A new educational campaign supported by the National Fisheries Institute is designed to raise awareness about the heart and brain health benefits of seafood consumption.
Called “Get Real About Seafood” and launched on Wednesday, the campaign features Melissa d’Arabian, a celebrity chef, TV personality and mother of four, and Dr. William Castelli, a renowned cardiovascular specialist and former director of the Framingham Heart Study.
The campaign also features a website, GetRealAboutSeafood.com, a Twitter account, a Facebook page, and a YouTube channel currently with three video clips, including this one featuring d’Arabian and Castelli:
The campaign is designed to get Americans to eat more fish — Americans eat about half of the recommended two to three seafood servings each week due to a lack of understanding about the health benefits and lack of confidence in selecting or preparing seafood. Also, the U.S. government advises all Americans, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, to eat seafood at least twice a week for heart and brain health benefits, as part of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
“Get Real About Seafood is an important initiative because it gives people tips on how to eat seafood more regularly to get significant health benefits,” said d’Arabian. “Preparing seafood is easier than people might think. Convenient seafood options, such as canned or pouch tuna, are great sources of lean protein that people can use to make easy, delicious and filling meals.”
Added Castelli: “In terms of eating a healthy diet rich in seafood, as Americans, we’re way behind most countries. In fact, the North American diet has the second-lowest percentage of fish in the world. If we provide people the health facts about seafood and resources to answer questions, we could improve our overall health as a nation. If people talked to their doctors about eating more seafood, we could prevent most of the heart attacks in this country and improve overall brain health.”
