Well then, I guess it is a good thing that I don't like Tilapia. I think it is a very bland tasteless fish.

Ann

I really like tilapia, so I had to dig a little further. It seems that farm raised tilapia (maybe other farm raised fish as well?) contain more omega 6 fatty acids than wild caught fish. I found an article on omega 6 fatty acids, and while it is an essential fatty acid, it seems that our American diets contain too much omega 6 fatty acids in proportion to omega 3. Here's an excerpt from an article I found and I will leave a link to the whole article:

"North American and Israeli diets tend to have too much omega-6, particularly in relation to omega-3 fatty acids. This imbalance contributes to long-term diseases such as heart disease, cancer, asthma, arthritis, and depression. A healthy diet should consist of roughly one omega-3 fatty acids to four omega-6 fatty acids. A typical American diet, however, tends to contain 11 to 30 times more omega-6 than omega-3 fatty acids."

And "Most omega-6 fatty acids are consumed in the diet from vegetable oils as linoleic acid (LA; be careful not to confuse this with alpha-linolenic acid [ALA] which is an omega-3 fatty acid)."

I think that it's the omega-6 from vegetable oil in our diet that is causing more problems. Perhaps frying farm raised tilapia in vegetable oil is not the thing to do...lol!

Here is a link that might be useful: Omega-6 Fatty Acids

Science is so confusing. I'll stick to the wisdom of our grandmothers: "Everything in moderation"

"I'll stick to the wisdom of our grandmothers: 'Everything in moderation.'"

My grandmothers both said that too right up until they died.

Seriously though I think that is supposed to mean that a little bit of bad is ok here and there. But that implies that you know what is bad versus what is good.

Talipia, that's my favorite fish..probably because it is tasteless. Well,, I'm back to drinking coffee and wine... guess I can cut out the fish... not!

I agree with you, mimsic..

then again one of my favorites quotes is

"Everything in moderation, including moderation!"
...which I guess sort of goes with this post since it is just as confusing and funny as trying to figure what foods are really good or bad for you.

We just had a similar discussion on the corn and cattle thread about grain feeding animals which were never meant to eat that type of diet. Now the tilapia article says it's "thanks to a large-scale corruption of the American food chain with cheap corn feed. That has altered the composition of fats found in beef, chicken, eggs and farmed fish, such as catfish and tilapia. In tests, the researchers found that grain-fed tilapia concentrated even more of the worst fats than did grain-fed beef".

Sigh. I'm going to go out tonight and give Red Cow a carrot, just because she's been deprived of corn her whole life, as have her progeny (which are my beef). I wonder if I could grown my own tilapia? LOL

Annie

I saw this article and sighed - we have tilapia in our freezer. Fortunately (unfortunately?) most of it's gone.

Guess we could fry it in olive oil and make up for the oil??? Just kidding, probably wouldn't work.

Tilapia is a staple of the community food coop that we've participated in, in the past. The article is probably correct - because it's cheap.

DonnaR/CA

Give it another 6 months.

There will be another study about how if Americans ate nothing BUT farmed tilapia it would cure everything from stuffy noses to hemorrhoids, make our teeth shiny, and save us half off our gas bill.

I agree with Kframe. Go ahead and enjoy your Tilapia. Personally I like fish that has flavor.

I knew there was a reason I don't like tilpia- tastes muddy to me :-P

Mark Bittman's fish book (1994)on Tilapia: "More and more, we're seeing tilapia in fish markets being sold as a substitute for red snapper and other whole fish. But every farm-raised tilapia I've ever had (and all the tilapia sold here is farm-raised) has had an undesirable, muddy flavor. I avoid this fish when I see it, and recommend that you do also."

There are no tilapia recipes included in the book but he lists other common names as Mouthbrooder, St Peter's Fish, Nile Perch and says to see Porgy and sea bass for suitable recipes.

I just bought a bunch of frozen Tilapia on sale 2 packages for $3.99. Should have known it was too good to be true.

Below is the link to Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood watch report on Tilapia. I just bought some IQF fillets from Malaysia (I think) and they don't taste muddy at all.

I stay away from ALL Chinese tilapia (and other Chinese imported stuff) and any tilapia 'products', including restaurant fare, because most likely it is Chinese and will not only taste muddy, but it will be raised in polluted waters.

Trader Joes tilapia: http://regalsprings.com/aboutus.html

Kframe, you are SO right!

(yes Tilapia is very mild/tasteless. Thats why I sauce/season it. Its not my favorite fish, but I include it in my diet for variety and to support farmers in developing countries. I do keep asking where to get US farmed tilapia, no luck)

Here is a link that might be useful: Tilapia at Seafood watch

You can't believe everything you read - one study does not make it so - lots of research is flawed. Keep in mind people used to think margarine was good for you.

I am thinking it might be easier and more reliable to claim something is bad for you than that it is good for you. It seems that more foods have gone from "good" to "bad" than the other way around.

Can you think of anything that went from being bad to being good? Offhand I can think of two: Eggs, which still need a disclaimer about quantity and current health condition. And red wine, which is still pretty questionable because supposedly you would need to drink alcoholic levels to see the benefit.

I'm still waiting for bacon to be good for me - It's been more than six months, LOL!

I agree that tilapia is tasteless, not to mention mushy.

"I'm still waiting for bacon to be good for me..."

YESSSS!!!!

It was on sale this week as a twofer. It looked good. I passed... reluctantly, scared by my cardiologist.

Jim

All farm rasied fish is tasteless and mushy. That is whay they can't can farm rasied salmon. Anne I have a pond with bass and catfish the fish eat what they catch. They are good until the middle of summer then the water gets too warm and we don't eat them until after it rains a couple times. I heard coffee, red wine and pot is good for you...go figure.

"That is whay they can't can farm rasied salmon." Atlantic salmon is farm raised according to "fish experts". It's getting risky to eat fish these days. Isn't it wonderful how we've ruined all the good food we have been used to?

I agree with Acorn on all farm raised fish tasting mushy and tasteless. They do farm raise salmon but those salmon are mushy and their flavor is nothing like a wild salmon. Of course I admit to being a salmon snob. I'll only eat red, silver and king salmon.

I won't buy farm raised fish.

Before I make any lifestyle or diet changes based on a 'study', I check to see who provided the grant or funding for it. Who knows if it wasn't funded by the National Beef Council (it wasn't in this case) to show that a burger is healthier than a fried tilapia sandwich?