Many health-conscious consumers have already cut back on red and processed meats for poultry or seafood. Those protein sources are better than beef, and not just because they’re linked to a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Chicken and fish are also better for the environment, as their production uses less land and other resources and generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
As Harvard Health Publishing reports, choosing seafood that’s lower on the food chain — namely, small fish such as herring and sardines and bivalves such as clams and oysters — can amp up those benefits. “It’s much better for your health and the environment when you replace terrestrial food sources — especially red meat — with aquatic food sources,” says Christopher Golden, assistant professor of nutrition and planetary health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. But instead of popular seafood choices such as farmed salmon or canned tuna, consider mackerel or sardines, he suggests.
Health Benefits of Eating Small Fish
Anchovies, herring, mackerel, and sardines are all excellent sources of protein, micronutrients like iron, zinc, and vitamin B12, and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which may help ease inflammation within the body and promote a better balance of blood lipids. And because you often eat the entire fish (including the tiny bones), small fish are also rich in calcium and vitamin D, says Golden. (Mackerel is an exception: cooked mackerel bones are too sharp or tough to eat, although canned mackerel bones are fine to eat).
Small fish are also less likely to contain contaminants such as mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) compared with large species like tuna and swordfish. Those and other large fish feed on smaller fish, which concentrates the toxins.
In a recent research paper out of Nagoya University, Japanese women who regularly eat nutrient-dense small fish — like sardines and smelt — have a lower risk of dying from any cause, including cancer.
It’s also more environmentally friendly to eat small fish directly instead of using them to make fish meal, which is often fed to farmed salmon, pork, and poultry. Feed for those animals also includes grains that require land, water, pesticides, and energy to produce, just as grain fed to cattle does, Golden points out. The good news is that increasingly, salmon farming has begun using less fish meal, and some companies have created highly nutritious feeds that don’t require fish meal at all.
How to work Small Fish into your Diet
The traditional Mediterranean diet, widely considered the best diet for heart health, highlights small fish such as fresh sardines and anchovies, says Golden. Canned versions of these species, which are widely available and less expensive than fresh, are a good option. But it should be noted that most canned anchovies are salt-cured and therefore high in sodium, which can raise blood pressure.
Sardines packed in water or olive oil can be:
- tossed into pasta dishes with garlic and olive oil, lemon and capers, or a spicy tomato sauce, yum!
- served on crackers or crusty, toasted bread with a squeeze of lemon
- prepared like tuna salad or swapped for deli meat in a sandwich
- added to a Greek salad – or any salad really
- minced into salad dressing for a punch of umami flavor
Golden is particularly fond of pickled herring, which you can often find in jars in supermarkets, or even make yourself; here’s his favorite recipe.
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