October 21, 2014 — The FAO's Committee on World Food Security elected to prioritize higher fish consumption among its key dietary recommendations for pregnant women and young children, the latest contribution in a movement to promote seafood as a key part of a healthy diet.
During its forty-first session, held in Rome this week, the Committee made “Encourage[ing] consumption of fish especially by pregnant and breastfeeding women, children…” a key recommendation in its report.
This recommendation is in line with the very latest in nutrition science,” said Rima Kleiner MS, RD, Registered Dietitian for the National Fisheries Institute. “And while what the group says is important, where it’s said is also worth noting. It is literally found as part of the very first issue addressed. Encouraging maternal fish consumption should be a top nutrition policy issue for the public health sector and that’s reflected in this document.”
The report goes on to recognize seafood as a “primary source of protein and essential nutrients” and as a key contributor to “food security.”
The Committee is a group of renowned world food and nutrition experts that was created in 1974 as a forum for review of nutrition and food security policies. The NFI said the Committee's endorsement advances a push to get more Americans to eat more seafood as part of a healthy, well-rounded diet
In June the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its own draft of new advice to pregnant women on eating seafood. In their report the FDA said Pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children should eat at least 2-3 servings of seafood per week. This was the first time a a minimum seafood consumption standard has been set for this consumer group.
“This new recommendation makes it all that much more important that the FDA get its final advice right,” said Kleiner. “Here we have a world body calling for encouragement of maternal fish consumption as a global nutrition priority. American women have been warned away from seafood with unclear, nuanced guidance for more than a decade. It’s time we come in line with volumes of published, peer-reviewed science and with the world’s top nutrition policy minds.”
This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.