Fish, the goodness you need when you need it.
Eating a healthy diet isn’t easy and achievable, but even the small, incremental changes in your daily eating habits can go a long way. Good, nutritious food does more than just nourish our bodies, it can make us feel happier and help us achieve more.
At Sealord, we’re proud to bring you a range of healthy products. Our retail seafood range is tasty, quick and easy to prepare. We all need to eat better to feel great, and here is how we promise to help.
Our promise to you:
Fish is a good source of quality protein and essential omega-3’s; zinc, iodine, and selenium. Fish and also contains B vitamins and oily fish are a good source of vitamins A and D.
Fat
The amount of fat varies in different varieties of fish. Most fish are low in saturated fat and are a good source of omega-3s. Oily fish such as salmon and sardines are the best sources of omega-3s.
Protein
Fish contains quality protein, including all nine ‘essential’ amino acids. Our bodies don’t make amino acids on their own which is why we need to get these acids from food.
What are the specific benefits of fish?
The nutrients fish contain are important for a range of our body’s processes and functions.
Is one type of fish better for me than another?
Just as one vegetable is not better for you than another, fish is the same – variety is what you should be aiming for.
Nutrient | Function |
Omega-3s | • Heart health • Other research suggest benefits to brain function and vision too |
Protein | • Growth and development in children, building and repairing muscles and other tissues including hair and skin. |
Iodine | • Growth and development in children, hormone production, metabolism, brain function and healthy skin. • Iodine is especially important in pregnancy. |
Zinc | • Immunity, brain function, metabolism, hormone production, and vision. |
Selenium | • Growth and development in children, immunity, hormone production, and healthy hair and nails. |
Iron | • Growth and development in children, energy production, immunity, foetal development and brain function |
What is mercury?
Mercury is a chemical metal that is found naturally in our environment, it can also be found in food products.
How much mercury is in fish?
Most fish contain a small amount of mercury. But the good news is that the amount is minimal and should be of no concern to those that eat fish.
However, it can become a problem with predatory fish such as sharks, that are higher up the food chain and older fish. The amount of mercury found in fish also varies depending on where the fish comes from.
How much fish can i eat and are they any species to worry about?
There are a few types of fish that shouldn’t be eaten too often, such as swordfish and lake trout, particularly for young children and pregnant women.
Tuna is often one people are concerned about. The type of tuna we use (Skipjack) is a short-living fish, meaning they accumulate only low amounts of mercury. All of our products are regularly tested and have safe levels, less than 5% of the World Health Organisation guideline levels. This means you can feel good about regularly incorporating tuna into your weekly diet.
What are they?
The fat we eat can be divided into three main types – saturated fats, monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. The polyunsaturated fats are considered gold standard in terms of health, and omega-3 is one type of polyunsaturated fat found in the fatty layers of fish and seafood as well as plants and nuts.
Why are they so important?
You may have heard omega-3s (and also omega-6s) also being called essential fatty acids. This is because although our bodies are pretty clever at making some fats, we are unable to produce omega-3s and -6s, making them ‘essential’ to get from our food.
Why are they good for us?
When it comes to health, it’s important to remember that not all omega-3s are created equal. ALA is a type of short chain omega-3 and found in plant based foods such as legumes, walnuts and canola oil. While these are good for our health, it is the long chain omega-3s, particularly the more common EPA and DHA varieties found in fish oils that show the best health benefit, and help a healthy heart
DHA & EPA are two especially important omega 3 fats known to have numerous benefits on our heart. And we all want a strong healthy heart – the alternative is not great!
They help to raise our good cholesterol levels (we want more of the good, and less of the bad cholesterol), and keep our blood vessels in good shape which helps our blood pressure also.
DHA and EPA are not common in the foods we generally eat, but the good news is, they are abundant in fish – especially oily fish like tuna and salmon. For this reason the Heart Foundation recommends we should all enjoy fish 2-3 times every week for a healthy heart.
Eating fish is the easiest way to get long chain omega-3s. To keep us healthy we need a minimum of 90mg for women and 160mg for men, every day. More recently the Ministry of Health set a Suggested Daily Target which is a level that will help reduce the risk of chronic disease. This is 430mg for women and 610mg for men.
The general recommendation is to eat fish or seafood a few times a week, however oily fish contains a much higher amount of long-chain omega-3s than other fish so it’s important to have a variety.
Sealord fish products are an easy tasty way to get omega 3s into your meals. And while most of our products contain useful amounts of omega 3 fats our Sealord Tuna and Salmon Pockets’ are particularly good sources.
Omega 3 DHA & EPA help a healthy heart in diets containing 500mg of EPA & DHA per day. EPA’s fancy long name is Eicosapentanoic Acid and DHA is Docosahexanoic Acid.
Are there any age groups or people that protein is particularly important for?
Yes – when we are growing (childhood and teen years), when we get older, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and athletes.
Our protein needs change throughout our life – they are closely linked to age and body size. Our needs increase from infancy (14g per day) peaking in our teens (45-65g per day) and then taper off or slightly decline as we become adults. A teenage male needs about 10g more when he’s in his twenties. Our needs increase again as we get older – when you are 70 you need around 25% more than you do as a younger adult.
You probably already know it’s important to get enough protein from the food you eat. It’s well known that protein is important for growth and development in children, and for building, repairing and keeping our bones & muscles healthy. It also helps with other body tissues such as hair and skin.
Protein is made up of many amino acids, and some have other very important, but lesser talked about functions too. They are part of our enzymes, hormones, and antibodies meaning they help us move, digest food, develop and grow, and fight bugs.
Protein also helps keep you satisfied for longer after a meal.
You probably already know it’s important to get enough protein from the food you eat. It’s well known that protein is important for growth and development in children, and for building, repairing and keeping our bones & muscles healthy. It also helps with other body tissues such as hair and skin.
Protein is made up of many amino acids, and some have other very important, but lesser talked about functions too. They are part of our enzymes, hormones, and antibodies meaning they help us move, digest food, develop and grow, and fight bugs.
Protein also helps keep you satisfied for longer after a meal.
Protein is the main building material for our bones and our muscles. Healthy bones and muscles are strong bones and muscles. It’s like having a strong frame for your house hidden under all the prettier parts around the outside.
Protein is made up of hundreds of tiny pieces called amino acids. When you eat good amounts of protein and absorb all these amino acids in your gut, your body cleverly assembles many of them into long chains. These create useful strong structures that help look after your bones or that may be sent to help build up your muscles.
Now, more than ever before, fish and seafood are being highlighted as important sources of protein. Eating patterns that regularly include legumes, nuts, fish & other seafood are generally linked to better health and Kiwis are now being encouraged to enjoy more of these foods.
And here’s some more good news:
Almost our entire Sealord range* provide a good source of protein. This means that every time you serve up a portion of our Sealord fish you get 10g of protein (or even more!). And that’s good stuff. Every day we should aim to eat about 50g of protein so our fish is a pretty easy way to meet the mark.
