The benefits of eating fish
Why is
eating fish healthy?
Fish is a
high-protein, low-fat food that provides a range of health benefits.
White-fleshed fish, in particular, is lower in fat than any other source of
animal protein, and oily fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids, or the
"good" fats. Since the human body can’t make significant amounts of
these essential nutrients, fish are an important part of the diet. Also, fish
are low in the "bad" fats commonly found in red meat, called omega-6
fatty acids.
Why are
omega-3s good for your health?
A growing
body of evidence indicates that omega-3 fatty acids provide a number of health
benefits. They:
- help maintain
cardiovascular health by playing a role in the regulation of blood clotting
and vessel constriction;
- are important
for prenatal and postnatal neurological development;
- may reduce
tissue inflammation and alleviate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis;
- may play a
beneficial role in cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), reducing
depression and halting mental decline in older people.
The omega-3s
found in fish (EPA and DHA) appear to provide the greatest health benefits.
Fish that are high in omega-3s, low in environmental contaminants and
eco-friendly include:
- wild salmon from
Alaska (fresh, frozen and canned),
- Arctic char,
- Atlantic
mackerel,
- sardines,
- sablefish,
- anchovies
- farmed rainbow
trout and
- albacore tuna
from the U.S. and Canada.
What about
fish oil supplements?
Besides
eating fish, another way to consume omega-3 fatty acids is by taking
store-bought supplements. Fish oils come from both fish caught as food for
humans and from small fish caught for animal feed, such as Peruvian anchovies.
A word of
caution: contaminants such as PCBs accumulate in fish oil just as they do in
fish, so make sure to buy capsules that are made from purified fish oil
What are
other sources of omega-3 fatty acids?
Alternative
sources of omega-3s come from terrestrial sources like flaxseed, walnuts and
wheat germ. While still beneficial, these do not appear to provide as a great a
health benefit as the omega-3s found in fish, shellfish and marine algae.
Do the
health benefits of omega-3s outweigh the risks associated with contaminants in
seafood?
Fish is
generally a healthy food source and can be safely eaten in most cases. But
depending on your age and health circumstances, some people should limit the
amounts of fish they eat. Consider the following:
- For young children and women of
childbearing age, excessive consumption of
mercury-contaminated fish can severely impact a child's development.
- Older women and
men may
find it an acceptable tradeoff to exceed recommended seafood meal limits
to increase their omega-3 intake.
- People at high
risk of cardiovascular disease must weigh the cancer risk of
eating fish high in PCBs with the benefits of eating fish high in
omega-3s, in which case the benefits of omega-3s may outweigh the cancer
risk (1 in 100,000 - the level recommended by the EPA). However, these
chemicals are known to cause serious health problems besides cancer, so
the tradeoffs are not simple.
- The good news is
that there are several low-contaminant, high-omega-3 seafood options
available (see list above), so there’s no need to risk eating contaminated
fish.
