There is presently a controversy whether or not these fatty acids are helpful in heart disease but some literature seems to indicate so. There is also literature suggesting that omega 3-fatty acids are protective in certain autoimmune diseases and there is some preliminary information suggesting that they are protective against diabetes mellitus. The alternatives to fish are not necessarily very healthy, whether they be TV dinners, or other fast foods. Less fishing also means less physical activity. Less physical activity means more obesity.
More obesity means more diabetes.
This chain of events is very important in the light of the present epidemic of diabetes among natives of northern Canada. Because of the risks involved in giving wrong advice it is important that research continue on mercury to determine more precisely what risks represents low-level chronic exposure to mercury. To obtain this information it will be necessary to develop portable culture-independent automated tools to measure fine neurological deficits in the native communities. It will be necessary to identify cohorts with long term low-level exposure and perform epidemiological studies with these cohorts. It will be necessary to narrow the rang of uncertainty concerning the threshold of mercury effects of the foetus.