In pretty much all cuisines of the, world there is such a dish as fried fish. Due to its digestibility it is much lighter for the stomach than meat. Moreover, in some countries it is much cheaper than beef or pork. So, fish may help you not only to complement your diet, but also save your money.
Nutritionists and scientists have argued for a long time about the benefits and harm of adding fried fish into everyday diet. Let’s try to figure it out.
Fried fish use
I hope no one would argue with the fact that fish exerts beneficial effects on the human body. It includes proteins, which contain all the essential amino acids.
It is also worth mentioning that fish is digested quite fast. This is especially useful for people suffering from low acidity. After eating fish, such people never feel bloating in the stomach.
Moreover, fatty fish contains high levels of Omega-3 lipids. They are incredibly useful for the hormones. In addition, these elements allow to maintain a normal weight due to the fact that Omega-3 reduces appetite.
Moreover, fats that constitute a part of the fish fight against cholesterol. And that means only one thing – your heart and joints will be in the normal state up to an old age.
Fish is also useful for females since this product is able to delay the aging process. Nutritionists agree that eating two slices of salmon a week can significantly delay the beginning of anti-wrinkle creams usage.
To sum up this section on the fish use I want to mention that its beneficial properties will be somewhat reduced if you fry your fish, but, nevertheless, some of them will be still preserved.
Harm and contraindications
But here’s the thing: during the process of fish cooking we use sunflower or olive oil. So at some, point the fish you’re frying turns into poison. It happens due to the fact that when the temperature becomes higher, there is an allocation of free radicals that contribute to increased pressure and heart diseases.
So, you should know that fried food in general exerts harmful effects on our health and the fish in this case is not an exception.
In addition to all the information mentioned above, if you are on a diet, you should not include this dish in your diet. It’s due to the fact that fried fish contains large amounts of fats, which lead to extra pounds.
Correct and wrong fish cooking techniques
Okay, so we got it – fish has many healthy properties for the human body. But the extent of its usefulness in many respects depends on how you cook it.
Dieticians, gastroenterologists, cardiologists, and even social advertising – urge us to eat more fish. And in terms of healthy eating this appeal is more than justified: fish actually doesn’t contain any harmful cholesterol fats that are present in meat, but it has useful Omega-3 fatty acids in huge amounts.
These substances not only prevent cardiovascular disease and obesity, but also protect body cells from aging, an exert anti-inflammatory effect, and support the elasticity of joints and make hair and skin more beautiful.
In general, the use of fish as food – is an indisputable fact. Another thing is that people consume it differently in raw state (as the Japanese), as a part of fruit salad, and some take it with a bottle of beer. All these methods were studied in detail by American chemists and nutritionists. It turns out that the process of cooking and concomitant products may increase or, conversely, kill almost all the useful properties of fish.
More and more useful!
After analyzing the chemical structure of the most common fish types, researchers came to a conclusion that most of the nutrients in fish remain preserved during boiling or baking. At the same time, adding soy sauce to the salted fish will make the dish even more useful. The same good property has tofu – popular Chinese product with neutral taste and cheese-like consistency. Tofu is made up of soy beans too.
Scientists have reached such conclusions after a number of studies. They involved an extensive group of volunteers (82,243 men and 103,884 women aged 45 – 75) and asked them to stick to the same fish menu regularly.
After some time, the doctors checked the health of the participants – indicators of cardiac function, the state of the blood and vessels – and concluded that regular consumption of fish reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease by 23%.
Taking into account the fact that heart problems have remained for a long time in the top of factors that lead to early death in developed countries, this figure can save several hundreds of thousands of lives. The recommended average rate of fish consumption constitutes one serving 3-4 times a week.
Beware of salt
So, it can be concluded that the healthy properties of fish are significantly reduced (or even absent) when you eat fish that is not boiled or baked. The benefits of eating fried fish is negligible in comparison with fish cooked according to the ‘golden standard’ (boiling and baking) and, as it turned out, there are also fish that are dangerous for health!
And I’m not talking about raw fish or salmon infested with parasites. According to American cardiologists, fried and salty (as well as dried one with a lot of salt) fish is not only not healthy to eat, but even harmful – mostly due to the added products.
In particular, I mean salt, which promotes high blood pressure, and thus eliminates the health benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids on the heart and blood vessels. Secondly, in the case of frying fish, a lot of oil and butter are added that turn the fish into a factory of fat.
And that, in turn, is harmful for the heart, the liver and, of course, your body shape. Well, and here’s one more thing: all sorts of smoked fish are usually accompanied with alcohol, and of course you know about the harm of alcohol beverages.
Divide everything in halves
While conducting research, the scientists took into account the fact that the development of cardiovascular diseases is affected not only by food, but also, in many respects, by heredity and even racial and sexual identity. However, the fact that heart diseases cling to the representatives of certain nationalities can again be explained by dieting choices. Moreover, gender differences were explored in details.
It turned out that the representatives of the strong half of mankind are prone to early deaths from heart attacks and other illnesses more frequently than women. However, the therapeutic effect from fish consumption is also much stronger.
Thus, a man’s heart more sensitively reacts to an increase in the amount of consumed fish and soy sauce. The risk of heart disease falls by almost a fifth. However, women do not feel the same effect of increased number of Omega-3 fatty acids, while the harm of fried or salted fish for them is not less than for men.
Nowadays, scientists do not understand the reasons for this sexual division, but they are going to continue research in this area. Over time, they hope to develop clear recommendations on healthy nutrition for people of all racial, gender and even age groups separately.
Lots of fried fish per week promotes a lot of troubles
According to nutritionists and doctors, fish is extremely useful for the cardiovascular system, and people who consume a lot of fish less commonly suffer from such heart problem. So, on the one hand, fish is, of course, beneficial for the human body.
On the other hand, it is not always useful, and to be more precise, it’s all about how you cook your fish. For example, fried fish in high doses is harmful to the health.
According to scientists from the University of Alabama, a person who eats fried fish in large quantities is prone to the development of stroke.
The study was conducted by monitoring the health of more than 21,000 people who are over 45 years old. Scientists established a connection between eating fried fish and a high percentage of increased stroke and heart diseases.
Fish contains a fatty acid called Omega-3, due to which the risk of stroke or other heart disease is reduced. But when fried fish is served, all the nutrients are not preserved after cooking.
After this study, researchers came to the conclusion that if a person eats fried fish twice a week, the risk of heart disease is significantly increased.
So, in conclusion, fried fish is rather harmful for your health. Of course, you could still eat fried fish, but no more than once a month. However, don’t exclude fish from your diet just because eating fried fish is harmful. There are hundreds of recipes that can make boiled or baked fish taste even more deliciously then fried fish.
Let me know in the comment section below what types of fish you prefer and what are best types of fish for boiling and baking? And share your favorite fish recipes!
