Nutrition
Fish: A Valuable Food
Fish is a valuable food with many health benefits. It provides essential omega-3 fatty acids, choline, and taurine for brain function, as well as iodine and selenium for thyroid health.
Nutrition
Fish is a valuable food with many health benefits. It provides essential omega-3 fatty acids, choline, and taurine for brain function, as well as iodine and selenium for thyroid health.
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Did you also have fish to eat on Good Friday? We think it's a wonderful tradition.
Although the early Christians certainly knew nothing about omega-3 fatty acids, they instinctively made an excellent choice with fish.
Because fish has so many advantages (and unfortunately a few drawbacks) that we want to show you in this blog post. Ready? Let's go!
As already mentioned, fish is considered very healthy primarily because of its omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.
We've already covered the topic of omega-3 extensively in previous posts and across numerous Instagram posts and blog entries. However, what is rarely mentioned in this context are phospholipids, which are one of the forms in which EPA and DHA are present in fish.
The omega-3 fatty acids in fish don't exist only as triglycerides, but also as phospholipids. These are the fats that form the cell membrane around every cell.
What's special about this? There is evidence that phospholipids can deliver omega-3 fatty acids to the brain more effectively than triglycerides.¹
Phospholipids from marine organisms provide us not only with essential fatty acids, but also with choline. Choline is essential for good brain function and as protection against fatty liver disease.
And don't forget, the high content of taurine, which is also important for brain function. Fish makes you smarter, in a way ;-) No joke: taurine, omega-3, and similar compounds are recognized in scientific circles as brain-specific nutrients—substances that are important for brain function.
The entire body can benefit from fish: with its high biological value, fish protein is an optimal protein source. Evolutionarily speaking, fish has always been an important part of the human diet and was certainly a factor in human development, as humans have always preferred to live near rivers, lakes, and seas.
An umbrella review—a summary of multiple reviews—came to this conclusion:
**«There is evidence that higher fish consumption can reduce the risk of total and cardiovascular mortality, as well as coronary heart disease, heart attack, heart failure, stroke, and depression.»**²
That certainly sounds good!
And fish also brings something for the thyroid: iodine and selenium. These two substances are essential for the formation of thyroid hormones. Selenium is needed especially in combating oxidative stress.
A few years ago, a selenium-containing "wonder substance" called selenonein was discovered in tuna fish. Not only is it a very powerful antioxidant, but it can presumably help with mercury detoxification and thus reduce the harmful effects of the highly toxic methylmercury that unfortunately contaminates many fish species.³
And here we arrive at the downsides of fish consumption. Especially large fish, which stand quite high in the food chain, like tuna, are often heavily contaminated with heavy metals. The only solution is to avoid these fish species.
Instead, you can switch to smaller, less contaminated fish. Fish that are lower in the food chain and have a shorter lifespan accumulate fewer heavy metals and other environmental toxins.
Which ones? You can remember them easily with the acronym SMASH:
Sardines Mackerel Anchovies Salmon Herring
We think that's a perfect use of the 2022 youth word of the year ;)
These fish (including trout, though an F wouldn't fit in the acronym) are relatively safe when it comes to heavy metal contamination.
Overfishing is another problematic issue in the context of fish consumption. In this case, both the fish species and the fishing area matter.
For example, herring stocks in the Baltic Sea are already overfished, while the situation in the North Sea is stable. It's worth checking this information before your next shopping trip.
Farmed salmon, by the way, when from certified organic farms, deserves a better reputation than it gets. Consumed occasionally, it's an excellent source of omega-3 and astaxanthin, and may even be less contaminated with pollutants than its wild counterpart.⁴
In conclusion: fish provides us with many important nutrients and can thus be very beneficial for our health. If you choose fish species that are lightly contaminated and not endangered by overfishing, there's nothing wrong with having 1–2 fish meals per week.
In that spirit—enjoy your meal!
Burri, L., Hoem, N., Banni, S. & Berge, K. Marine Omega-3 Phospholipids: Metabolism and Biological Activities. *Int. J. Mol. Sci. *13, 15401–15419 (2012).
Jayedi, A. & Shab-Bidar, S. Fish Consumption and the Risk of Chronic Disease: An Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses of Prospective Cohort Studies. *Adv. Nutr. *11, 1123–1133 (2020).
Little, M. et al. Determinants of selenoneine concentration in red blood cells of Inuit from Nunavik (Northern Québec, Canada). *Environ. Int. *127, 243–252 (2019).
Jensen, I.–J., Eilertsen, K.–E., Otnæs, C. H. A., Mæhre, H. K. & Elvevoll, E. O. An Update on the Content of Fatty Acids, Dioxins, PCBs and Heavy Metals in Farmed, Escaped and Wild Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar L.) in Norway. *Foods *9, 1901 (2020).
