Although it may not be environmentally ‘PC’, with declining levels of fish in the sea, the optimal intake of oily/carnivorous fish is three to five servings a week. In a study of 11,875 pregnant women, research shows – the less seafood consumed, the more challenging the child’s social behaviour, fine motor skills, communication and social development and verbal IQ.1
Research has also found that lower DHA levels are linked to poorer reading ability and memory, oppositional behaviour and emotional instability.2 Several studies have shown increased aggression in those with low omega-3 DHA and EPA and giving more omega-3 reduces aggression.3
SMASH it!
So we say SMASH it: Salmon, Mackerel, Anchovies, Sardines, Herrings (kippers). If you or your child is not used to eating fish now is the time to start developing that taste and habit. (Although it is a great high protein food, tinned tuna has much less omega-3, because it is squeezed out during processing, than compared to a whole fish such as in canned sardines or anchovies – but tuna is still encouraged).
How do you encourage your child to eat fish? The answer is one bite at a time. New flavours take a while to acquire the taste for.
Here’s a few ideas:
• Add pieces of salmon (you can buy pieces of ‘hot smoked’ salmon or trout) to a pasta dish, onto a pizza, or eat on its own with some vegetables, or in a pitta sandwich perhaps in their lunch box.
• Add anchovies into dishes. It’s a strong flavour, and salty, so don’t add too many and there’s no need to add salt. You can chop it up into tiny pieces and add to any tomato based pasta sauces.
• Make a ‘kedgeree’ with mackerel. This is one of the recipes in the Upgrade Your brain cookapp. Select ‘brain fats’ and ‘child friendly’ to see dozens of fishy ideas.
• Fallback is fish fingers and they don’t have to be cod. Try salmon fish fingers.
• Get into taramasalata, made from fish roe. It’s delicious to dip things into such as slices of carrot, cucumber, tomatoes, oat cakes. Kids love it.
• Make a sardine paté as an accompaniment to a salad. Heres’ how:
Serves 1
½ can sardines
¼ small red onion, roughly chopped
a pinch of finely chopped coriander
a pinch of finely chopped flat leaf parsley
juice from ¼ lemon
4 capers (optional)
½ tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
ground black pepper
Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processer and blend together. Serve with a salad or use as a dip with crudites such as slices of carrot, cucumber, tomatoes, oat cakes or make a wholegrain pitta sandwich.
By the way, don’t worry too much about fears of mercury in fish – this is only in very small amounts in large fish. The chart below shows you the ratio of omega-3/mercury. The higher the number the better for you. Farmed salmon does contain omega-3, but wild fish is certainly better.
The omega-3 and mercury content of fish
| Fish Source FSA 2004 | Omega-3 (g/100g) | EPA (g/100g) | Mercury (mg/kg) | Omega-3 / Mercury Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canned tuna | 0.37 | 0.23 | 0.19 | 1.95 |
| Trout | 1.15 | 0.25 | 0.06 | 19.17 |
| Herring | 1.31 | 0.90 | 0.04 | 32.75 |
| Fresh tuna | 1.50 | 0.09 | 0.40 | 3.75 |
| Canned/smoked salmon | 1.54 | 0.47 | 0.04 | 38.50 |
| Canned sardines | 1.57 | 0.47 | 0.04 | 39.25 |
| Fresh mackerel | 1.93 | 0.65 | 0.05 | 38.60 |
| Fresh salmon | 2.70 | 0.69 | 0.05 | 54.00 |
How to Implement Change
Today’s Challenge: You are aiming to give your child three servings of oily fish a week – work on increasing the serving weekly, if they currently have one serving up it to two servings per week, if two up to three and so on. You’ve got this!
You can subscribe to the Upgrade Your Brain Cookapp here!
📌 Next email: Go Nuts and Go Green
Wishing you and your child the best of health and happiness,
The COGNITION for Smart Kids & Teens Team
References: 1. Hibbeln JR et al. Maternal seafood consumption in pregnancy and neurodevelopmental outcomes in childhood (ALSPAC study) Lancet. 2007 Feb 17;369(9561):578-85 2. Kranz, S., Jones, N.R.V., Monsivais, P., Intake Levels of Fish in the UK Paediatric Population. Nutrients 2017, 9, 392. doi.org/10.3390/nu9040392; 3. Montgomery P et al. Low blood long chain omega-3 fatty acids in UK children are associated with poor cognitive performance and behavior: a cross-sectional analysis from the DOLAB study. PLoS One. 2013 Jun 24;8(6):e66697. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0066697; 4. Raine A et al. Omega-3 (ω-3) and social skills interventions for reactive aggression and childhood externalizing behavior problems: a randomized, stratified, double-blind, placebo-controlled, factorial trial. Psychol Med. 2019 Jan;49(2):335-344. doi: 10.1017/S0033291718000983.