Shrimp Nutrition: Is Shrimp Healthy or Harmful to Your Health?
Dr. Josh Axe
Shrimp is the most commonly consumed seafood in the United States and the most highly traded seafood in the world, but this high demand has led to many environmental and human rights abuses in the fishing, farming and processing of shrimp. We’re routinely given little information about the shrimp we purchase and what the shrimp nutrition actually is, which is more important now than ever because shrimp is being impacted by several problems, including diseases, antibiotic use and environmental factors. (1)
Twenty-five percent of the seafood consumption in the United States is shrimp, and the average American consumes four pounds of shrimp every year. That may be because we consider it to be a healthy form of protein that’s low in calories, and that’s true for fresh, wild shrimp, but farm fish has proven to be unhealthy and toxic, making it among the worst seafood and fish you shouldn’t eat. In fact, it’s been proven to be even more toxic than farmed tilapia and catfish, which rank as the second and third most polluted foods from the sea. Love shrimp? Learn the secret to make sure your shrimp is safe to eat.
Is Shrimp Nutrition Healthy?
Because shrimp has become the most popular seafood in the United States, methods of intensive production began expanding in the 1970s. Rather than being caught at sea, large quantities of shrimp are grown in man-made ponds containing a mix of ocean and fresh water along the coast of countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Ecuador. These shrimp are often referred to as “farmed,” and they may be labeled “farm-raised,” but the scary part is they’re often produced under unsafe and unhealthy conditions.
Research shows that eating fish that’s farmed abroad may lead to serious health conditions, such as neurological damage, allergies, and other infections and illnesses. These can occur from ingesting shrimp contaminated with pesticide residues, antibiotics or pathogens resistant to antibiotics, such as E. coli. These conditions offset virtually any benefits of shrimp nutrition, instead turning the shrimp nutrition into toxic substances for the body.
7 Reasons to Avoid Farmed Shrimp + Downside of Shrimp Nutrition
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