Healthy Choices: EWG’s Consumer Guide to Seafood

Public guidelines on which and how much seafood is safe to eat can be downright confusing, causing some people to avoid the nutrient-dense food all together.

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Seafood, which includes fish and shellfish, has earned its reputation as one of the healthiest, brain-and-body-boosting foods for good reason. Seafood contains generous amounts of high-quality protein, various nutrients including omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B-12, and trace minerals.

However, despite the oft-mentioned advice to eat fish at least twice a week, determining exactly which types are best can be a challenge. Also, recent research has increasingly highlighted the risk of mercury toxicity from seafood. Let’s have a closer look at which types of seafood are the safest and healthiest.

Weighing Benefits to Risk

The substantial amounts of omega-3 fatty acids found in seafood are likely the main driver for why health-minded people incorporate it as part of their regular diet. These important nutrients offer many potential health benefits.