Healthiest Fish

Oct 14

2009

The healthiest fish are excellent sources of protein, beneficial omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs), vitamin A and vitamin D. Most people do not take in nearly enough of these nutrients, so including fish in the diet on a regular basis seems like a good plan, doesn’t it?

Before you head out to the fish market or your favorite sushi bar, though, you need to understand the potential problems associated with eating lots of fish.

The first problem is that many types of fish contain harmful levels of mercury, and ingesting high amounts of mercury is definitely not suggested (mercury can damage the brain and nervous system and it is particularly dangerous to pregnant women and children).

Another problem is that our oceans have been overfished, so some of the low mercury fish that would otherwise be recommended for their health benefits are no longer considered sustainable. These fish should not be eaten until their populations have had a chance to recover.

So how do you know which fish are the healthiest? Which are the fish that are high in omega 3s, low in mercury, and sustainably harvested?

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the healthiest fish with the lowest levels of environmental contaminants (least mercury) are:

Anchovies	Butterfish	Catfish
Clam	Crab	Crawfish/Crayfish
Croaker (Atlantic)	Flounder	Haddock (Atlantic)
Hake	Herring	Mackerel (N. Atlantic, Chub)
Mullet	Oyster	Perch (Ocean)
Plaice	Pollock	Salmon (Canned)
Salmon (Fresh)	Sardine	Scallop
Shad (American)	Shrimp	Sole (Pacific)
Squid (Calamari)	Tilapia	Trout (Freshwater)
Whitefish	Whiting

You could theoretically eat these fish on a regular basis, but before you do, you should become familiar with which of the low mercury fish meet the other “healthiest fish” criteria (see resources at the bottom of this page). When you do so, you’ll see that the list gets much smaller, and that the healthiest fish for you and the planet are sardines and wild Alaskan salmon. Go ahead and eat these as often as you’d like.

Is Farmed Salmon Healthy?

Salmon is my favorite fish because it is high in omega-3 fatty acids; it also happens to be on the “least mercury” list. Yet it is important to choose wild, not farmed, salmon because farmed salmon are raised in pens, are artificially colored, and may contain toxic levels of industrial chemicals such as PCBs (other types of farmed fish, including shrimp and trout, should also be avoided because the fish are fed low quality diets and run-off from fish farms contaminates the marine eco-system).

Alaskan wild-caught salmon are preferred over others as this is the most sustainable salmon population- I recommend Vital Choice as a great resource for healthy fish.

Mussels, clams, oysters and Bay scallops are given the thumbs up as healthy and eco-friendly by the Environmental Defense Fund. These come from farms, and while I do not generally recommend eating farmed fish, these are apparently farmed using suspension nets that do not otherwise harm the ocean or its other inhabitants. An alternative to farmed versions of these is to search out wild and sustainable sources; Vital Choice sells wild Alaskan scallops, for example.

What about all the other fish though? Which other fish can you eat on occasion, and how often should you eat them?

Some very popular fish are on the NRDC’s moderate mercury list. These include: lobster, cod, snapper, halibut and tuna. The NRDC recommends eating no more than six serving per month of these fish, and it is probably best if they are avoided altogether by young children (under the age of 4). Vital Choice’s halibut and albacore tuna test lower in mercury than other sources of these fish and they are also certified sustainable…I really feel that Vital Choice carries the best.

Note that canned light tuna has less mercury than white albacore tuna; white albacore is on the high mercury list along with bluefish, grouper, Spanish mackerel, Chilean sea bass, and yellowfin tuna. Fish in this category should not be eaten more than 3 times per month (children should not eat them more than 1-2 times per month).

As for the least healthy fish (those with the highest mercury count and/or those caught using environmentally unsound methods), these are king mackerel, marlin, orange roughy, shark, swordfish, tilefish, and ahi/bigeye tuna. It is best to avoid eating these altogether.

If you do avoid fish (even the healthiest fish) or if you don’t eat it very often, you might want to consider taking a supplemental oil such as cod liver oil or wild salmon oil to ensure you don’t become deficient in omega-3s.

Vital Choice carries great wild salmon oil; I also like their vitamin D3 in salmon oil- it’s a great way to boost your intake of this incredibly important nutrient.

Healthy Fish Recipes of Mine:

Endive, Kale, and Smoked Salmon Salad with Avocado and Pink Grapefruit
Healthy Tuna Casserole
Hot Smoked Salmon
Black Rice Ochazuke with Crispy Salmon Skin
Thai Style Scallops
Avocado Sardine Sandwich
Salt Cod Chowder with Garlic Aioli
Conch Salad
Asian Ceviche
Tuna Tartine
Brazilian Salmon and Sweet Potato Stew
Spicy Garlic Shrimp with Kale and Quinoa
Clam Chowder
Sushi
Smoked Salmon Chard Roll-Ups
Thai Coconut Soup

To learn more about the healthiest fish, please visit these additional online resources:
GotMercury.org features an online mercury calculator to help you make the healthiest seafood choices.
The Natural Resource’s Defense Council’s Consumer Guide to Eating Fish: my main resource for information about mercury levels in fish.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. Very helpful; includes a guide to best choices in sustainable sushi.
The Environmental Defense Fund’s Seafood Selector. Very comprehensive; I particularly like their sushi selector.
The Blue Ocean Institute: extensive info on ocean-friendly seafood.
Passionfish.org: an organization dedicated to educating the public about sustainable fish and seafood (they also have some delectable fish recipes).
The David Suzuki Foundation: A wonderful environmental organization with excellent information about how you can make seafood choices that will help keep the oceans healthy.