A Beginners Guide to Seafood and Its Many Health Benefits

So, you’re a recent vegan convert, or you’ve just discovered the magical world of sushi and now you’ve caught the seafood bug and you want it all the time… We’ve been there!

Touted as the perfect ingredient to pair with salads, curries, soups, sandwiches or pastas, seafood is a top choice with consumers today. Almost every civilisation across the world that dwells along the ocean, incorporates some type of seafood or other into their diet, be it the Goan’s with their celebrated fish curries, or the famous fried Gray Mullet of Alexandria.

While it’s a well-known fact that seafood is a vital source of protein and nutrients for millions of people around the world, did you know that it accounts just 15% of the world population’s protein intake?

What is Seafood?

Seafood refers to any edible life form that hails from the sea. It comprises of edible aquatic animals but excludes mammals such as whales, dolphins or porpoises. In simple words, it includes both ocean creatures and freshwater creatures, and significantly comprises of fish and shellfish. As far as shellfish variety, it includes crustaceans, molluscs, and echinoderms.

The harvesting of wild seafood is known as fishing whereas the cultivation and farming of fresh seafood is called aquaculture. 

Seafood generally refers to the types of animals below, including:

Health Benefits of Seafood

Seafood such as fish and shellfish, tuna, prawn and lobster are particularly high in protein along with vitamins and minerals like zinc and selenium, vitamin A, and B-complex vitamins. Fresh seafood is said to be one of the only food sources of Vitamin-D that is believed to promote healthy bone growth, calcium absorption, and boost the immune system.

Seafood is also very high in Omega-3 fatty acids. What are the benefits of Omega-3? Because the human body cannot produce these fatty acids, they must be obtained through diet. Two of the three primary Omega-3 fatty acids are found naturally in fish and other types of seafood. The fish highest in Omega-3 fatty acids include salmon, sardines, trout, tuna, mackerel and oysters.

Furthermore, fish, especially fatty fish, is good for the heart.

• It’s a low-fat protein source. 
• Fish can also be high in docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid, two forms of omega-3 fatty acids that are both multitasking unsaturated fats.