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We prefer to eat canned tuna, fish fingers and frozen salmon. But is that wise?
It is hard to believe that so little fish is eaten in a country with so much water: only once every three weeks. People over 50 do slightly better, they eat almost 20 percent more fish than the average Dutch person. Yet even fish lovers eat fish no more than three times a month.
Hearing and memory
While fish contain such special, healthy fats: the omega-3 fish fatty acids. These are not only good for the heart and blood vessels, there are also indications that these fats are good for hearing and the brain. People who eat a lot of fish have less chance of hearing loss and their memory lasts longer. That is why the Nutrition Center recommends eating a portion of fish of 100 to 150 grams twice a week, once of which is fatty fish. The richest in omega-3 fish fatty acids are eel, mackerel and sardines; fish species that are not very popular in the Netherlands. How healthy are the top three most eaten fish species? And how can it be healthier?
Canned tuna
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Tuna is a lean fish. For example, canned tuna in water contains few calories. This seems to be an advantage for many people, but can also be regarded as a disadvantage. Few calories means little fat in fish and it is precisely that fish fat that is so healthy.
– Downside
Along with, for example, haddock, tilapia and pollock, tuna is one of the fish species that contain the least omega-3 fish fatty acids. To get the recommended amount of fish fatty acids, you should eat more than one kilogram of tuna per week. The downside is that tuna is an endangered species.
! Tip
The fact that canned tuna is most eaten is probably because canned fish is easy to use. It is ready-to-use and has a long shelf life. But that also applies to other, healthier fish. On average, canned salmon provides six times as much fish fatty acids, canned sardines eight times as much and canned mackerel takes the cake with more than ten times as much.
Fish sticks
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Fish fingers are usually cod or pollock and therefore lean, but unfortunately, the breading layer absorbs a lot of cooking fat. In any case, choose healthy cooking fats such as liquid baking and frying products or oil when preparing fish fingers. Or bake the fish fingers in the oven.
– Downside
Fish fingers provide you with just as little omega-3 fish fatty acids as tuna.
! Tip
Fish fingers are popular because of the convenience: can be stored in the freezer, ready quickly, no bones, and you can’t go wrong. But that also applies to fish fillets from the freezer. After thawing, they usually only need to be baked for four to six minutes, comparable to a hamburger or tartar. Do you mainly choose fish fingers because of the neutral taste and do you not like other types of fish? Then consider fish fingers to which extra omega-3 fish fatty acids have been added. This gives you 50 percent of your recommended weekly intake of fish fatty acids.
Not a fan of fish?
Then fish oil capsules and foods enriched with fish fatty acids offer a solution to still get the recommended amount of fish fatty acids. Make sure that there are real fish fatty acids (recognizable by EPA and DHA). Only omega-3 on the packaging does not say everything, because often it concerns the vegetable variant: alpha-linolenic acid, which has a more limited effect. You can add up the amounts of EPA and DHA per daily serving to see to what extent you are getting the recommended daily amount of 450 mg.
Salmon from the freezer
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Salmon is the only fish in the top three that is naturally fat and thus rich in omega-3 fish fatty acids. With a serving of 100 to 150 grams, you have more than 70 percent of the recommended weekly amount. Not only fresh salmon is rich in omega-3, that also applies to frozen, canned and smoked salmon. Fish fatty acids are well preserved during freezing, canning or smoking. Smoked salmon does contain a lot of salt, something that we have to reduce because of blood pressure.
– Downside
Oily fish such as salmon may contain contaminants such as dioxin, mercury and, in the case of farmed salmon, also antibiotics. Still, the benefits of oily fish far outweigh the drawbacks, provided you limit yourself to a maximum of 600 grams of oily fish per week; converted that is no less than four to six servings. A maximum of 300 grams of fatty fish per week is recommended for pregnant women.
! Tip
For variety, alternate salmon with other fatty fish that are rich in omega-3 fish fatty acids, such as mackerel, herring, sardines and eel. Just don’t eat (self-caught) eel from the major Dutch rivers, because they can contain too much dioxin. Most store-bought eels are farmed eels, where this problem is much less prevalent.
The Nutrition Center recommends eating fish twice a week, once of which is oily fish.
Top ten most eaten fish species
(fatty fish are in bold)
- Canned tuna
- Fish fingers (frozen)
- salmon (freezer)
- Pangasius (frozen)
- Herring
- Saithe (frozen)
- Sour herring
- Smoked salmon
- fresh salmon
- Smoked mackerel
Source: GfK annual fish consumption figures
Sources):
- Plus Magazine