What's the Best Seafood? It all depends on what you're looking for!

 

 

When you're deciding what kind of fish to buy, ask yourself, "What's the main benefit I'm trying to get from this food?" What nutrients can you get from this food that you can't get as easily from others?

 

For fish, the most valuable nutrient is probably Omega 3 fatty acids. Fish with the highest Omega 3s are not necessarily the fish that are the lowest in fat, however.  When you choose one fish over another, you sometimes make tradeoffs.

 

Here's how fish rate according to different nutrients:

• Best sources of omega 3 fatty acids: salmon, albacore tuna, mackerel, lake trout, Atlantic halibut, sardines, herring.
• Highest in protein per serving: lobster, shrimp, tuna, cod.
• Highest vitamin B-12 content: clams, mackerel, herring, blue fin tuna, rainbow trout, and salmon.
• Highest in iron: clams, shrimp, mackerel, swordfish.
• Highest in calcium: canned salmon with bones.
• Highest in total fat, saturated fats, and calories: mackerel.
• Lowest in total fat and saturated fat: lobster, orange roughy.
• Lowest in cholesterol: yellow fin tuna, albacore, tuna, snapper, halibut, grouper.
• Most risky fish for pollutants: wild catfish, shrimp, lake trout (warm-water fish and those in lakes with farm run-off).
• Least risky fish for pollutants: deep-water ocean fish, salmon and tuna.

Source: Health Gal Newsletter