Not eating seafood can be really bad for your health and government communicators need to step up and explain that—that’s the conclusion of a new World Health Organization report developed in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The just-released report says governments need to do a better job emphasizing the benefits of eating seafood on heart and brain health. Researchers were pretty blunt in their recommendation that to “more effectively communicate” experts need to emphasize “the benefits of fish consumption on reducing” heart related deaths and emphasize the brain development benefits to children who’s mother’s eat fish, while explaining the “neurodevelopmental risks” associated with mothers not eating fish.
Let’s pause a minute and take a good look at what these world health experts are really saying.
Or better yet, let’s have NFI’s registered dietitian do that for us; “Any questions about the safety and healthfulness of seafood are silenced by a report of this caliber,” said Jennifer McGuire. “We’re at the point where people can replace emotion-based misinformation with science-based advice that will help reverse the health problems associated with a typical low-seafood American diet.”
Jennifer says, “What I’m hearing from the scientists behind this publication is that not eating enough protein- and omega-3-packed fish has consequences on public health, and governments need to adjust their communications to reflect that reality.”
The report comes at a time when federal nutrition experts are preparing to update the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Largely overlooked in the past, the importance of eating seafood is expected to be addressed. In addition, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is under pressure to update its six-year-old seafood consumption advice.
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May 19, 2010
