Quick,
guess what major food source Americans still fall way short on in their diets?
If you said fish, winner, winner, seafood dinner. The average American eats
only a third of the recommended eight ounces of seafood per week, according to
the USDA. And that means we’re missing out on all the nutritious stuff
seafood has on offer: lean protein, vitamin D, selenium, and brain-boosting,
heart-healthy omega-3s.
“Personally
I don’t think people eat enough fish simply because they don’t know how to cook
it,” says Keri Gans, R.D., author of .
But
there could be another culprit: concerns about mercury. This
naturally-occurring mineral can be toxic in high levels, and it tends to hang
around in your body, so pros recommend limiting consumption of fish that
contain a lot of it. Pregnant or breastfeeding women are warned to watch their
intake because high levels of mercury can damage the developing brain
and nervous system of a fetus or baby, but small children and any woman of
childbearing age should be concerned as well.
