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Fulltext Fish nutrient composition: a review of global data from poorly assessed inland and marine species

Byrd KA, Thilsted SH, Fiorella KJ

Public Health Nutr, 2021 Feb;24(3):476-486.
PMID: 33308365 DOI: 10.1017/S1368980020003857

OBJECTIVE: Our understanding of the nutrient contribution of fish and other aquatic species to human diets relies on nutrient composition data for a limited number of species. Yet particularly for nutritionally vulnerable aquatic food consumers, consumption includes a wide diversity of species whose nutrient composition data are disparate, poorly compiled or unknown.
DESIGN: To address the gap in understanding fish and other aquatic species' nutrient composition data, we reviewed the literature with an emphasis on species of fish that are under-represented in global databases. We reviewed 164 articles containing 1370 entries of all available nutrient composition data (e.g. macronutrients, micronutrients and fatty acids) and heavy metals (e.g. Pb and Hg) for 515 species, including both inland and marine species of fish, as well as other aquatic species (e.g. crustaceans, molluscs, etc.) when those species were returned by our searches.
RESULTS: We highlight aquatic species that are particularly high in nutrients of global importance, including Fe, Zn, Ca, vitamin A and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and demonstrate that, in many cases, a serving can fill critical nutrient needs for pregnant and lactating women and young children.
CONCLUSIONS: By collating the available nutrient composition data on species of fish and other aquatic species, we provide a resource for fisheries and nutrition researchers, experts and practitioners to better understand these critical species and include them in fishery management as well as food-based programmes and policies.
Fulltext Fishers' response to temperature change reveals the importance of integrating human behavior in climate change analysis

Fiorella KJ, Bageant ER, Schwartz NB, Thilsted SH, Barrett CB

Sci Adv, 2021 Apr;7(18).
PMID: 33931440 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc7425

Climate change will reshape ecological dynamics. Yet, how temperature increases alter the behavior and resource use of people reliant on natural resources remains underexplored. Consequent behavior shifts have the potential to mitigate or accelerate climate impacts on livelihoods and food security. Particularly within the small-scale inland fisheries that support approximately 10% of the global population, temperature changes likely affect both fish and fishers. To analyze how changing temperatures alter households' fishing behavior, we examined fishing effort and fish catch in a major inland fishery. We used longitudinal observational data from households in Cambodia, which has the highest per-capita consumption of inland fish in the world. Higher temperatures caused households to reduce their participation in fishing but had limited net effects on fish catch. Incorporating human behavioral responses to changing environmental conditions will be fundamental to determining how climate change affects rural livelihoods, food production, and food access.
The association between food environment, diet quality and malnutrition in low- and middle-income adult populations across the rural-Urban gradient in Vietnam

Vuong VT, Fiorella KJ, Jones AD, Thi Trinh H, Khoury CK, Huynh TTT, et al.

J Hum Nutr Diet, 2023 Dec;36(6):2201-2218.
PMID: 37792904 DOI: 10.1111/jhn.13242

BACKGROUND: Economic reforms and trade liberalisation in Vietnam have transformed the food environment, influencing dietary patterns and malnutrition status. The present study focuses on the relationship between food environments (proximity and density of food outlets) and malnutrition (underweight, overweight, obesity) through diet quality in adult populations across urban, periurban and rural areas of Vietnam.
METHODS: We evaluated food environment by geospatial mapping of food outlets through a transect walk across the "food ecosystem" from rural to urban areas. Diet quality was assessed using the Diet Quality Index - Vietnamese (DQI-V) comprising Variety, Adequacy, Moderation and Balance components. Malnutrition status was determined using body mass index. We performed a mediation analysis utilising mixed effect models to control for neighbourhood clustering effects. Confounders included age, education, income and nutrition knowledge score.
RESULTS: Analysis of data from 595 adult participants (mean ± SD age: 31.2 ± 6.4 years; 50% female) found that longer distance to the nearest food outlet was associated with higher overall DQI-V (β = 2.0; 95% confidence interval = 0.2-3.8; p = 0.036) and the Moderation component (β = 2.6; 95% confidence interval = 1.2-4.0; p = 0.001). Outlet density shows a negative association with the odds of underweight among women (odds ratio = 0.62; 95% confidence interval = 0.37-0.96). However, we did not observe statistically significant relationships between diet quality and malnutrition. Education and nutrition knowledge scores were positively associated with diet diversity, while income was negatively associated with diet moderation.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study have important implications for nutrition and dietetics practice in Vietnam and globally. It emphasises the need to consider various dimensions of sustainable diets, including economic, health and socio-cultural/political factors. Longer distances to food outlets are associated with higher diet quality, whereas lower food outlet density increases the odds of underweight among women. This poses challenges in balancing modernisation and its adverse effects on sustainable food systems. Socio-economic status consistently correlated with diet quality and malnutrition, necessitating further research to promote healthy diets across socio-economic strata.
Small pelagic fish supply abundant and affordable micronutrients to low- and middle-income countries

Robinson JPW, Mills DJ, Asiedu GA, Byrd K, Mancha Cisneros MDM, Cohen PJ, et al.

Nat Food, 2022 Dec;3(12):1075-1084.
PMID: 37118295 DOI: 10.1038/s43016-022-00643-3

Wild-caught fish provide an irreplaceable source of essential nutrients in food-insecure places. Fishers catch thousands of species, yet the diversity of aquatic foods is often categorized homogeneously as 'fish', obscuring an understanding of which species supply affordable, nutritious and abundant food. Here, we use catch, economic and nutrient data on 2,348 species to identify the most affordable and nutritious fish in 39 low- and middle-income countries. We find that a 100 g portion of fish cost between 10 and 30% of the cheapest daily diet, with small pelagic fish (herring, sardine, anchovy) being the cheapest nutritious fish in 72% of countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, where nutrient deficiencies are rising, <20% of small pelagic catch would meet recommended dietary fish intakes for all children (6 months to 4 years old) living near to water bodies. Nutrition-sensitive policies that ensure local supplies and promote consumption of wild-caught fish could help address nutrient deficiencies in vulnerable populations.
Aquatic foods to nourish nations

Golden CD, Koehn JZ, Shepon A, Passarelli S, Free CM, Viana DF, et al.

Nature, 2021 Oct;598(7880):315-320.
PMID: 34526720 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03917-1

Despite contributing to healthy diets for billions of people, aquatic foods are often undervalued as a nutritional solution because their diversity is often reduced to the protein and energy value of a single food type ('seafood' or 'fish')1-4. Here we create a cohesive model that unites terrestrial foods with nearly 3,000 taxa of aquatic foods to understand the future impact of aquatic foods on human nutrition. We project two plausible futures to 2030: a baseline scenario with moderate growth in aquatic animal-source food (AASF) production, and a high-production scenario with a 15-million-tonne increased supply of AASFs over the business-as-usual scenario in 2030, driven largely by investment and innovation in aquaculture production. By comparing changes in AASF consumption between the scenarios, we elucidate geographic and demographic vulnerabilities and estimate health impacts from diet-related causes. Globally, we find that a high-production scenario will decrease AASF prices by 26% and increase their consumption, thereby reducing the consumption of red and processed meats that can lead to diet-related non-communicable diseases5,6 while also preventing approximately 166 million cases of inadequate micronutrient intake. This finding provides a broad evidentiary basis for policy makers and development stakeholders to capitalize on the potential of aquatic foods to reduce food and nutrition insecurity and tackle malnutrition in all its forms.