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Are Shellfish Good for You?

If you’re looking for healthy animal protein, nothing on Earth beats seafood. But it can be hard to know what to eat. There’s mercury in the tuna, bycatch on the shrimp boats and pesticides in the salmon ponds. Isn’t there something you can just order at a restaurant, or buy at the fish counter, without worrying about heavy metals and the future of our oceans? You bet there is. Shellfish — specifically, bivalves like clams, oysters, mussels and scallops — are nutrition-packed and an environmental success story. Sustainable farming of these mollusks has boomed, making them one of the best options for a seafood-hungry world.

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Featured

 Is Shellfish Healthy? Here’s What the Experts Say

With all the talk about the disease-fighting, life-extending superpowers of the Mediterranean diet, a lot of people are trying to cram more seafood into their meals. But while there are endless articles extolling the healthful glories of fatty, omega-3-rich fish like salmon and mackerel, there’s not much talk about shellfish—or whether these sea creatures deserve space on your shopping list. As it turns out, they do. “Shellfish are high-quality protein sources—just like land animals—meaning they have all the essential amino acids,” says Faye Dong, professor emerita of food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois. Those “essential” amino acids are ones your body can’t make on its own but are needed to support proper cellular function and muscle health—making them a crucial component of a healthy diet. https://time.com/5341293/is-shellfish-healthy/

 Shellfish good for nutrition, environment

While seafood is a good source of healthy animal protein, not all types are created equal—among them, shellfish are some of the most nutritious and environmentally sustainable, according to experts. Shellfish are also healthy for the planet, since around 90% are farmed. “If you look at a global scale, shellfish are the most sustainably produced type of seafood,” Golden said.

Articles of Interest

Is Shellfish Good for You?

Have you ever wondered if the lobster tail or crab legs you love to indulge in are good for you? Or, if there are any health benefits to eating a bowl of delicious mussels? If you have, we have good news. There are health benefits to all of these foods!

Climate Change May Make Shellfish (and Us) Sick

A 50-year study says more Vibrio infections correlate with rising water temperatures, representing “a direct impact on human health.”

Food of the Month – Shellfish

Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of mollusks, crustaceans and echinoderms. Common crustaceans that people eat include crab, lobster and shrimp while common mollusks are clams, mussels and scallops.

Guess What's Showing Up In Our Shellfish? One Word: Plastics

The research is adding to the evidence of a problem that touches every corner of the planet: from the depths of the ocean abyss to the surface waters of the Arctic to an area in the middle of the Pacific Ocean now known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Scientists think plastic pollution in the ocean could outweigh the fish there by 2050.

How the humble limpet helped humans develop, survive and thrive

The humble limpet generally doesn’t attract much attention. Most of us remember them from childhood as tenacious little creatures clinging to rocks, impossible to prise off. But this familiar, cone-shaped animal has played an important part in the development of humans across the globe. As my recent research underscored, limpets have long been important to humans as food, cultural symbols, offerings in religious and spiritual rituals, and even currency.

Increasingly Acidic Seas Threaten Oyster Farming

And as the rate of acidification rises, scientists are considering drastic, controversial options to try to stem the damage that is weakening the skeletons of coral reefs, the habitats of millions of species and the shells of bivalve animals and zooplankton, essential to the marine food chain. One of the earliest successful remedies was the introduction of sodium carbonate, to the seawater in the hatcheries.

Is Shrimp Good for You? It’s Complicated

Americans love their prawns. So how healthy are they — for us and for the planet? When it comes to the health of the oceans, many experts say shrimp is among the most damaging foods you can eat. That’s not because shrimp are endangered — most species are resilient — but because of what we have to do to get them.

Keep Europe’s Sick Shellfish Out of America

Oyster herpes won’t make you ill, but it’s an ecological threat.

Microplastic toxins leave shellfish at mercy of predators - research

This article is more than 6 years old Microplastic toxins leave shellfish at mercy of predators - research This article is more than 6 years old Chemical cocktail suppresses periwinkles’ ability to avoid crabs and disrupts food chain Damian Carrington Environment editor Tue 27 Nov 2018 19.01 EST Share Toxins leaching from microplastics leave shellfish at the mercy of predators, research has found. The chemicals completely suppress the ability of the periwinkles to detect and avoid the crabs that eat them.

Oyster ‘Blood’ May Be the Secret Weapon in Our Fight Against Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs, Study Finds

In lab experiments, a protein found in the Sydney rock oyster made some antibiotics more effective and killed several types of illness-causing bacteria.

Oysters Can Get Herpes, And It’s Killing Them

A deadly virus threatens to decimate oyster populations around the world.

Shellfish allergies: can they be treated?

Seafood platters? Bouillabaisse? Arroz de Marisco? Seafood paella? Oysters Rockefeller? Lobster Thermidor? Dining out with friends, a romantic meal, celebrating Christmas or a holiday on a wind-swept coast with these seafood dishes on your table are enjoyable moments. But have any of you, your friends or family experienced swelling of lips or eyelids, itchiness and rashes developed over your face or body, or even difficulty in breathing just a few minutes after eating shrimp, lobster, crab, clam, mussels, oysters or scallops? If yes, you could well have a shellfish allergy.

Shellfish consumption and health...

Shellfish, including various species of mollusks (e.g., clams, oysters, and mussels) and crustaceans (e.g., shrimp and crab), have been a cornerstone of healthy dietary recommendations. However, beyond providing basic nutrition needs, their health-promoting effects have been suggested to include inflammation reduction and prevention of various chronic non-communicable diseases. Currently, studies on the association between shellfish consumption and health outcomes have reported conflicting results.

Study finds microplastic contamination in 99% of seafood samples

The peer-reviewed study detected microplastics in 180 of 182 samples comprising five types of fish and pink shrimp.

The demand for luxury shellfish is polluting the ocean with plastic

If the government’s goal is to protect these sensitive marine ecosystems, it needs to stop the flow of plastics from industrial sources including the unregulated shellfish industry. The economic gain of farming sashimi for a select market is not worth the environmental cost.

Warming Oceans Could Make These Seafood Favorites Toxic

Chances are, most people haven’t heard of domoic acid, but it’s something that could be making more headlines soon enough. That’s because it’s a neurotoxin that can build up in sea creatures that are popular on the dinner table, like Dungeness crab, mussels, clams and anchovies, Clare Leschin-Hoar reports for NPR. And, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, warmer waters lead to algae blooms that can cause elevated levels of this toxin in many of the ocean's critters.

Resources

Shellfish Growers Climate Coalition

Our members are working to secure a low-carbon future for the shellfish we all love to eat and the waters that sustain them—before it’s too late.