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Nutritional Value and Associated Potentials Risks of Seafood Consumption
Summary
This review discusses both the nutritional benefits and food safety risks of seafood consumption, noting that while fish provides essential omega-3 fatty acids and reduces heart disease risk, seafood can also expose people to mercury, heavy metals, PAHs, and microplastics. The piece advocates for informed seafood choices rather than avoiding seafood entirely.
Seafood provides essential nutrients to the body. A study funded by CDC found that eating seafood for essential Omega-3 fatty acids can prevent 84,000 deaths each year. According to a Harvard study, 3-ounce servings of fatty fish a week reduces the risk of dying from heart disease by nearly 40%. Eating 8 two servings of fish per week during pregnancy can improve baby's IQ, cognitive development, and eye health. Older adults with the highest fish consumption live and average of 2.2 years longer. But all these statements possess another side of the coin. Food-born poisoning, mercury-leadarsenic-cadmium poisoning, exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) raised the issue of safety with aberrant consumption of seafoods. Seafood choices that are very low in mercury include: salmon, sardines, pollock, flounders, cod, tilapia, shrimp, oysters, clams, scallops and crab. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have developed the following advice to help consumers minimize risks that could be associated with mercury in seafood.