ABSTRACT
Most people have heard that countries where they eat a lot of fish, like Japan, have much lower rates of heart disease, and many of us have heard that seafood is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which promotes health. Scientifically speaking, each fish species has a different set of nutritional values: some are high in fat, others provide more trace elements like iodine and selenium, and they vary widely in their caloric value. In general, filter feeders and small fish low on the food chain—those that eat algae and tiny plankton—have less fat containing pollutants. The health benefits of seafood are well-known, but on the other hand, health warnings about the dangers of consuming too much tuna or other fish that can contain dangerous amounts of mercury or other pollutants. In the 1970s, Robert Danish scientists found that the Greenlandic Inuit, who consumed large amounts of seal, whale, and fish, had extremely low rates of death from heart diseases.
