Do you want more industry news? Our columnists have a keen eye for the most interesting, relevant and (let’s face it) bizarre aquaculture stories from across the world. Each weekday we scour the internet for top-notch news and package it for your perusal in one neat daily digest.
http://theaquaculturists.blogspot.co.uk
I
i i i i i i i i i
i i i i i i i i i i
T
he Marlborough District Council and the Ministry for Primary Industries will establish a Marlborough Sounds Salmon Working Group to consider options to implement the Best Management Practice Guidelines for Salmon Farming in the Marlborough Sounds (the guidelines). Other agencies that will have input into the process include the Department of Conservation and the Ministry for the Environment. The working group will meet starting in July and provide recommendations to Marlborough District Council and the Government on implementing the guidelines. Ministry for Primary Industries Deputy Director General Ben Dalton said the public, the council, government and industry have shown a commitment to implement the guidelines. “These guidelines were developed by local and central government, industry and scientists in 2014 to set out recommendations for sustainable salmon farming in the Sounds. “The next step is to work with iwi, the community and industry to look at options for salmon farming in the Marlborough Sounds so that the best environmental, social and economic outcomes are being realised,” he said. Working group membership is currently being finalised. It will include representation from Marlborough District Council, Ministry for Primary Industries, key community and interest groups, iwi and New Zealand King Salmon. Marlborough Mayor Alistair Sowman welcomed the constructive approach being taken by all parties in the search for solutions. “The best practice guidelines were aimed at meeting the needs of the community and continuing to be a world leader in sustainable aquaculture. It’s vital we work alongside each other to ensure those guidelines can be met,” said Mr Sowman. The working group’s recommendations will not be binding, but will inform future planning work for both the Marlborough District Council and central government.
i i i i i i i i i i
New Zealand: Marlborough Sounds Salmon Working Group to be established
i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i
i i i i i i i i i
i i i i i i i i i
i i i i i i i i i
News
Ioannis Zabetakis
Dietary interventions vs Statins
n 1952, the first informal explorative pilot studies on human diets took place in Italy, Japan, Spain and South Africa and those first data have been used in the experimental designing of the first phase (1958-1983) of the “Seven Countries Study” (SCS). The SCS suggested an association between serum cholesterol and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, this association was not consistent across the various cohorts of participants in different countries. The link was very clear in US and Northern European cohorts but it was rather weak in Southern European and Japanese cohorts. Nevertheless, the SCS triggered research into cholesterol-lowering drug strategies, ultimately leading to the development of statins amongst others. The clinical evidence in support of statins is strong but statins aim to lower serum LDL-cholesterol whereas the SCS has shown that people with high serum cholesterol do not necessarily face increased cardiovascular risk! So, today, the vast majority of the medical community advocate (unfortunately!) these drugs as highly effective first-line therapeutics in primary and secondary prevention of CVDs without considering the human’s diet habits or blood data (i.e. if they follow the Mediterranean diet guidelines or what are the blood levels of HDL-cholesterol – the good cholesterol). There is constantly growing evidence of side-effects associated with statins in a significant proportion of patients suggesting that these drugs are not a universal solution to CVDs! We need, therefore, to revisit the evidence and to re-appraise the relative importance of cholesterol amongst many other lipids as potential modulators of atherogenesis. Do all people need statins or actually statins make things worse? What are the relative merits of statin therapy? How can dietary interventions that impact on lipids other than cholesterol, including omega-3 fatty acids and polar lipid fractions of various foods (e.g. fish), help in our attempt to decrease cardiovascular risk? We suggest that careful design around the lipid components of dietary interventions presents a credible alternative in patients who are intolerant to statins or averse to taking such drugs. Further reading The Seven Countries Study - www.sevencountriesstudy.com Lipids and cardiovascular disease: where does dietary intervention sit alongside statin therapy? Food Funct., 2016,7, 2603-2614 DOI: 10.1039/C6FO00024J http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2016/fo/ c6fo00024j#!divAbstract ioannis.zabetakis@ul.ie @yanzabet After an Academic career spanning 12 years in the Univ. of Athens, Ioannis joined University of Limerick (UL) as a Lecturer on Food Lipids where the ongoing focus of his work will be towards the cardioprotective properties of food lipids with particular emphasis on dairy and aquaculture products.
International Aquafeed - July | August 2016 | 7