Fish: it's what's for dinner! For the first time ever, the U.S. government is advising all Americans to eat seafood at least twice a week for heart and brain benefits. The advisory includes pregnant and breastfeeding women.
The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services on Jan. 1 released new dietary guidelines as required by Congress every five years. The guidelines serve as the basis for federal nutrition policy, and come at a time when one-third of all U.S. children and over two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese.
The new guidelines call for eating at least two servings (8 ounces) of seafood every week, which provide an average of 250 milligrams per day of marine-source omega 3's that are packed with EPA and DHA. Health experts say omega-3 deficiency is a leading dietary contributor to preventable deaths, mostly from heart disease. The average American now eats about one serving of seafood a week or less.
What it will mean is new rules for meals served in U.S. prisons, military mess halls and school lunchrooms. Alaska pollock and canned salmon are included on the USDA food commodities list, which will give them a foothold in all federal feeding programs.
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