Academic literature on the topic 'Fish nutrition'

Elder people need highly digestible foods that can also provide health benefits even to those suffering from chronic diseases. Furthermore, such foods should be palatable as well as familiar for elder consumers. Fish is a high-protein, low-fat food that potentially provides a range of health promoting effects which may be further improved with suitable approaches in the production systems. The present mini-review intends to report possible aquaculture interventions to enhance the positive impact of fish on elder health and to promote its function in terms of prevention and recovery of specific diseases. Some fish species during their lifespan experience periods of food restrictions that can be mimicked in aquaculture without affecting fish welfare. Under these circumstances fish can modify the fatty acid profile and increase the use of muscle proteins to fulfill their energy requirements, by activation of muscle endogenous proteases. Degradation of muscle proteins can enhance their digestibility and possibly the release of encrypted bioactive peptides, showing a plethora of biological actions, including the antihypertensive activity. The degree of myofibrillar protein degradation and the fatty acid profile of fish fillet can then be managed by suitable and sustainable feeding protocols in the context of farming conditions.

：Approximately 200 million people in Africa derive high-quality and low-cost proteins from fish. However, the consumption of fish is not fully exploited to combat the “triple burden” of malnutrition—obesity, undernutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies which are the leading causes of poor health in the region. There is still limited knowledge on quantitative information to guide policy makers in developing evidence-based actions that can improve the availability of and access to nutritious food for healthy and sustained diets among children and care givers. In this paper, we review the available literature with the aim of assessing and quantifying the extent to which fish contributes towards fighting food and nutrition insecurity in the Eastern Africa subregion. Key results reveal the region is characterized by fish supply deficits, and hence, low levels of fish consumed per person. Nonetheless, the increase in fish imports, and the growing supply of fish from aquaculture are likely to improve the per-capita fish intake. Fish trade is generally bidirectional, with exports exceeding imports in value terms, while significant challenges still hinder domestic and intra-regional fish trade. The Eastern Africa region is projected to realize increased fish consumption from 4.80 kg in 2013 to 5.49 kg by 2022. Rising population growth and income levels imply that the region will need 2.49 million tonnes of fish to fill the demand–supply gaps. We recommend that food security and nutritional programmes should recognize the potential of fish in providing essential micronutrients from the aspects of improved dietary quality, nutritional status, and general wellbeing of the region’s fast growing population.

The rapid development of aquaculture production throughout the world over the past few decades has led to the emergence of new scientific challenges to improve fish nutrition. The diet formulations used for farmed fish have been largely modified in the past few years. However, bottlenecks still exist in being able to suppress totally marine resources (fish meal and fish oil) in diets without negatively affecting growth performance and flesh quality. A better understanding of fish metabolism and its regulation by nutrients is thus mandatory. In this review, we discuss four fields of research that are highly important for improving fish nutrition in the future: ( a) fish genome complexity and subsequent consequences for metabolism, ( b) microRNAs (miRNAs) as new actors in regulation of fish metabolism, ( c) the role of autophagy in regulation of fish metabolism, and ( d) the nutritional programming of metabolism linked to the early life of fish.