Episode 34: Is Canned Fish Healthy?

Episode 34: Is Canned Fish Healthy?

Let’s dive into the world of canned fish.

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Links
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
https://nourishwithkarina.com/3-week-feeding-kids-reset

Highlights:

Introduction (00:00.00)
Tinned Fish and its Health (00:30.062)
Nutritional Importance of Tinfish (02:42.318)
Recipe for Salmon Cakes with Tzatziki (05:02.766)
Incorporating Tinned Fish into Children's Lives (07:24.878)
Consuming Fish and Mercury Karina (09:41.39)
Mercury in Fish and Its Impact (12:01.07)
Mercury-Free Fish Consumption Guidelines (14:27.118)
Fish Consumption Guidelines and Mercury Concerns (16:39.086)
Incorporating Tin Fish into Toddler's Life (18:46.318)
Fish and Nuts for Children and Adults (21:02.126)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

Let’s dive into the world of canned fish. Here are key discussion points:

1. Nutritional Benefits: Learn why canned fish is a fantastic source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids, essential for brain development in young children.

2. Mercury Concerns: Understand the importance of monitoring mercury levels in fish and the best choices for your family's health.

3. Practical Tips: Discover whether you should choose canned fish in spring water or oil, and what to watch out for regarding salt content.

4. Recipe Highlights: Get the scoop on my easy salmon cake recipe and the creamy dill sauce that pairs perfectly with it.

5. Sustainable Choices: Find out why selecting MSC-certified canned fish is vital for protecting our oceans and marine life.

Don't miss this episode packed with valuable tips and delicious ideas to make feeding your family both nutritious and enjoyable!

Learn more about my membership program, head over to: https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Introduction (00:00.526)
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast, episode number 34, canned fish isn't healthy. Hi there. I'm Karina Savage. And with over 20 years experience feeding children, including my own, I've learned all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed Podcast.

Tinned Fish and its Health (00:30.062)
Hi guys. How are you? I hope you're really well. I hope your week has started well and you are powering through the week. We are now what? I think about week four of the term. So I've actually lost track, which I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not, but I can't believe we're powering towards the middle of the year already. That is crazy. Anyhow, today we are talking about canned fish and whether it's healthy or not.

I thought it was a perfect opportunity to record this podcast because it was only this morning that I was on channel seven sunrise talking about this exact topic. So I thought whilst it was all fresh in my mind, I would share it with you because it's something that, you know, we eat regularly or we give our kids regularly. Well, I'm speaking for everybody here, but a lot of people would use tuna especially.

for their children, tuna sushi, tuna morene, you know, they're very common kids' foods and my son loves tuna in sushi. So I guess the question is, is it healthy? What should we be looking out for in terms of, you know, spring water versus oil? Do we need to worry about salt? Do we need to worry about mercury? So I wanted to share some of those little golden nuggets with you today.

So to start off with, well, my first question this morning was, is it healthy? And my answer was absolutely. Tinned fish or canned fish is very high in protein, high in omega -3 fatty acids, and important that we are getting more of these omega -3 fatty acids. Last week in my podcast, I talked about which cooking oils were best and the oils that

ranked the best were those that had a better ratio of omega -3 to omega -6 because generally they're going to often have more omega -6 but it's making sure that that ratio isn't too out of whack. So is not too high in omega -6s compared to omega -3s because historically we used to have a better ratio of omega -3s to omega -6s. Now generally the omega -6s are always higher than the omega -3s but

Nutritional Importance of Tinfish (02:42.318)
The ratio didn't used to be so different compared to now, we tend to have a lot more Omega -6s compared to Omega -3s. And that can actually be what we call pro -inflammatory. So we don't want to be getting that ratio out of whack. And by having more canned fish, you're having more Omega -3s. So you are helping to stabilize that ratio a little and you have more Omega -3s again, because it's very good for you, especially for

Babies and young children, the developing brain, DHA is a really important nutrient. And look, you get it in breast milk and it's put into formulas these days because they've recognized how important it is for neurological development. So absolutely, tinfish is nutritious for all of us. I'm going to talk a bit more about the amounts of tinfish that is appropriate for babies because you do need to watch that from a mercury perspective, but a very rich source of omega -3 fatty acids.

A good food for us to be consuming. It's versatile. It's easy. You can easily throw tins of tuna into your work bag to take to work. It's often very affordable. And so yeah, really good to consider including tinned fish two to three times a week. Wouldn't necessarily be having it every day and I'll explain why later, but absolutely healthy to include.

I also shared a recipe on sunrise this morning. It was a salmon cake recipe and it is on my website too. So if you head to my website nourishedwithkarina .com forward slash kids recipes, or if you just head to my website and then click on the kids recipes tab, I'm just double checking what the actual URL is for that. But you will find some of my free recipes and you will find my

easy salmon recipe. So it's nourishedwithkarina .com forward slash kids dash recipes. And you'll find my easy salmon cakes and also the creamy dill sauce that goes with the salmon cakes because that was delicious. And I'd never made this creamy dill sauce before and I had it ready to go. Well, actually I made it last night, ready to go for this morning. And my son came into the kitchen, my nine year old son. And when I said to him, do you want to try it?

Recipe for Salmon Cakes with Tzatziki (05:02.766)
And he did, and he's like, yum, that's delicious. I'd never made it for him before, but he loves mayonnaise. And I guess that's fitting that he would like this. But this was a half mayonnaise, half yogurt with dill, parsley, chopped spring onions and lemon juice. And super easy, super delicious and goes really well with the salmon cakes. And it would go well with other fish, like some grilled white fish as well. It would be delicious. Actually, it takes me back to.

My mum used to grill, what did she used to grill? It was like a white, maybe deep sea perch, something like that. She used to grill it with tzatziki on top. It was delicious. It's a good recipe idea. So easy. It was grilled white fish with tzatziki literally layered on the top, but you put it on the top of the raw fish. So you'd have the raw fish, you'd have the tzatziki and then you would grill it.

And then I think what we did is we squeezed lemon juice over the top of it after, and it was delicious. And so again, a little bit like the dill sauce, it goes really well with fish. And so that's an easy recipe that you can use and is available to you. Head to my website. I've got some other good recipes up there. Some of my previous sunrise smoothies, the Pikachu, the Incredible Hulk, the Banana Rama. Yeah, I've got some good recipes up there. And then I've got a healthy kids recipe book.

which has got over 50 healthy kids recipes. So you'll also at the bottom of that page, find the link. If you want to buy my healthy kids recipe book, that's also a great one there. So head to the website for the tinned salmon recipe. The tinned salmon actually is also a rich source of calcium and the calcium's in the bones, but you can't taste the bones because the bones are cooked and they basically disintegrate when you mix them up into the patty consistency.

But it's a really good source of calcium. And so, yeah, we actually joked about that today. Sherva was like, can you taste the bones? And I'm like, no, you can't taste the bones. It's not like fish bones where, you know, they're quite, when they've been, I think because the salmon's cooked, you know, at high pressure, the bones disintegrate. Whereas if you were to cook a fish, the bone would still be quite, yeah, like spiky and you wouldn't want to eat it. So, but in the tin salmon...

Incorporating Tinned Fish into Children's Lives (07:24.878)
completely edible and it just basically dissolves and disintegrates. So that's a really good recipe. So check that out on my website and we'll talk a bit more about some other great ways to incorporate tinned fish into our children's lives and their lives a little later. But first of all, I wanted to answer a couple of questions. So the first question that was thrown at me today was what is better, spring water?

or oil. And to be honest with you, I think a bit of both is good. And the reason is when I did a bit of digging and a bit of research, I discovered that in the spring water, it's actually higher in Omega -3s than in the oil. So in the oil is still a good source of Omega -3s, but in the spring water is even higher.

in omega -3s. And so I think that's great. And I would do that and then use some extra virgin olive oil or some avocado oil or if it's in the salads yourself, maybe some flaxseed oil, really good source of nutrients there. That kind of answered that question in terms of which is higher in omega -3s. But then the tuna in oil is actually higher in vitamin D and selenium, which was really interesting as well. So if you've got more of an issue with vitamin D and you're really low in vitamin D,

I would have the tuna or the fish in oil. So really, I think at the end of the day, mix it up. Both are good. And it's really personal preference there. So yeah, both are good. Oil or water, as long as you're getting the tinfish, because it's the tinfish that's high in protein, that's high in amigas. And yeah, you're going to be getting benefits either way. In terms of salt, just watch out, some tinfish is quite high in salt. And certainly for our babies, young children.

We need to be really mindful of how much salt they're having because their kidneys are more immature and we definitely don't want to be adding salt to our baby's food at all. And even our toddlers' diets, we want to make sure that they're not really salt -laden because a lot of packet foods these days marketed towards toddlers is quite laden with salt. And so they're already getting a lot of salt in these packet foods. If they are having tuna,

Consuming Fish and Mercury Karina (09:41.39)

Then just look out for the sodium per 100 grams. Same with sardines or any of the other tinned salmon. With sardines actually, you can rinse them in water and it reduces the salt content by 80%. So if you're giving your baby sardines, either whole sardines like a baby -led weaning approach or mashed sardines with avocado, rinse the sardines and it will significantly reduce the salt content. So there's a little hack there.

But yeah, if you're looking at tinned fish, look at the sodium per 100 grams, aim for less than 300 milligrams per 100 grams. That's a good guide there in terms of sodium. Otherwise just look for salt reduced, but I always like to look at the sodium per 100 grams. Then you know exactly what you're getting. Okay. Moving on to mercury now. Now mercury is a really interesting one and it's something that, you know, is a bit of a rabbit war. The more you...

learn the more you want to know and you just keep digging and digging and digging. And it's really interesting because I don't think we talk about mercury really enough or much at all. And look, I know from my years of clinical experience, when I used to work in a hospital, we used to run pregnancy groups, mercury and fish is something you do need to be watching out for when you're pregnant. You need to limit your intake of deep sea fish, which are higher in mercury.

And this is also the case for babies and young children, but it's also the case for all of us in terms of how much of this high mercury fish we're consuming on a regular basis because that curious neurotoxin and that can have implications on our central nervous system and whatnot. So we just need to be mindful of how much mercury we are consuming.

And if we're having a lot of deep sea fish or high mercury fish, you may need to think twice about perhaps spreading it out a little more and adding in more of the lower mercury fish options. And we'll go through all of that in a sec. But first of all, fish is the main food that we get mercury from. And the reason we get mercury from fish is because fish eat other fish or

Mercury in Fish and Its Impact (12:01.07)
krill or algae that have absorbed the mercury. And the mercury is methylmercury and it typically comes from coal production. So it's the environment and then ends up in our water and then gets absorbed into the algae and the krill and then the fish eat that. So that's how it gets into the fish. And basically the bigger the fish, the more little fish it's eaten and the more mercury it's accumulated. So basically it starts in our air.

And volcanoes, I think, can also produce it. Starts in our air, ends up in our water, gets absorbed into the water, ends up in our fish. And basically the more fish that the fish that you've eaten has eaten, the more mercury that they've got. And basically the higher the mercury content, the higher the load in your body. And that's where it can pose a risk if you're consuming large amounts of high mercury fish. So what are high mercury fish?

High mercury fish are typically the deep sea fish. So the number one highest mercury containing fish are tilefish off the Gulf of Mexico. I'd never even heard of tilefish before, but that is the highest mercury containing fish. We have swordfish, shark or flake. And often that's what they used to put, well, they may still put in butterfish, like when you're a fish and chip shop. You're not going to find shark in a fruit and veg shop.

Mackerel is also really high. And then big -eyed tuna is very high in mercury. Then we go down to marlin, mackerel, grouper. And then we move down into other species of tuna. You know, so tuna actually can contain a reasonable amount of mercury except for the skipjack or light tuna. And a lot of our tin tuna.

is actually skipjack or light tuna, which is why it's fine to be consuming that tuna two or three times a week. But if you were consuming tuna steaks or other types of tuna, such as the yellowfin tuna or the big -eye tuna, then you would want to only be consuming that once a week because it is higher mercury containing. Now low mercury containing fish, things like salmon,

Mercury-Free Fish Consumption Guidelines (14:27.118)
We've got shellfish, so things like scallops and clams and shrimp, oyster. Sardines are low in mercury and chovies, squid, pollock. And white things also quite low in mercury. So those foods, as well as the tinned skipjack tuna, I'm going to say that three times fast, they are all low in mercury and they can be consumed.

regularly two or three times a week and they will provide a really good source of omega -3 fatty acids. So for the average person, average child or adult, absolutely fine to be consuming like the skipjack tuna or some of those other lower mercury fish like salmon, two or three times a week. No problem whatsoever and a good source of amigas. However, if you are pregnant, you do need to be mindful of the overall mercury load.

And I would only be having one of those serves of higher mercury fish once a fortnight, not once a week. So if you were pregnant or the children up to the age of six, then I would only consume those higher mercury fish once a fortnight. So if it was like shark or flake, only once a fortnight.

But if it was the lower mercury fish like tuna, then again, two or three times a week is fine, but I would make sure it was the skipjack or the light tuna for young children under the age of six and also for pregnant women. Now I'll include a link to a good cheat sheet on pregnancy and mercury if you want to know more. So I'll put that in the show notes and I'll also pop a link.

to, it's the US Food and Drug Administration, but it's quite a useful link on the mercury concentration of different fish. Now, overseas will differ compared to Australian fish, but I couldn't find anything similar in terms of the exact concentrations of mercury in fish in Australia. And, you know, I would be buying Australian fish as much as possible rather than something that says, you know, from overseas because

Fish Consumption Guidelines and Mercury Concerns (16:39.086)
Ideally now I think they have to legally put the country of origin, but preferably I would be buying Australian fish. But yeah, just couldn't find anything on the actual detail on the grams of mercury in fish. So I liked the USFTA summary there, so I'll include that link for you as well. But just to recap, for the average person and children above the age of six, it's only fine to have tuna, that low mercury tuna, the skipjack tuna, light tuna.

three times a week or a deep sea fish once a week. But if you're under six or pregnant, then I would be only having those deep sea fish once a fortnight. And again, you can include the lower mercury fish, salmon, tuna, the skipjack tuna up to three times a week. So good source of amigas for everybody, good source of protein.

I'm all for canned fish and it's just about making sure that, you know, for those higher risk groups, we're not overdoing the mercury. I will take this time to make a little mention that my preference is to always purchase tinned fish that has the MSC logo on it, which means that it has to be sustainably produced so that we're not depleting our fish supply in the oceans and the

The companies have sustainable and ethical fishing practices, protecting our dolphins and other marine life. So I would always purchase tin fish that had that MSC logo on it. So that's MSC. And it's like a little blue round logo that says MSC.

Okay, now let's talk about some ways to incorporate canned fish into our children's life. And also this applies to us as well as adults. And let's be honest, often we're eating our kids' food anyway, aren't we? Especially if they're a fish. So how can we incorporate tinned fish, I should say, into our children's life? Well, when we are introducing solids, I'm all for giving our fish rinsed sardines as finger food, so baby -lead weaning approach, or that would be

Incorporating Tin Fish into Toddler's Life (18:46.318)
from like, you know, six, seven months or when they're starting a finger food. So from about nine months, you could give them whole sardines or you can mash sardines up a lot earlier into avocado. That's a really good one. So mashed avocado and sardines are a great mix. Really, really high in healthy fats there. Tuna Mornay is another great way to get tin tuna into your child. So making that with like a creamy sauce, with pasta.

You can also do just like a tuna mashed potato and veggie mix. Look, there's a million ways you can incorporate tuna into your child's day. Same with salmon. You could do like a salmon and potato bake or a salmon and sweet potato bake. You can make salmon patties and I've got a great salmon patty recipe on my website, as I said before. So just head to nourishwithkarina .com, click on kids recipes and you'll see that salmon patty recipe.

You'll also see the creamy dill sauce next to the easy salmon cakes recipe. And that goes really well. It's delicious. And I would actually use that creamy dill sauce for other fish and for other things as well, because it was yummy. Okay. So let's talk about some other ideas to incorporate tin fish into your toddler or child's life. We could do pasta with like a tomato salsa sauce and a tin of tuna. That's a nice one. I've done that before.

In fact, my daughter's friend really loved that. It was, and it was a quick, easy recipe. So basically this is cooked pasta, some jar tomato salsa, a tin of tuna mixed all together and boom, you've got it. And you can always put some extra virgin olive oil on top and if you need Parmesan, but that's a really quick, easy tomato -based pasta sauce with tuna. You could do like a fish and potato mash. You could do like a creamy fish risotto.

You could do like a salmon and cheese quesadilla. Basically you get tortillas and then you put fish and cheese. It's kind of like a fishy taco really. So yeah, that could be another option. But again, it really depends on how much your child likes, you know, canned tuna or salmon. And if you've got a really fishy little one who loves fish, then great. You can become more and more adventurous with these different, you know, fish tortillas or tacos or quesadillas. But

Fish and Nuts for Children and Adults (21:02.126)
If your child is still learning to like fish, then they would just be putting a little bit of say, you know, salmon and sweet potato puree or a little bit of tiny bit of salmon on the side of your child's plate while you're eating it, and that they can build that familiarity and trust in food and fish especially. So if you're doing like tinned salmon, then great. And this applies to fresh salmon as well. So if you're trying to get your child to learn to like more fish products, putting a little bit in their dish is okay.

They don't really like the taste of fish and you're going to ruin the entire dish. I would put a little bit on the side so that they can sort of dabble in it and stick their finger in it and try it, but it's not necessarily going to mean that they don't want to eat the whole meal because it's too fishy. Okay. So for you, because Omega -3s are important for you as well. So for adults, you could do like a tuna salad. So you could mix like tin tuna with mayonnaise and you could chop up some

celery and spring onions, a splash of lemon juice. Actually, I'd probably use that creamy dill sauce with different mixed green leaves. You could also put some olives or cucumber or tomato in that. So the tuna salad would be great. there's also the nicoise salad, which is where you combine the tin tuna with boiled potatoes, green beans, hard boiled eggs, olives and cherry tomatoes. But that you use more like a vinaigrette.

So that's more like a French style salad dressing rather than the creamy, but I guess you can use the totally, you could use that creamy dill dressing instead. That'd be delicious. You could do sardines on toasts. That sounds something like that my dad might like. Fish tacos. You could do pasta poltanesca. So where you're doing like anchovies in a tomato based sauce with garlic, olive capers. Again, perhaps, you know, only if you like anchovies. I'm not an anchovy fan, so I would choose to.

pass on the whole pasta poltanesca. But you know, if you like it, then yeah, go for it. You might try fish cakes. You might try my easy salmon patties because they are yummy. And you might try something like a frittata where you add fish, like tin salmon or tuna into like a frittata mixture with eggs, spinach, onions and cheese. And so, and your child might like that as well. So that's another option there. Alrighty. I'll wrap it up now.

I think we've come to the end of our fishy segment. Thanks so much for being here. I hope it's been super helpful for you. Head to my website, nourishwithkarina .com for more recipes or to find out any other information such as about my membership, which now has my feeding babies program and my feeding fussy eaters program in it, not to mention a whole lot of other useful information in there. So head to my website for more information on...

any of those or my recipes. And of course, as a member, you get a bucket load of recipes as well. Recipes that aren't available on my website because they're password protected. Member only. Special recipes. Anyway, I will see you soon. Have a great week. Bye for now.