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We Should Be Eating More Canned Fish?

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11–20 of 63 posts

Re: We Should Be Eating More Canned Fish?

#11
post #3

While I completely agree. I think the author could have made a much stronger argument. And whenever I try canned fish from Europe, it's far better than the American brand.

In the US many brands are Portuguese or Italian, unless you’re talking strictly tuna, then yes, most are US brands.

Re: We Should Be Eating More Canned Fish?

#13

I’m very worried about heavy metals, plastics, and chemicals too much to eat any seafood.

Many varieties of tinned fish are very low in mercury, often due to their short lifetimes or shallow depth: https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2014/10/can-eat... (For any readers who haven’t tried a great sardine, look for Matiz, La Gondola, any Portuguese brand, or in France, Rödel.)

Ortiz sardines is where it is at.

Re: We Should Be Eating More Canned Fish?

#14

I’m very worried about heavy metals, plastics, and chemicals too much to eat any seafood.

People get concerned about the toxicity of fish, yet the air they breathe in the polluted city they live it does far more harm than a food can ever do. Not to mention smokers, but the rates of smokers with health concerns about food has been going down, anecdotally speaking.

Seafood is very healthy, the populations that eat a lot of seafood are very healthy, the stories about heavy metals or plastics are blown out of proportion and the toxicity claims is not supported by evidence.

I'm actually far more concerned about the preservation of wild life, with wild fish populations (such as tuna) going down due to over-consumption. I actually seek farmed fish — the omega 3 content might be lower, but the benefits of omega 3 are probably overblown too.

So there might actually be some benefits to the fearmongering, even if irrational ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: We Should Be Eating More Canned Fish?

#15
post #4

I’m very worried about heavy metals, plastics, and chemicals too much to eat any seafood.

The balance of the evidence indicates that the health benefits of fish consumption, particularly omega-3 fats, far outweighs those concerns.

Walnuts apparently have more omega-3 content (by weight) than fish.

Re: We Should Be Eating More Canned Fish?

#16
Fish always freaks me out, because I don't know how to handle it.

Take oil sardines with the starry eyes. Am I supposed to eat the sardine whole, with head, eyes and tailfin? Am I supposed to bite the head off and spit it out? Cut it off?

It's so basic and I feel like an idiot, but I really have no idea.

Re: We Should Be Eating More Canned Fish?

#17
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The balance of the evidence indicates that the health benefits of fish consumption, particularly omega-3 fats, far outweighs those concerns.

I hate to be one of those people demanding sources, but I'm wondering where I can find someone who's carefully weighed the evidence. The article does mention that smaller fish often found canned are lower in the food chain and thus have less mercury, but I would think that you'd have to look carefully at each species, and the sourcing, and the packaging before you could really say the health benefits are worth it.

https://www.amazon.com/Omega-Principle-Seafood-Healthier-Pla...

The author goes into lot of detail.

TLDR 1. Eat small fish like Sardines, Mackerel, Anchovies etc

2. Get your omega 3 index

https://omegaquant.com/

3. Make sure your omega 3 to omega 6 is good

Re: We Should Be Eating More Canned Fish?

#19
No, please don't.

Commercial fishing is not good. Do some research to find the many reasons.

Plastic is not something you want to eat, and fish have increasing amounts of plastic in them.

Same goes for Mercury. Sardines (and probably anchovies) don't have much, but other larger fish do.

Were it not for these problems, then I too would advocate good canned sardines for health. They have higher calcium per weight than any other food or drink. They have a good amount of protein, and of course they have the omega oils.

But the current state of things is such that it would be wise to reduce consumption, not increase it.

Re: We Should Be Eating More Canned Fish?

#20
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The balance of the evidence indicates that the health benefits of fish consumption, particularly omega-3 fats, far outweighs those concerns.

Walnuts apparently have more omega-3 content (by weight) than fish.

Omega-3 doesn't refer to just one thing. Most plant sources of omega-3 are ALA which your body needs to convert to EPA and DHA. Your body isn't very good at making DHA so it is useful to get it directly from your diet. Fish are a good source of DHA.
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