Seafood ChoiCeS

Seafood Choices: Balancing Benefits and Risks
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11762.html
SUMMARY
Balancing Benefits and Risks
From its review of consumption, benefits, and risks, the committee
recommends that:
Recommendation 1: Dietary advice to the general population from
federal agencies should emphasize that seafood is a component of a healthy
diet, particularly as it can displace other protein sources higher in saturated
fat. Seafood can favorably substitute for other high biologic value protein
sources while often improving the overall nutrient profile of the diet.
Recommendation 2: Although advice from federal agencies should
also support inclusion of seafood in the diets of pregnant females or those
who may become pregnant, any consumption advice should stay within
federal advisories for specific seafood types and state advisories for locally
caught fish.
Recommendation 3: Appropriate federal agencies (the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA], the US Environmental
Protection Agency [USEPA], and the Food and Drug Administration of
the US Department of Health and Human Services [FDA]) should increase
monitoring of methylmercury and persistent organic pollutants in seafood
and make the resulting information readily available to the general public.
Along with this information, these agencies should develop better recommendations
to the public about levels of pollutants that may present a risk
to specific population subgroups.
Recommendation 4: Changes in the seafood supply (source and type
of seafood) must be accounted for—there is inconsistency in sampling and
analysis methodology used for nutrients and contaminant data that are
published by state and federal agencies. Analytical data is not consistently
revised, with separate data values presented for wild-caught, domestic, and
imported products.
Drawing on these recommendations and its benefit-risk assessment protocol,
the committee identified four population groups for which the data
support subgroup-specific conclusions. In the committee’s judgement, the
variables that distinguish between these populations facing different benefitrisk
balances based on existing evidence are (1) age, (2) gender, (3) pregnancy
or possibility of becoming pregnant, or breastfeeding, and (4) risk of
coronary heart disease, although the evidence for a benefit to adult males
and females who are at risk for coronary heart disease is not sufficient to
warrant inclusion as a separate group within the decision-making framework.
The groups and appropriate guidance are listed in Box S-1 below.
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