Importance of Fish in our Daily Food

H. Mandakini Devi / Gaihiamngam Kamei *

By religious tradition, ours is predominantly a vegetarian food of plants and dairy products making up some 80% of food eaten by us. Local customs, beliefs and sentiments are against large consumption of meat and fish. The protein need of a vegetarian is generally met by consumption of cereals like wheat, maize, dal and vegetable oils, pulses like groundnut and beans.

Non vegetarian people substitute them by milk, egg, fish, and meat and to some extent cheese. Of all these, fish is however one food item that content a good percent of all the nutrients graded only next to milk and groundnut.

Speaking for fish, it is a world wide distributed food commodity. It is regarded as a potentially a cheap source of protein, especially greater significance to developing countries like India, where problems of nutritional deficiencies persist. As a rich source of nutrient, fishes provide a good balance of protein, vitamins and minerals and relatively low caloric content.

The fat content in fish varies, but most fish species eaten by us have comparatively low fat content and a high percentage of protein. Fish, especially a liver oils is rich in vitamins A and D. No wonder that as little as 120g of fish will serve about half our daily need for protein.

Fishes, besides having high protein content gives shiny appearance to our face and body which is a sign of good health. Fishes content vitamin B6 and B12, which help in producing red blood cells, antibodies and maintain the central nervous system. Clams, Herring, Crabs, Mackerel, Mussel and Oysters content high quantities of B12 and B6 vitamins.

Besides vitamins, fishes also contain minerals like iodine and calcium that are vital to our health. Fish can, therefore, form part of our balance diet to provide any nutrients need by the human body. Conventional fin fishes and seafood potentially provide from 420-840KJ/100g, against the average daily requirement of energy of an adult doing normal work.

Fishes are source of good quality protein that we can easily and completely digest. In addition, fishes are excellent sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids that appear to have beneficial affects in reducing the risk of cardio vascular diseases and are linked with curing certain types of cancer. Fishes are known to provide several nutritional and therapeutic benefits for health problems like coronary heart disease, hypertension, obesity, and osteoporosis and iron deficiency.

Furthermore, fin fishes and sea foods are rich in anti-oxidants like selenium and coenzymes Q-10 that help to fight disease and promote health and longetivity. Research studies in USA, Japan and Netherland shows that frequent consumption of fishes even in quantities as low as 30g/day have beneficial effects in reducing triglycerides contents known to cause heart diseases.

Triglycerides are a kind of fat that is always circulating in the blood, especially after consumption of high saturated fat. Usually, enzymes break down triglyceride particles. When that process is not working properly or efficiently, the triglycerides that are not initially broken down can cause fatty deposit in blood vessels leading to atherosclerosis disease known to cause hardening of the arteries.

Triglycerides have also been shown to increase the risk of blood clots, which combined with fatty deposit in the coronary vessels cause heart attacks. The encouraging thing is that omega-3 fatty acids in fishes protect the arteries by thinning the blood. It keeps unwanted blood clots formation by decreasing the production of fibrogen, a protein that content in our blood that is responsible for blood clotting. Triglycerides even in above 100mg per deci litre are known to increase the risk of heart disease.

People with triglycerides level above 100mg/dl have twice the risk of serious heart problems as those with lower levels. Also, individuals with increase triglycerides are at a risk of developing Type 2 diabetes because of the key role of insulin resistance.

Types 2 diabetes can be prevented by correcting eating habit, exercising regularly and eating fish at least twice a week. Omega 3 fatty acid in fish helps lower the level of triglycerides and increase HDL which is good cholesterol, thus reducing the risk of heart disease.

Carbohydrates content

It is true that compared to cereals, the amount of carbohydrates in fishes is quite low. Fin fishes usually contain less than 1% carbohydrates whereas shellfishes such as Clam and shrimp contain 2-3%.

Fat content

The fat content of fish varies from widely from species to species, within individuals in species, with season, physiological status and spawning, location in the muscles body, between wild and cultivated species, diet of the fishes and above all geographical locations of fish occurrence. Fat deposit in fish normally occurs along the lateral line and around the belly. Each gram of fish muscles provide only 0.05-0.2g (5-20%) of fat compared to 0.25-0.5g (25-50%) of fat per gram in mammalian muscles meat. Most fishes are considered excellent in calorie restriction and reduction of plasma lipids in human food because of their low fat content.

Protein Content

The most important constituent of fish muscle protein varies from 17-25%. Fish protein is easily digestible because of very low stroma protein and has an excellent spectrum of essential amino acids. Fish protein has very high biological value. Fish is an excellent source of lysine that is limited in vegetable foods.

The oils and water content in fish is roughly 80% of the body weight. Thus if the oil content is 10%, the water content is about 70%. Some fishes such as Shark and Cod are found to accumulate high level of liver oils. Fish oil possess certain unique properties not shared by any another food. There are about seven Omega-3 fatty acids in fish oils of which two are predominant. These are eicosa-pentanoic acid (EPA) and Docosa-pentanoic acid (DHA). The Omega-3 fatty acids from fishes arise from the Phyto-plankton from the food chain.

Sodium Content

High blood pressure and hypertension is strongly linked to sodium or salt content in food intake. Fresh seafoods are one of the best choices for curbing sodium intake, since all fishes are low in sodium. Sodium content in most fresh fishes varies from the range of 60-100mg/100g of raw muscles. Most shellfishes on the other hand have more sodium, usually in the range of 200-400mg/100g. Eating fishes help in lowering the blood pressure, improve psoriasis, regulate heartbeats and improve health in general.

Potassium and Calcium

Potassium has blood pressure lowering effects. In fact, low level of potassium in the body lead to increase sodium retention, calcium loss and raises blood pressure. Potassium helps normalize blood pressure by relaxing the blood vessels and helping the body get rid of excess water and salt. Normally fresh fishes are good sources of potassium containing 250-320g/100g. The safe daily intake of potassium is between 1.8 and 5.6g.

Magnesium and Copper

High blood pressure also could be due to deficiency of magnesium. Most people need about 300 to 400mg of Magnesium daily to keep their blood pressure under control. Copper help to manufacture red blood cells and collagen and is found plenty in fish live and Oysters.

The fishes content many important nutrients s that is vital for our day to day life. It is one of the richest sources of cheap protein that even poor men can effort. It is very important to know the properties or nutritive value of food that we consumed.

Give a man fish and help them to grow fish.
Then, he will live healthy and happy