BOOK REVIEW
THE OMEGA PRINCIPLE:
SEAFOOD AND THE QUEST FOR A LONG LIFE AND A HEALTHIER PLANET Review by Ursula Arens Writer; Nutrition & Dietetics
PAUL GREENBERG PUBLISHER: PENGUIN PRESS 2018 ISBN: 978-1594206344 HARDBACK £20.81
Ursula has a degree in dietetics, and currently works as a freelance nutrition writer. She has been a columnist on nutrition for more than 30 years.
The book cover to The Omega Principle is vanilla-plain. The title: long-winded and unremarkable. But don’t let cover or title deceive you. This book is firecracker amazing: a beautiful, shimmering text about omega-3s and the bait-ball of complexity around finding fish and eating fish. It pulls together nutritional and Of course, dietitians will love, most environmental aspects of fish con- of all, his discussions of the medical sumption. Was there ever a more aspects of omega-3. He describes the whirling current of hot debate? Paul theories of the role of dietary omega-3s Greenberg loves fish and loves writing: in human evolutionary development. his expert thoughts are as carefully He describes historical records of and beautifully presented as a plate of fish eating. He describes the early sushi. This book gets the Ursula Arens observations of fish and health in the award for best book of 2018 for dietitian diets of Eskimos (Inuits) and Japanese. readers! He describes the early The book contains research strongly sugPaul constantly seven chapters, each a gesting highly CHDseparate theme looking protective effects of scatters polished at one aspect of fish jewels of information diets high in oily fish. eating or fish catching. But somehow, the more so your inner Paul constantly scatters recent intervention voice has to keep polished jewels of trials have produced information so your weaker and more dilute shouting, “Wow inner voice has to keep observations of the so, interesting.” shouting, “Wow – so, potency of omega-3s. interesting.” He is also Greenberg asks for a master of the hairpin turn. He will guidance from a biostatistician. Martina set up a hypothesis and describe some Pavlicova critiques lumping together data: as you are lulled into a false sense of different outcomes: 1% reductions in of comfort, he then pulls out fresh data cardiac deaths are valid benefits from and finishes with a contrary conclusion. fish-eating, but are lost when pulled It is because he is such a skilled writer together with general sudden death and master of the subject, that you and stroke/heart attack data. Also, (the reader) enjoy his theme jumps inflammation-reduction effects of statins and playful spins of the data. Because may mask the smaller and weaker his obvious overall conclusion is that effects of omega-3s. When omega-3s are fish science and fish politics are very put under research spotlights, claimed important but very complex. benefits appear to fade. www.NHDmag.com December 2018/January 2019 - Issue 140
49
BOOK REVIEW
The tone of the book becomes bleaker as he investigates global fish stocks . . . He freezes in the Antarctic while observing the scooping up of tons of krill (now banned).
Greenberg concedes some of the omega-3 trial flops, but swims back with the observation that consistent better health outcomes always seem to contain omega-3s; something he describes as the Forrest Gump effect. In the way that the film character Forrest Gump always appears central to various important events in US history, so omega-3s always seem to be the marker for good health in individuals and also more widely in the food chain. Perhaps this short description does not fully reveal the picture he paints, but I found this metaphor as clever and as enjoyable as the Forrest Gump film. His conclusions are that omega-3s are not the hero, but always the ‘good guy’ in human diets. The tone of the book becomes bleaker as he investigates global fish stocks. He goes out with fishermen looking for scarce anchovies in the Mediterranean. He describes the Peruvian industry for anchoveta fishing. He freezes in the Antarctic while observing the scooping up of tons of krill (now banned). He boils in the desert learning about algal omega-3 production. He attends long dry meetings politicking about Menhaden fishing licensing on the north-east coast of the USA. Of course, declines in fish stock are almost yesterday’s news: we have heard 50
it hundreds of times. But Paul peels the layers of the-how and the-why of the crisis and most insightfully gives his thoughts on what should be done. One earnest proposal: the reigning in of the reductionist industry. This refers to fish caught not for direct human consumption, but rather marine product caught for processing into fish oil, animal feed or fertilizer. There is an urgent need to put an economic cost onto environmentally damaging practices, and vacuuming up fish to convert to fertilizer must be decried, especially as slight shifts in current practice (as Paul Greenberg describes) can result in equal outcomes. Paul concludes with pragmatic advice on fish eating and even dishes out a few fishy recipes. The book provides 20 pages of dense referencing for those who want to fact-check his claims. I have especially noted his list of three pending research projects due out in the next year or so, examining omega-3 interventions (the REDUCEIT, STRENGTH and the VITAL studies). The book shows perfect mastery of a technically complex subject, presented in prose as pearlescent as the belly skin of a fresh mackerel. This is one book on my shelf that will never go to the charity shop.
www.NHDmag.com December 2018/January 2019 - Issue 140