Eating Fried Fish Regularly May Increase Your Chances of Having a Stroke

A while back I was one of only eight westerners to be enrolled in the first traditional Japanese incense school ever outside of Japan. It was an interesting experience. We studied under a Shingon Buddhist monk named Daijo. Not only did we learn a lot about the importance of incense in the Buddhist religion, but we also learned a lot about Japanese culture as well.

One time the monk fixed us Sushi to eat. I had never tasted raw fish before, so it was a first time experience for me. The flavor of the fish was OK, kind of bland and fishy tasting though. The thing that I didn't really care for was the texture; kind of rubbery.

After we ate the fish, Daijo gave us some raw ginger to eat. He said that it would help kill off any bad organisms in the fish that could make us sick. It must have worked as I felt fine afterwards.

A couple of months later my friend and I went out to a Japanese sushi restaurant and had dinner. We had the same kind of fish that Daijo had made, but I forgot to eat the raw ginger after we finished. I was sick with a mild nausea for the next few days. I swore never to eat raw fish again. The school disbanded a few months later, so I didn't have to.

I will eat baked fish, but I'm not a big fan of it. Give me a few beer-battered catfish fillets and I'm in hog heaven though. I don't eat fried fish all of the time, but it is a monthly treat. It's a good thing that I don't eat it all the time according to a report published on Medical News Today:

"If you regularly eat fried fish your risk of developing stroke is likely to be higher compared to people who don't, researchers from Emory University, Atlanta wrote in the journal Neurology. Fried fish is frequently consumed in the "Stroke Belt" of the USA, which includes Alabama, Arkansas, N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana."

One of the reasons that fried fish are so bad as far as stroke is concerned is that frying destroys the natural Omega 3 fatty acids that are in the fish. And they are what protect people from heart disease and stroke.

The people living in those southern states that the researchers refer to as the "stroke belt" had a 30% higher chance of consuming at least two servings of fried fish a week than the rest of the country.

The researchers say that the stroke belt may account for some of the disparity between the races as far as stroke percentages go. African Americans tend to eat more fried fish, especially in southern states and they have a much higher chance of suffering a stroke.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/212425.php