Fish is good to eat
Eating fish is now known to be part of a healthy diet and supporting evidence from medical and scientific research continues to accumulate. That is why many health and food advisory bodies around the world recommend regular consumption of fish, especially the more oily fish such as salmon.
The main reason that oily fish such as salmon are believed to be an important contributor to a healthy diet is that these fish are rich sources of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids that confer most of the health benefits. That is not all though, fish are also excellent sources of some important vitamins and minerals, providing them in a form that is easily digested and taken up by the human body.
There are several naturally occurring omega-3 fatty acids and they are all built around a chain of carbon atoms. The important omega-3 fatty acids found in fish are known as EPA and DHA and they have 20 and 22 carbon atoms respectively. These are the ones that are active in the human body. Omega-3 fatty acids can be found in plants but they are shorter, for example a common one, ALA, has 18 carbon atoms. To deliver health benefits it needs to be lengthened but human metabolism has a very limited ability to do this.
Top of the list of health benefits must be cardiovascular health, that is the health of the heart and circulatory system. Here the evidence has been gathered from literally tens of thousands of people. Other strong evidence indicates benefits for inflammatory conditions such as arthritis and asthma, and for mental health conditions ranging from depression and dementia to childhood learning difficulties. Many more health aspects have been linked with the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids such as male fertility, eyesight and a healthy nervous system.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (the “FAO”) the demand for seafood is expected to grow at a faster rate than most main food product categories. The following factors have been identified as the main drivers for increasing per capita consumption: increasing standards of living and the growth in the world population.
