Eating this meal twice a week could increase your chance of skin cancer

While many people think of fish as a healthy meal, a new study shows it may actually increase the chance of skin cancer.

The study, published in the journal Cancer Causes & Control, looked at data from nearly 500,000 adults with an average age of 62. The researchers highlighted details of the participants’ fish-eating habits, how and how often they ate it, and compared it to their incidence of melanoma cases over a 15-year period.

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Photo courtesy of Frankie Frankeny

A breakdown of the results showed a link between fish consumption and melanoma. People who consumed the most fish had 22% more cases of malignant melanoma than those who didn’t consume any fish at all.

“Our results have identified an association that warrants further investigation,” said study author Eunyoung Cho. “We speculate that our results could potentially be traced back to pollutants in fish such as polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, arsenic and mercury.”

Previous studies have found links between fish consumption and cancer, with researchers theorizing that fish exposes people to harmful elements. Still, the researchers don’t fully understand the connection and say the study isn’t enough to make a decision to stop fishing.

The New York Times explains that while there are links between different types of food and cancer, these tend to fade when the findings are viewed as a whole. “Don’t get overwhelmed by this incomplete data, which has yet to be proven,” said Dr. Sancy Leachman, director of the melanoma research program at Oregon Health & Science University. “Hold on to the tried and tested: Eat well, sleep well, exercise well, everything in moderation. That gives you the greatest possible resistance to any kind of disease, including cancer.”

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When it comes to melanoma, it is very important to protect the skin from sun exposure and UV rays as this brings the best benefits when started at a young age. Experts recommend keeping an eye on new marks and stains.