Nutrition Archives - Page 30 of 89

Mercury Levels in Gulf of Maine Tuna on the Decline

December 5th, 2016 — There’s some good news for sushi lovers. A new report finds that over an 8-year period, mercury levels in Gulf of Maine tuna declined 2 percent a year — a decline that parallels reductions in mercury pollution from Midwest coal-fired power plants.

Two years ago, Dr. Nicholas Fisher, a professor of marine sciences at Stony Brook University in New York, had a bit of luck — he found out that a colleague had established a collection of 1,300 western Atlantic bluefin taken from the Gulf of Maine between 2004 and 2012.

“They were frozen, wasn’t the entire fish, just about a pound from each fish or so. And then my colleagues and I in New York dissected out muscle tissue from each sample and analyzed it to determine the mercury content of each fish,” he says.

And as they created a timeline for mercury content for each year, taking into account the age and size of each fish sampled, a clear picture emerged.

“There was a fairly steady decline for all ages of fish, and the decline rate was approximately 2 percent per year, which doesn’t sound all that dramatic, but over 10 years it’s about 20 percent. Over two decades its about 40 percent,” Fisher says.

Read the full story at Maine Public Radio

Bourdain Says It’s Ok to Eat Fish on Mondays Now, But Maybe Skip the Mussels

November 14th, 2016 — The year 2000 was such a different time. Palm pilots were the future. Survivor made its television debut. The country was feeling deeply divided after a highly contested and close presidential race. (Err, ignore that last one.)

Either way, a lot has changed in 16 years. Case in point? Anthony Bourdain.

The mega-celebrity author/TV host/food personality first rose to prominence in the year 2000 when his New York Times bestseller Kitchen Confidential: Adventures In the Culinary Underbelly painted an honest, if less-than-rosy, picture of the cutthroat food service industry in New York City.

Among all the wisdom and anecdotes he shared in his first book however, the one that most people probably remember best was this thoughtful piece of advice: Don’t eat fish on Mondays.

Bourdain reasoned that because fish markets don’t make deliveries on the weekends, there’s a better-than-not chance that when you order that filet at a restaurant on Monday, it’s not as fresh as it could be.

Now however, Bourdain has changed his tune. In a Tech insider video, Bourdain lays out his argument in favor of ordering fish on Mondays, citing the big changes in the restaurant scene, consumer tastes, and suppliers over the last sixteen years.

Still, he says, “I’m not suggesting that you go to, you know, Monday at the local fake Irish pub—they’re running a mussels special. Maybe that’s still not such a great idea.”

But overall, as he puts it “it’s a better world. You know, we have higher standards. We know more about food. We expect more of our food.” He goes on to add, “The market has had to respond to that, it can’t get away with serving us the crap they used to.”

Read the full story at Bravo

Florida company’s new traceability policy “raises the bar” for seafood distributors

November 8, 2016 — Florida-based Sea Delight has released a new policy on traceability that reflects the company’s commitment to improving transparency along the supply chains it sources from as well as along those across the industry at large, it announced on 2 November.

The new protocol works in tandem with Sea Delight’s Sustainable Seafood Policy, and will be applicable to all seafood that the company purchases. The latest policy combines commitments to both traceability and social responsibility, and underscores the importance of improving the company’s business practices to allow for more robust tracking of product information throughout the supply chains it engages with, according to Sea Delight.

“This is such an exciting moment for our company,” said Adriana Sanchez, sustainability director at Sea Delight, in a news release. “We are setting an industry-leading precedent among North American seafood distributors by publically committing to work towards best practices in traceability, address critical issues such as legality and social responsibility, and engage our supply chain partners in collaborative and long-lasting improvements.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Mislabeled Seafood May Be More Sustainable

November 8, 2016 — With seafood, what you see is not always what you get.

It’s no secret that mislabeling is rampant around the world. Recent studies estimate up to 30 percent of seafood served in restaurants and sold in supermarkets is actually something other than what is listed on the menu or label.

Why mislabeling happens is a little squishier. Fraud, human error or marketing ploys — combined with an often multicountry traverse from boat to restaurant — make it possible you are eating a different fish than what’s on the menu.

A University of Washington study is the first to broadly examine the ecological and financial impacts of seafood mislabeling. The paper, published online Nov. 2 in Conservation Letters, finds that in most cases, mislabeling actually leads people to eat more sustainably, because the substituted fish is often more plentiful and of a better conservation status than the fish on the label.

“One of the motivations and hopes for this study is that we can help inform people who are trying to exert their consumer power to shift seafood markets toward carrying more sustainable options,” said co-author Christine Stawitz, a UW doctoral student in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and the Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management program.

Read the full story at the University of Washington

NOAA: Americans are catching and eating more fish

November 1, 2016 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its annual Fisheries of the United States report for 2015 last week and, by almost any measure, the news was good.

Whether they are more health-conscious or some other factors came into play, the per capita consumption of fish and shellfish last year was 15.5 pounds. That’s an increase of just under a pound over the 14.6 pounds of seafood (and freshwater fish) Americans consumed in 2014.

All that good eating — if you included goodies like fried catfish, breaded scallops and fish sticks — didn’t come cheap. U.S. consumers spent some $96 billion for the products from various fisheries last year.

What was good for the nation’s consumers was good for the economy, too. The commercial marine fishing industry contributed about $48.7 billion to the domestic Gross National Product — including the “value added” aspects of the industry such as processing.

The commercial fishing industry had a strong year in terms of volume in 2015 but, in some fisheries, prices dropped enough to affect the “ex-vessel” price across all fisheries.

All commercial landings increased 2.4 percent from 2014 to a total of 9.7 pounds. Finfish represented 88 percent of landings, but just 46 percent of landed value — reflecting the high value of species such as lobster and scallops.

A closer look at the numbers shows that U.S. fishermen landed almost 7.8 billion pounds of edible fish and shellfish at ports within the 50 states — down 78 million pounds from 2014. Stateside landings of fish for industrial uses (animal feed, agricultural and other products) were almost 2 billion pounds, up 19 percent from the year before.

American lobster landings were 145.9 million pounds valued at $617.2 million — a decrease of 1.9 million pounds (over 1 percent), but an increase of $50.6 million (nearly 9 percent) compared with 2014. Maine led in landings for the 34th consecutive year with 121.7 million pounds valued at more than $498.4 million — a decrease of 2.4 million pounds (nearly 2 percent) compared with 2014. Massachusetts, the second leading producer, had landings of 16.4 million pounds valued at $78.3 million — an increase of 1.1 million pounds (over 7 percent) compared with 2014. Together, Maine and Massachusetts produced almost 95 percent of the total national landings. The average ex-vessel price per pound was $4.23 in 2015, compared with $3.83 in 2014.

Read the full story at the The Ellsworth American

Omega 3 Health Benefits, Nutrition Facts And Sources

October 31st, 2016 — According to a lot of research, omega 3 benefits each of the body’s systems in its own way. The greatest benefits can be found in the heart and the brain.

In places where other fats clog the arteries and contribute to heart disease, the omega 3 fatty acids helps to fight off the heart disease in many ways.

Here I have contributed a list of the things that omega 3 can do for your heart:

Anti-Coagulant Activity – helps prevent the formation of clots in the blood
Antioxidant Activity – they help to prevent oxidation of the fats that are found in the bloodstream. When the fats become oxidized, they can stick to the artery walls and harden atherosclerosis
Relax Smooth Muscles – the help reduce the blood pressure, which can reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack
Improves The Levels Of Cholesterol – Cholesterol isn’t all bad. Most individuals who have problems with cholesterol have high levels of LDL and low levels of HDL. The particles of LDL are most likely to stick to the walls of the arteries and create clots. HDL is what helps remove the particles of LDL from the blood. Omega 3 supplements have been known to increase the amount of HDL.
Lowers The Amount of Blood Triglycerides – triglycerides are the fats found in the blood. The more fats that are found in your blood, the more likely you are to develop blood clots, have a stroke, ordevelop heart disease. The prescription medication LOVAX used for high levels of triglycerides is really nothing but omega 3 fish oil
Anti-Inflammatory Activity – when the oxidized fats get stuck to the artery walls, they create swelling or inflammation, which makes the arteries even narrower

Read the full report at Cooking Detective

American’s seafood appetite is on the rise

October 27, 2016 — The numbers are in: Americans ate nearly a pound more seafood in 2015 than the year before.

It marked the third consecutive year that consumers put more seafood on their plates, but their rising appetite still isn’t back to where it was nearly a decade ago when people ate a record average of 16.6 pounds in 2004.

The numbers come from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual Fisheries of the United States report, published this week.

The recent trend is a promising sign to seafood harvesters who make a living hauling fish and hard shell from the water.

The Garden State Seafood Association, a New Jersey commercial fishing trade group, said it’s “encouraged that Americans are eating more seafood” and urges consumers “to buy, eat and learn more about U.S. domestic fisheries.”

The United States imported 90 percent of its seafood in 2015, the report found.

New Jersey ranks 9th in the United States for seafood commercial harvests, according to the report.

American’s consumed on average 15.5 pounds of seafood last year, up from 14.6 pounds in 2014.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Elevating the Maine Scallop to Haute Cuisine

October 25th, 2016 — Togue Brawn and I hunker down in the wheelhouse for warmth, next to the captain who’s got one hand on his radio, the other turning the wheel. The GPS, he grunts, is broken. He’s navigating blind.

Behind us on the deck, an enormous spool of steel cable unravels and drops an iron-mesh dredge—basically a supersized bag-like fishing net—down to the seafloor. The boat circles until the captain makes the call and the spool retracts, pulling up the dredge, which appears suddenly at the boat’s stern, swinging to and fro. Two deckhands, each clad in orange rubber overalls and knee-high boots, grab for the large bar beneath the net, yelling above the engine’s roar. The net groans with scallops, each nestled safely inside its brown shell flecked with mud and barnacles.

The deckhands start sorting, small scallops arching overboard and larger ones clattering into nearby bins. Then they don thick workman’s gloves to pry open the shells, tossing the entrails into the sea; the jiggling adductor muscle, the part we eat, goes into buckets, where they gleam bright white. All around us, on the decks of near-identical boats (mostly retrofitted lobster vessels) other fishermen—and they are almost all men—do the same, silhouetted against the pink streaks of a frigid dawn. By mid-morning, they have found their rhythm, and the whole of it—the unwinding, dragging, hauling, sorting, and shucking—coupled with the bobbing of the boat, feels like an act of meditation.

The scene will no doubt replay tomorrow and the day after that and so on until the season is done. Today is December 1, and scalloping season has opened in eastern Maine.

Read the full story at Hakai Magazine

Tilapia has a terrible reputation. Does it deserve it?

October 24th, 2016 — When it comes to fish, no species brings out the haters like tilapia.

Read up on it, and you’ll find tilapia described with words like “muddy” and “earthy”; there are entire forum threads devoted to its inferiority. This very newspaper, back in 2007, called it “the fish that chefs love to hate.”

Should we really be so hard on this fast-growing freshwater fish?

In the world of food, there aren’t too many propositions that get universal agreement, but here’s one: Our oceans are overfished. If we’re going to continue to eat fish, and to feed it to the people scheduled to join us on this planet in the coming years, we have to farm it. And if we’re going to farm fish, an adaptable, hardy fish like tilapia is an excellent candidate.

Yet a combination of rumors and credible reports works against it. Perhaps you’ve heard that tilapia are raised in cesspools and live on poop? Even the USDA says there is — or, at least, used to be — some truth in that. The agency’s 2009 report on Chinese imports notes that “Fish are often raised in ponds where they feed on waste from poultry and livestock.”

Before we meet that fact with a chorus of “ewww,” it’s worth noting that turning feces into fish would be the agricultural equivalent of spinning straw into gold. Although there are important safety concerns in that kind of system, if you can manage those risks, you’ve got one of the most sustainable foods going. It’s a downright Rumplestiltskinnian miracle, and we should root for it, not against it.

The question is whether that still happens. To find out, I went to the source: Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program, which rates seafood choices based on whether they have been responsibly fished or farmed. Seafood Watch lists tilapia from nine different sources. Four (from Peru, Canada, Ecuador and the United States) are rated “Best Choices,” another four (from China, Taiwan, Mexico and Indonesia) are “Good Alternatives,” and only one (from Colombia) is rated “Avoid.” I asked Ryan Bigelow, the Seafood Watch program’s engagement manager, to give me a rundown on the sustainability issues.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

13 Benefits of Taking Fish Oil

October 20, 2016 — Fish oil is one of the most commonly consumed dietary supplements.

It’s rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are very important for your health.

If you don’t eat a lot of oily fish, taking a fish oil supplement could help you get enough omega-3 fatty acids.

Here is an evidence-based guide to fish oil supplements and their health benefits.

What Is Fish Oil and Why Should You Care?

Fish oil is the fat or oil that’s extracted from fish tissue.

It usually comes from oily fish such as herring, tuna, anchovies and mackerel. Yet sometimes it’s produced from the livers of other fish, as is the case with cod liver oil.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends eating 1–2 portions of fish per week. This is because the omega-3 fatty acids in fish provide many health benefits, including helping protect against a number of diseases.

But if you don’t eat 1–2 portions of fish per week, fish oil supplements can help you get enough omega-3s.