A report published by FAO and WHO says governments need to do better at communicating the benefits of eating seafood or risk exacerbating heart disease among adults and suboptimal brain development in babies.
“There is convincing evidence of beneficial health outcomes from fish consumption for: reduction in risk of cardiac death and improved neurodevelopment in infants and young children when fish is consumed by the mother before and during pregnancy,” the report says.
“With this report the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recognise the global nature of the misinformation about eating seafood,” said Stetson Tinkham, Executive Director of the International Coalition of Fisheries Associations (ICFA). “We encourage governments to both embrace the findings about how to effectively promote eating seafood and heed the warnings about public health consequences if they don’t.”
The report recommends member states, “develop and evaluate risk management and communication strategies that both minimise risks and maximise benefits from eating fish.”
“Members of ICFA strongly believe people worldwide deserve to understand the benefits to their health of eating fish and the very real risks of avoiding it. The call to governments for unambiguous communication on this issue has never been more clear,” said Mr Tinkham.
The full report can be read here.
