Study: Too much fish increases the risk of skin cancer

Eating two servings of fish per week has been associated with an increased risk of developing fatal skin cancer.

In the UK, the NHS recommends two servings of 140g of fish per week. Researchers in the United States have warned that the amount of fish may increase the risk of malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Bloomberg.

In a new study, researchers at Brown University found that people who ate 42.8 grams of fish per day, or about 300 grams per week, were 22% more likely to develop malignant melanoma than those who ate just 3.2 grams of fish per week. .

More fish increases the risk of infection

For those who ate more fish, the risk of developing abnormal cells in the outer layer of the skin, which is a precursor to malignant melanoma, was 28 percent. The study was published in the journal Cancer Causes & Control It is based on 491,367 American adults. The average age of the study participants was 62 years old.

The researchers used study participants’ data about how often and how much fish they ate and calculated the frequency of new cases of malignant melanoma that had developed over a 15-year period using data from cancer registries. Factors that might influence the outcome, such as weight, alcohol intake, family history of smoking, exposure to sunlight, and average UV levels in the participants’ immediate areas, were considered.

Nothing to do with fried fish

1 percent of study participants developed malignant melanoma during the study period and 7 percent developed melanoma. When the results were divided, the researchers found that a total intake of non-fried fish was associated with a higher risk of malignant melanoma. However, researchers did not find any significant association between eating fried fish and skin cancer.

“We expect that our results can be attributed to contaminants present in fish, such as PCBs, dioxins, arsenic, and mercury,” says the study author. Eunyoung Cho for Bloomberg.

In previous research, researchers found that eating more fish is associated with higher levels of pollutants in the body, but the current study did not examine concentrations of pollutants in the body, so more research is needed to control it.

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