With an eye on their health, Polish consumers should consume more fish meat, as it contains many valuable nutrients that play a key role in the proper functioning of the human body, emphasise scientists from the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn.

In order to structure our knowledge of fish as a food, we invite you to take a look at popular facts and myths and science-based justifications. Our guides on this topic are Dr Radosław Kowalski and Dr Marianna Raczyk.

FACT #1

Fish plays a key role in a healthy diet, providing not only high-quality protein but also many other valuable nutrients that are beneficial to the proper functioning of the human body.

Fish are a source of:

• high-quality, complete protein (an extremely valuable dietary element, especially for those concerned with building and regenerating muscle and the proper functioning of the nervous system),
• beneficial fatty acid composition (especially fatty marine species such as salmon, mackerel and sardines are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) such as omega-3 fatty acids, which play a key role in reducing inflammation, support heart and brain health and may contribute to lowering triglyceride and cholesterol (LDL) levels in the blood,
• vitamins and minerals that support the functioning of the body on many levels (including vitamins A and D, B vitamins and minerals such as selenium, phosphorus, iodine and calcium).

FACT #2

Introducing fish 2-3 times a week into the diet would be an important part of a balanced diet and an element of preventive health care.

Due to its high content of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and iodine, fish should be a particularly important part of the diet of people with thyroid diseases such as Hashimoto’s. Iodine is essential for the production of thyroid hormones, and omega-3 fatty acids can help alleviate the inflammation that is a common symptom of this disease.

In addition, consumption of oily fish has been linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, making fish an important part of preventive health care.

FACT #3

Despite its numerous health benefits, fish consumption in Poland remains low.

According to the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics, for several years the consumption of fish and seafood has been 12-14 kg per capita per year, which corresponds to an average of one portion of fish per week. However, this is well below the recommended amount of 2-3 portions of fish per week.

MYTH #1

Fish are toxic, full of antibiotics and have harmful contaminants in them, so they should not be eaten.

First of all, it must be made clear that there are no fish that are unhealthy for humans (except for those that are poisonous). There are, however, fish that are more or less beneficial to health. Equally, there are fish that are more or less contaminated.

However, it is worth understanding that it is not the fish themselves that are so by nature – it is the environment in which they live that determines their characteristics. And this environment is largely shaped by human activity. Therefore, one should not generalise that a particular fish species is, for example, a dioxin carrier; rather, one should talk about fish from specific habitats.

Scientific data indicate that even fish that contain some mercury or dioxins, at the quantities consumed on average in Poland, can still be a valuable and safe part of the diet.

Such an example is panga from the Mekong Valley in China, around the quality of which there have been concerns in the past. Indeed, reports years ago indicated the presence of substances such as antibiotics, chemicals and even heavy metals in panga meat. However, pressure from foreign importers has had an effect and farming standards have improved significantly. Today, according to recent studies, it is possible to eat as much as more than 20 kg of meat from this fish in a week without being adversely affected by any of the contaminants found in the fish.

MYTH #2

Genetically modified fish poses a threat to our health.

Genetically modified (GMO) Atlantic salmon has now been released for sale in the USA and Canada, although it cannot be sold or bought in Europe.

However, it is worth understanding what genetic modification is in the case of fish. Most often, it involves ‘just’ the transfer of DNA encoding a desired protein (such as a growth hormone) from one species to another. In fisheries, triploidisation is also used – to sterilise fish and improve their growth rates. These procedures are identical to those used, for example, in banana production (all bananas available in shops are triploid). These changes, however, do not cause mutations that can have any impact on the health of the people who eat the fish.

Despite this, there is a public aversion to genetically modified products. Therefore, science is also developing an alternative to the creation of GMO species, which is interspecies crossbreeding, resulting in varieties with new traits that are intermediate between the initial species.

An example of Polish research in this direction is the Wielkopolski trout, a cross between a male brook trout and a female rainbow trout. It is valuable to breeders because it is resistant to the VHS virus decimating rainbow trout breeders, and it is also sterile (triploid), which means that if it escapes from breeding, it will not pose a long-term threat to the biodiversity of open waters (because it will not reproduce).

—

The text is based on the article ‘Fish as food – facts and myths’ by: Radosław Kajetan Kowalski, Marianna Raczyk, Anna Grygier and Katarzyna Polanowska, which appeared in issue 4 (2024) of the journal “Przegląd Rybacki”.