residents are opting to change their diets and exercise habits in a bid to live healthier, more productive lives. In this final installment of a our three-part look into alternative health practices, The Royal Gazette's Kim Dismont Robinson reports on the relationship between healthy oceans and healthy humans Tiny Bermuda consists of a mere 21 square miles of solid land, but the ocean is a huge part of our small world.

Because of location, history and culture, Bermudians have -- by necessity -- been linked to the marine environment. The Atlantic ocean both connects and separates us from the outside world, providing a source of food, beauty and recreation.

Recently the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) held a free symposium centring on the relationship between healthy oceans and human health.

Eight researchers, including Tim Ford from the Harvard School of Public Health, Plymouth University's Michael Depledge and BBSR's Anthony Knap spoke about marine pollution and the ocean's contribution to human health.

In a lecture entitled "A Healthy Ocean's Contribution to our Medicine Chest'', BBSR's Hank Trapido-Rosenthal discussed the number of medical breakthroughs made possible or promised through marine research.

Dr. Trapido-Rosenthal said some marine-based pharmaceuticals are already on the market; meanwhile science continues to study the vast medicinal potential of the ocean's creatures.

For example, there is a type of carnivorous snail found primarily in the Pacific which paralyses its prey by injecting it with venom.

In small doses however, the venom can be used to soothe people who are suffering from constant, persistent pain.

Sponges like those found in Bermuda's deep waters may hold the key to fighting the scourge of the elderly -- osteoporosis -- and maybe even cancer.

And a chemical found naturally in shark skin may be used to fight bacterial infections in people allergic to penicillin.

"When we think about biodiversity, we tend to think about the rainforest... let's also be aware of the biodiversity of the marine environment,'' said Dr. Trapido-Rosenthal.

"Biological resources in the marine environment have the potential to make major contributions to the maintenance of human health.'' University of Guelph professor Bruce Holub gave a lecture entitled "Omega-3 Fatty Acids: A Gift to Human Health from the Sea''.

And here's the good news -- research indicates that by eating two to three servings of fish per week, you can significantly lower your risk of heart attack.

Dr. Holub pointed to research between Americans and Japanese subjects -- and how the dramatically lower risk of heart attack in Japan is associated with a diet high in fish oil.

Dr. Holub explained that DHA and EPA, essential nutrients for brain and retina function, play an important role in preventing cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's Disease, and other inflammatory and auto-immune diseases.

DHA and EPA help reduce risk of heart attack because of "a weak, aspirin-like effect'' which helps to reduce blood "clumping''.

For infants, the only source of these essential nutrients is in mother's breast milk, since DHA and EPA is not found in commercial baby formulas in the US.

And Dr. Holub noted that low levels of DHA have been found in cases of particular types of schizophrenia and chronic depression.

Unfortunately for strict vegetarians, EPA and DHA are found exclusively in fish -- although some omega-3 can be found in canola oil, flaxseed and soybeans. But there's only about a ten percent ability to convert that source into the essential nutrient.

Dr. Holub notes that the key in reducing the risk of heart attack may lie in the type, rather than quantity of fat we consume -- "we need to focus on decreasing the bad fats and increasing the good fats''.

Bermudian researcher Phillipe Max Rouja conducted a study on fish nutrition and fishing strategies in 1993 which focused on a group of aboriginal Australians called the Bardi people.

In his study, Dr. Rouja discovered the Bardi were particularly interested in consuming fat sea animals, presumably because they were aware of the health benefits -- and even consumed the fat found on the intestines of certain fish.

He noted the Bardi put cultural restrictions on fishing and fish consumption so as not to deplete their fish supply base.

"There are two classes of fish the Bardi consume -- the fish that are fat all year long and fish that are seasonably fat,'' said Dr. Rouja.

"The fat fish are highly ritualised in Bardi culture -- they're consumed by children, older people and pregnant women,'' he added.

Unfortunately not all is well with the world's oceans, and the bad news starts with pollution -- now measured on a global scale -- which is having an impact on marine and human health in ways that are not yet fully understood.

Laval University's Eric Dewailly, a researcher presently on sabbatical at BBSR, has been studying the relationship between the ocean and the diet of Inuit communities in Canada's high north.

He warns pollution is seeping into and contaminating the marine-based food chain on a global scale, with the list of toxins running from the naturally occurring -- such as lead and mercury -- to a witches brew of man-made substances such as DDT, dioxins and PCBs.

And the foetus, breast-fed infants and people in their reproductive years are the most sensitive to pollutants like DDT.

In the foetus, pollution has been linked to undescended testes, damage to brain development, the human immune system and urinary tract.

And Dr. Dewailly said studies indicate that exposure can result in more aggressive cancer tumours in adults.

If one believes in the old adage `you are what you eat', it's a sobering thought indeed.

You are what you eat: A group of scientists who spoke at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research say that in our increasingly interrelated world, we need to become more educated about the relationship between healthy oceans and healthy humans.

Dr. Hank Trapido-Rosenthal Dr. Eric Dewailly CONFERENCE CON SCIENCE SCI