Ackee and saltfish can be served with steamed callaloo, boiled bananas and fried plantains. But experts say coconut oil is the healthier choice for preparing this dish. - File

How much truth is there in the charge that ackee, that much loved national dish, is connected to high levels of prostate cancer among Jamaican males? There may be no truth at all, states local nutritionist Paul 'Tehuti' Johnson, who told Outlook, "The evidence that ackee consumption is a reason to explain the high rates of prostate cancer in Jamaica is at best remote and borders on grand speculation."

Johnson bases his opinion on international studies and plain common sense.

Locally, one study linking omega-6 fatty acids to increased PSA levels postulated that, since ackee is rich in omega-6, it can therefore help to explain the very high rates of prostate cancer in Jamaica.

Johnson asks: Is ackee high in omega-6 relative to other foods in the diet?

An analysis of ackee done in Mexico shows that less than 20 per cent of ackee is fat. This is also substantiated by the food composition tables form the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute here in Jamaica.

The fatty acid breakdown of ackee, based on local studies, suggests that just over half of the fat portion of ackee is omega-6. However, there are other omega-6 sources, such as corn oil and soya oil, which are more frequently used than ackee in the Jamaican diet, Johnson notes.

"Corn and soya oils have approaching five times more omega-6 than our ackee. Both have 50 grams of omega-6 per hundred grams of oil."

This fact it may not totally exonerate ackee, is cause for a pause and for some common sense deductions.

According to Paul Johnson, responsible health reformers would be wiser to first single out the corn and soya oils for reduced consumption instead of ackee, which has a much lower consumption rate.

lack of focus

A second question to ask, the nutritionist states, relates to the lack of focus on "the real issues of prostate cancer risk, such as high animal fat consumption."

We should, he contends, "also be finding creative ways to encourage our Jamaican males to participate in earlier screenings."

Paul Johnson states that, in former years, Jamaicans fried the ackee in coconut oil. Today, we use mostly corn or soya oil (many now use 'vegetable' oil but the ingredient is soya oil).

"Unlike corn and soya oil, coconut oil is almost devoid of omega-6, and is more appropriate for frying ackee (and almost anything else). Coconut oil, being saturated, will not break down as readily as corn and soya oils to form cancer-causing free radicals."

It is true that Jamaica has a high incidence of prostate cancer - 304 per 100,000 - but so does the almost non-ackee eating black American male, which is 249 per 100,000, Johnson notes.

In Tobago, preliminary screening results suggest that cancer rates are twice as high as for the black Americans, thus precluding Jamaica from being unique, the nutritionist states, adding that Tobago is not an ackee-eating country as we are.

"The ackee-eating Ivory Coast has a relatively low prostate cancer - 31.4 per 100,000, and the rates increase after they migrate to the United States of America. The Japanese, who have very low rates - two per 100,000 - also experience increase rates after migration to Hawaii. There is no doubt that blacks are more susceptible to prostate cancer than whites are, but the main issue could very well be the western high-fat, high-cholesterol low-activity life style rather than the 'likkle' ackee that Jamaicans treasure as their national dish."

The nutritionist also suggests that those who suspect that avocado (Jamaican pear) is also linked to prostate cancer should note that there is nothing in the literature that suggests this link.

Instead, he says, "One study done on the avocado has demonstrated that it has the ability to inhibit the growth of prostate cancer cells."

Scientific studies demonstrate that a high-cholesterol diet feeds prostate cancer. The fat in avocado (which, incidentally, is the same mono-unsaturated fat in expensive olive oil), lowers LDL or bad cholesterol levels in the body.

Information provided by nutritionist Paul 'Tehuti' Johnson.