Is Seafood Good For You?

These questions matter, because lots of people are turning away from seafood. A common misconception suggests that while we should try to cut land animals from our diets, it's still okay to eat seafood. On the contrary, fish experience the same cruelty and exploitation as eating chickens, sheep, cows, and other animals in our food system. Factory fish farming is devastating to both fish and the environment. And to top it all off, seafood is not great for your health, either!

Pescetarianism (a diet that replaces land animals and birds with seafood) is not the healthy or ethical choice the industry has led you to believe. In this article, we'll break down common myths about seafood and discuss why eating seafood is not actually the best choice for your health, or for the planet.

What is seafood?

Seafood is any kind of living creature that we eat from the seas. This includes fish and shellfish. Shellfish can be split into three main groups: mollusks (including clams, oysters, and mussels, as well as octopus and squid), crustaceans (including shrimps, crab, and lobsters), and the lesser-known echinoderms (sea cucumbers and sea urchins). Technically other living creatures who spend their time in the sea, like seals, dolphins, and whales, would also be considered seafood—but luckily for them, they are typically not part of our diets in the modern world.

It's important to make a distinction between seafood (living creatures in the sea) and plants that grow in the sea, which can still be part of a plant-based diet. For example, eating seaweed is 100% vegan!

Is seafood good for you?

Consuming seafood has some potentially negative impacts, including health, environmental, and ethical concerns. Let’s break them down in full.

Microplastic in seafood

One result of our worldwide pollution crisis? Trillions of tiny, barely visible pieces of plastic floating through the world's oceans, from deep seas to shallow waters to, yes, fish farms. This microplastic is the result of larger products like shopping bags and plastic containers breaking down, and it is everywhere, including in the bellies of fish who can't help but eat it as they search for food. For a long time, scientists have understood that this is bad for fish and other sealife, who unknowingly consume microplastic to the detriment of their own health.

Now, scientists are beginning to explore how these microplastics can harm not only fish health, but the health of the humans who eat fish. New evidence shows that when fish eat microplastics and even smaller particles known as nanoplastics, they can move from a fish's stomach to its muscle tissue—the part of fish that humans typically eat.

This study also found that humans are now undeniably consuming microplastic as a result of eating fish and shellfish. That's a major health concern, because eating microplastics has been linked to toxicity in vitro to lung cells, liver, and brain cells, as well as dermal exposure, airway and interstitial lung diseases. What's even more worrying is that this is just what scientists know so far. Every report urges the need for further study and evidence into the effect of microplastic on our health. While there's so much we don't know about what microplastic in seafood does to us, it's safe to assume it's not great. Our bodies were not built to digest plastic. Microplastic in seafood is a significant health risk.

Environmental and ethical issues

The fishing industry is doing a lot of damage to our world. Practices like bottom trawling—dragging an open fishing net along the ocean floor to catch cod, shrimp, prawns, and others—damage ocean floors, destroying the rich foraging grounds that other fish feed on and unleashing carbon dioxide which is naturally stored in the ocean floor. These nets reel in everything they come in contact with indiscriminately, hurting not only the species they are hunting for but endangered animals like sea turtles, fish sheltering amongst coral reefs, and others.

This is a typical problem in the fishing industry. Even when we make an effort to save endangered animals, like loggerhead and leatherback turtles, southern bluefin tuna, albatrosses, and more, practices like longline fishing decimate their populations. The nets can't differentiate between an endangered animal and an animal that is "okay" to eat. They impact every living creature in their path. That means that even if you think you're eating a fish whose population is at no risk, the way that fish was farmed may have caused incalculable harm and destruction to other endangered animals. And that's even before we get to the toxic waters that the fishing industry creates, whether by further polluting the oceans with plastic or creating breeding grounds for disease-causing viruses and bacteria.

Finally, what about the fish themselves? Fish experience both physical and psychological pain. When fish wriggle and squirm on a hook, this isn't an automatic reaction: it's a conscious reaction to the pain of a hook piercing their body, face, or lips. When fish are pulled out of water, they suffocate before they die, sometimes for two hours or more of conscious suffering.

Like most foods, seafood contains some nutrients that are good for us (though maybe not as many as you would think—read on to find the truth). But those nutrients come at the cost of massive environmental damage and inflicting pain on living creatures. In the grand scheme of the planet's welfare and sealife's welfare, as well as our individual health, eating seafood is not good for us at all.

Seafood is high in mercury

Another pollutant that has affected fish is mercury, a common toxin found in fish and other seafood. High levels of mercury and other toxins pollute our waters and then are absorbed by fish and seafood... and then eaten by us! Mercury poisoning has serious and life-threatening effects, with symptoms like tremors, anxiety, personality changes, muscle weakness, nausea, breathing difficulties, and more.

Mercury is on the rise in our waters, which means that even eating a small amount of fish can seriously raise the mercury levels in your blood. This calculator by the Environmental Working Group shows that if an average 140-pound woman ate just one six-ounce can of white tuna each week, she would be 30% over the EPA cutoff for safe mercury levels. In fact, seafood is so high in mercury that the Mayo Clinic and the FDA urge pregnant women to avoid eating lots of seafood because it can harm their unborn child. It's clear that once again, eating a small amount of seafood is not a solution.

Fried seafood can be harmful to health

The way we eat seafood is also often unhealthy. Any fish that has been deep-fried loses a lot of its nutritional value, as well as increasing the fish's fat and calorie content. There is evidence that frying fish and other seafood damages healthy omega-3 fatty acids. One study even found that frying tuna decreased omega-3 fatty acids by 70-85%. It can also increase its content of inflammatory omega-6s: not the kind of omega you want. So, crumbed fish and chips and battered calamari are not the best choices if you're looking out for your heart and gut health.

Debunking myths about seafood

We’ve seen all the ways that seafood is bad for our health, our environment, and our ethics. But what about some of those important health benefits that we think we need seafood for? The truth is, we can get many of these benefits and more from other foods, without all of the negative impacts associated with seafood.

Seafood is the primary source of Omega-3 fatty acids

We all need omega-3 fatty acids. They're essential for a healthy heart and brain, and they help prenatal development. Incorporating more omega-3 fatty acids into your diet can lower your blood pressure, reduce your chances of a stroke or heart attack, and slow the development of plaque buildup in arteries.

While seafood like tuna, salmon, and shellfish all have omega-3 fatty acids, they are not the primary source! You can find a wide range of plant-based foods which have plenty of omega-3 fatty acids, as well as other nutrients and benefits that seafood doesn't have. Plant-based omega acids are in chia seeds, brussel sprouts, algal oil, hemp seeds, flax seeds, walnuts, and more.

These plant-based omega acids are versatile and easy to add to your daily diet in smoothies, salads, and lots more. Try a delicious rosewater pudding with chia seeds and walnuts to start!

Seafood can give you better skin

Most claims around seafood giving you better skin are actually not about seafood, but rather the nutrients seafood contains. Some seafood contains omega-3 fatty acids as well as vitamin A, vitamin E, and collagen, all of which have been linked to healthy skin. But guess what? You can get all of these important nutrients from plant-based sources!

As well as the plant-based omega acids mentioned above, try eating carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, kale, cantaloupe, and more for vitamin A. Nuts and seeds like hazelnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, pistachios, and peanut butter, along with avocados and butternut squash, are a great source of vitamin E. And you can find all the collagen you need in soy products like tempeh and tofu as well as black beans, kidney beans, and many other legumes. Not only do these foods provide all the vitamin sources you need for good skin, but they also offer a more varied and interesting diet, so you're not stuck eating seafood every night!

Seafood can help you maintain your eyesight

The only way seafood helps you maintain your eyesight is by providing omega-3 fatty acids, which are linked to good eyesight. But as you’ve already learned, there are lots of great plant-based sources for omega acids, which means you don’t need seafood at all to see clearly.

Seafood eases joint pain

Our old friend omega acids have been linked to easing joint pain, but once again, you can use plant-based omega acids for exactly the same effect. Another nutrient in seafood linked to easing joint pain is vitamin D, which you can also find in some mushrooms, fortified yogurts, and tofus, and one unexpectedly fun source… the sun! So save fish, and lie out in the sun instead to ease your joint pain.

Seafood can help fight against depression

This is a myth. Researchers found an association between people eating fish and people experiencing less depression. But the association was only statistically significant for studies done in Europe: they did not find the same result looking at North America, Asia, Australia, or South America. It's also extremely hard to find an accurate link between eating fish and lowering depression, because so many other factors come into play, including cultural background, economic status, and more.

In general, links between diet and depression—while still underexplored and inconclusive—highlight less the importance of any one food group like seafood and more the importance of high-quality food. An Australian study found that a higher quality plant-based diet might fight against depression in vegans and vegetarians, while another study published in the American Journal of Health Promotion found that a low-fat vegan diet reduced depression, anxiety, and fatigue, as well as boosted overall mood and productivity. It's unlikely that there is a food group that magically cures depression, but a nutritious diet of any kind (including plant-based!) has the potential to help depression.

What's more, we would argue that eating a plant-based diet could help improve your mood by aligning your meals with your values. You could find that choosing to eat cruelty-free gives you a little mood boost three times a day!

Seafood can boost your brain

Seafood contains vitamin B-12, which is important for brain and nerve development. This vitamin is unfortunately not found naturally in any plant-based food. But despite that, you can find it everywhere in your local supermarket! Vitamin B-12 is easy to add to your diet via fortified foods, including plant milks, breakfast cereals, and some soy milks, or alternatively as a daily supplement. Just keep an eye out for any B-12 fortified foods and you'll find your brain working just as well as if you had tuna every day—without any of the downsides of a seafood diet.

Seafood is good for your heart

The benefits of seafood for your heart are all about the omega-3 acids that fish contain. But again, there are plenty of plant-based sources to find these all-important omega-3 acids, from walnuts (vegan brownies, anyone?) to brussel sprouts (try them pan-fried with vegan bacon and cream). By staying away from seafood and looking for plant-based omega acids, you can protect your heart health and avoid the unhealthy and unethical issues that eating seafood creates.

What are seafood substitutes?

Worried you're going to miss fish too much? There are plenty of delicious plant-based alternatives for fish and seafood, as well as ways you can make your own seafood alternatives from "tofish" (that's tofu fish) to marinating vegetables like carrots for that familiar fishy flavor. A hot tip: try Sichuan recipes, which often use a "fish-fragrant" marinade that is actually 100% vegan. Here's Fuchsia Dunlop's take on fish-fragrant eggplants to get you started.

Ready to say “see ya” to seafood?

Seafood isn't good for you, the environment, or the world (and certainly not fish!), so why not try a plant-based diet? Our plant-based starter guide can help you find the way to cruelty-free food.