Seafood cost impacts omega 3 intake among US consumers

14 Jun 2022 --- A team of US researchers are calling for specialized policies and interventions to increase seafood consumption after a study has revealed people with low incomes ate 18% less seafood per week than those with high incomes.

This in turn impacts omega 3 intake, with the study highlighting a disparity among different income and ethnic groups in seafood affordability and consumption patterns.

“Although seafood is nutritious, the higher cost of seafood poses a barrier to US citizens with lower incomes,” says David Love, lead study author and senior scientist with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

Access to seafood
The US Dietary Guidelines advise that fish should be consumed twice a week. However, 90% of US citizens do not meet this target.

In the US, affordability impacts the nutritional quality of seafood consumption among different socioeconomic and race or ethnicity groups.According to the study, seafood rich in omega 3s accounted for 18 % of all seafood in low-income people’s diets, 28% in middle-income people’s, and 33% in high-income people’s diets. Seafood like salmon, which has a high omega 3 content, is generally more expensive at retail than seafood that is low in omega 3.

“Eating seafood twice a week can be challenging on a tight budget, but it can be done – for example, buying frozen or canned instead of fresh seafood,” adds Love.

Assessing income groups and consumption
The researchers note that most seafood consumption studies overlook differences in consumption patterns based on species, nutritional value and price, all of which have implications for implementing recommendations.

Understanding seafood consumption patterns by income, race and ethnicity, as well as seafood species, price and source, may aid efforts to promote more and improved seafood consumption.

The researchers used dietary data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study to perform their investigation (NHANES). The data covered the years 2011 to 2018, including information on 17,559 people, 3,285 of whom had consumed seafood.

The adults in the study were divided into four groups: Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic Asian. Data from the NHANES was also utilized to look at seafood consumption by species, especially those high in omega 3 fatty acids.

Imbalances among ethnic groups 
The research revealed low- and middle-income Asians were the only race and ethnicity groups to consume the recommended amounts of seafood on average; higher-income Asians consumed less.

However, seafood consumption by other races and ethnicities sharply increased for upper-income groups. Among these groups, only the diets of non-Hispanic Blacks with higher incomes approach the recommended quantities.

The research revealed that adults with low incomes eat less seafood high in omega 3 when compared to individuals with higher incomes.“More research is needed to explore the cultural differences that exist within the race and ethnicity groups as defined by the NHANES dataset,” says Martin Bloem, senior author and director of the Center for a Livable Future.

“Culture plays a vital role in shaping our individual dietary choices, so future recommendations should account for and reflect these differences.”

Different seafood groups
Seafood has around 3,000 different species. Mackerel, herring, mussels, octopus, and eel are low-cost species with good nutrient profiles, such as omega 3s, vitamins and minerals.

The study findings revealed that only mussels are eaten regularly among these five species, accounting for 2% of seafood ingested by people with low earnings and 1% by those with high incomes.

The researchers point out that many citizens eat only a small number of species, mostly shrimp, salmon, canned tuna, tilapia and cod.

The findings revealed that US citizens eat a mix of farmed and wild-caught seafood, with the ocean providing most of it. Because their feed includes soybean meal, oil, and other crops, instead of or in addition to the species’ natural diets, farmed fish can give different quantities of nutrients than wild-caught fish.

The study authors point out that eating different portions of fish and how seafood is prepared – fried versus baked – have significant health impacts.

Affordability of nutritious food
Although nutritious food such as omega 3 is packed with health benefits, these foods are sometimes unaffordable.

A US survey unveiled that more than 75% of parents give their children multivitamins due to pricing concerns of nutritious food.

Meanwhile, in a global study, the Future Food Institute revealed that acceptability (knowledge and acceptance of nutritious foods), affordability and availability are among the factors that contribute to nutrition disparity.

By Nicole Kerr