Deadly skin cancer linked to eating two portions of fish per week, study finds

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Eating two portions of fish per week has been linked to an increased risk of skin cancer, despite it being the nutritional recommended daily allowance.

According to a new study, eating this amount of fish each week could be putting people at risk of malignant melanoma - the deadliest form of skin cancer.

However, the NHS advises that a healthy, balanced diet should include at least two portions of fish a week, with a serving weighting 140g (4.9oz).

The NHS also recommend that at least one portion should be an oily fish, such as salmon or mackerel.Other experts have said fish is an important healthy food and people should continue to eat it.In the new research, experts from Brown University found that people whose typical daily intake of fish was 42.8g (equivalent to about 300g per week) had a 22% higher risk of malignant melanoma than those whose typical daily fish intake was just 3.2g.Those eating more fish also had a 28% increased risk of developing abnormal cells in the outer layer of the skin only – known as stage zero melanoma or melanoma in situ (also sometimes referred to as pre-cancer).The findings were based on a study of 491,367 US adults and published in the journal Cancer Causes & Control.Those in the study were aged 62 years on average and reported how often they ate fried fish, non-fried fish, and tuna during the previous year as well as their portion sizes.The researchers then calculated the frequency of new melanoma cases that developed over 15 years using data obtained from cancer registries.They took into account factors that could influence the results, such as people’s weight, whether they smoked or drank alcohol, diet, family history of cancer and average UV radiation levels in their local area (to