doughnuts and even pork bacon . . .

"For individuals who are eating fish as a method to control inflammatory diseases such as heart disease, it is clear from these numbers that tilapia is not a good choice," the article says. "All other nutritional content aside, the inflammatory potential of hamburger and pork bacon is lower than the average serving of farmed tilapia."

The article notes that the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, known scientifically as "long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids" (PUFAs), have been well documented. The American Heart Association now recommends that everyone eat at least two servings of fish per week, and that heart patients consume at least 1 gram a day of the two most critical omega-3 fatty acids, known as EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).

But, the article says, the recommendation by the medical community for people to eat more fish has resulted in consumption of increasing quantities of fish such as tilapia that may do more harm than good, because they contain high levels of omega-6 fatty acids, also called n-6 PUFAs, such as arachidonic acid. . .

Chilton said tilapia is easily farmed using inexpensive corn-based feeds, which contain short chain omega-6s that the fish very efficiently convert to AA and place in their tissues. This ability to feed the fish inexpensive foods, together with their capacity to grow under almost any condition, keeps the market price for the fish so low that it is rapidly becoming a staple in low-income diets.

"We are all familiar with the classical Hippocratic admonition, Primum no nocere, 'First, do no harm.' I think it behooves us to consider this critical directive when making dietary prescriptions for the sake of health," Chilton said.

"Cardiologists are telling their patients to go home and eat fish, and if the patients are poor, they're eating tilapia. And that could translate into a dangerous situation."

Skip the fish. The farmed stuff is worse than feedlot beef, pork or chicken, and the wild stuff is sometimes laced with heavy metals. Eat grass finished ruminant and you'll get lean meats with well balanced fats high in omega-3 and real DHA/EPA not some phoney precursor as you get with vegetable sources such as flax seed.

Note that the reason the farmed fishes have such unhealthy fat profiles is that they were raised on grain. This is the diet the USDA has recommended for you too.