A brain health blog written by the brainiac folks over at Lumosity warns that not all fish is brain food. Apparently, fish like tilapia don’t contain the right fatty acids in them to make them exactly healthy.
And there I was, thinking tilapia was the new chicken of the sea — white fish, kind of tasteless, a little cheaper, and takes on whatever flavor you put on it. Guess not.
Of course, there’s another side to the story, as one commenter duly notes. Corn-fed fish, in general, are not full of the good fatty acids. (When the heck did fish start getting fed corn, anyway?!, is my real question… but then sometimes it’s just better to be in the dark.)
Other, better fish options provided by the Lumosity writer include: Salmon, Mackerel, Trout, Whitefish, and Bluefin Tuna. I’ll remember that the next time I get some sushi.
Thanks, GrubGirl.
Yet another thing to think about. Soon I’ll need index cards when I go to buy groceries…
Martin
wow, corn fed fish, what a concept! didn’t know that about tilapia which I had just started eating recently…
I was grossed out at first until I realized that…cows were never meant to eat corn either, but they’re fed that, too! Ugh. But trying to picture how corn or feed or whatever is doled out to fish in those farms is not pleasant. Now I’ll be checking the fine print the next time I attempt to buy frozen fish at Trader Joe’s.
Martin,
I hear you about needing cheat sheets for the food we buy, but I think Michael Pollan says it well in his book In Defense of Foods. “Eat food, Mostly Plants, Not too much” is his motto. The more we are able to eliminate processed foods the better our health will be.
@Mike – What do you recommend hungry value-oriented types (that still want to be semi-healthy) eat, to get their daily allowance of protein? I’m all ears!