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Veggie-eating fish does the body good

Can feeding vegetables to fish ensure food quality and safety? EU-funded researchers say it can. Scientists from the AQUAMAX ('Sustainable aquafeeds to maximise the health benefits of farmed fish for consumers') project succeeded in replacing marine foods for farmed salmon and...

Can feeding vegetables to fish ensure food quality and safety? EU-funded researchers say it can. Scientists from the AQUAMAX ('Sustainable aquafeeds to maximise the health benefits of farmed fish for consumers') project succeeded in replacing marine foods for farmed salmon and salmon trout with vegetables while keeping the health benefits of consumer products intact. AQUAMAX was backed with EUR 10.5 million under the 'Food and quality safety' Thematic area of the EU's Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). Led by Norway's National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES), AQUAMAX investigated the nutritional benefits of fish raised on a diet that substitutes vegetable feed ingredients for some of the marine ingredients. They evaluated whether farmed salmon can still be considered healthful food when 50% of their diet is based on vegetable feed. The study offers fresh information on what farmed fish need in terms of nutrition, and sheds light on what makes them safe and healthy for human consumption. The AQUAMAX partners say that vegetable ingredients can replace 70% of the fish oil and 80% of the marine proteins in conventional feed without having any negative impact on the health of the fish. Also interesting to note is that salmon appear to retain their value as a good source of fatty acids that are healthy for humans. 'Exchanging vegetable ingredients for fishmeal and fish oil involves taking a great many feed components into account,' says NIFES Director Øyvind Lie, who coordinated the AQUAMAX project. The partners say feeding vegetables to farmed fish can be considered as a something of a trade-off. 'We know we risk losing some of the beneficial marine omega-3 fatty acids in fish fat by altering the feed composition,' Dr Lie explains. 'Compared to vegetable sources, however, those same marine ingredients may contain more pollutants such as dioxins, PCBs [polychlorinated biphenyls] and brominated flame retardants. We have observed substantially lowered amounts of dioxins in fish that are fed vegetable ingredients,' he adds. 'The risk of ingesting contaminants must be weighed against the health benefits of eating seafood rich in the marine omega-3 fatty acids EPA [eicosapentaenoic acid] and DHA [docosahexaenoic acid]. This is a dilemma for pregnant women in particular.' The AQUAMAX consortium focused on expectant mothers in particular. According to Dr Lie, pregnant women and the babies they carry are at greater risk of being affected by pollutants like dioxins. 'Yet they also have the greatest requirement for the nutrients in fish. Marine omega-3 fatty acids are especially important for both mother and baby.' Sixty-two pregnant women twice a week consumed the vegetable-fed salmon raised by the scientists - from week 21 of their pregnancy until giving birth. The team also followed up on the babies for the first six months. A control group of 62 pregnant women consumed the same amount of fish as they normally would have, constituting a small part of their overall diet. 'The results were very encouraging,' Dr Lie says. 'In the group that ate the test salmon fillets, omega-3 levels were elevated in both the mothers and their babies. Even though these test salmon had received less omega-3 through a feed based mainly on vegetable ingredients, the salmon meat still provided an excellent source of the healthful fatty acids,' he points out. 'This means we can raise salmon on feed with high proportions of vegetable ingredients. This in turn reduces our need for marine resources while at the same time maintaining a sufficiently healthy level of fatty acids and lowering the risk of pollutants. Knowledge like this is vital for the authorities who provide nutritional guidelines concerning public consumption of seafood.' AQUAMAX also assessed consumer reactions to the idea of giving farmed fish a more varied diet. The findings show that negative perceptions outnumber the positive ones. However, consumer thinking varied from country to country, says the team, adding that their results could offer industry the information it needs to better inform the public. The AQUAMAX consortium brought together 33 partners from Belgium, China, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK.For more information, please visit: AQUAMAX:http://www.aquamaxip.eu/Research Council of Norway:http://www.forskningsradet.no/en/Home_page/1177315753906Food Quality and Safety Research in FP6:http://cordis.europa.eu/fp6/food.htm

Countries

Belgium, China, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Hungary, India, Italy, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom

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