Fish as food
[2] The expansion in consumption has been driven not only by increased production, but also by a combination of many other factors, including reduced wastage, better utilization, improved distribution channels and growing consumer demand, linked with population growth, rising disposable incomes and urbanization.
[citation needed] The British historian William Radcliffe wrote in Fishing from the Earliest Times: "The Emperor Domitian (Juvenal, IV.)
ordered a special sitting of the Senate to deliberate and advise on a matter of such grave State importance as the best method of cooking a turbot.
However, more than as an energy source, the dietary contribution of fish is significant in terms of high-quality, easily digested animal proteins and especially in fighting micronutrient deficiencies.
[2] Intermediate Technology Publications wrote in 1992 that "Fish provides a good source of high quality protein and contains many vitamins and minerals.
The latter, as a result of its high fat content, contain a range of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) and essential fatty acids, all of which are vital for the healthy functioning of the body.
"[8] Eating oily fish containing long-chain omega-3 fatty acids may reduce systemic inflammation and lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.
[9][10] Eating about 140 grams (4.9 oz) of oily fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids once per week is a recommended consumption amount.
[9][10] Increasing intake of omega-3 fatty acids may slightly reduce the risk of a fatal heart attack,[10] but likely has little effect on the overall number of deaths from cardiovascular disease.
This can result in an overreaction of the immune system and lead to severe physical symptoms[13] from urticaria to angioedema and distributive shock.
Ciguatera poisoning can occur from eating larger fish from warm tropical waters, such as sea bass, grouper, barracuda and red snapper.
[16] Scombroid poisoning can result from eating large oily fish which have sat around for too long before being refrigerated or frozen.
[17] Fish products, especially those from apex and higher-order consumers up the food chain, have been shown to contain varying amounts of heavy or toxic metals due to biomagnification.
[33] According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the risk from mercury by eating fish and shellfish is not a health concern for most people.
Parasitic infections from freshwater fish are a serious problem in some parts of the world, particularly Southeast Asia[citation needed].
Fish that spend part of their life cycle in brackish or fresh water, like salmon (an anadromous coastalfish closely related to trout), are a particular problem.
The metastudy reported mortality ratios, where lower numbers indicated fewer deaths, for pescetarians to be 0.82, vegetarians to be 0.84, and occasional meat eaters to be 0.84.
[52] Religious rites and rituals regarding food also tend to classify the birds of the air and the fish of the sea separately from land-bound mammals.
For example, non-fish meat was forbidden during Lent and on all Fridays of the year in pre-Vatican II Roman Catholicism, but fish was permitted (as were eggs).
[55][56] There are taboos on eating fish among many upland pastoralists and agriculturalists (and even some coastal peoples) inhabiting parts of southeastern Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, and northern Tanzania.
[56][57] The few Bantu and Nilotic groups in East Africa that do practice fish avoidance also reside in areas where Cushites appear to have lived in earlier times.
This is attributed to the local presence of the tsetse fly and in areas beyond, which likely acted as a barrier to further southern migrations by wandering pastoralists, the principal fish-avoiders.
