The nutrients in small fishes’ bones and organs help protect women against death from cancer and other causes, a study in Japan has found.
The study was recently published in the journal Public Health Nutrition.
It’s well known that fish is a nutritious food, thanks to its omega-3 fatty acids, proteins, and vitamins, and eating entire small fish is even more beneficial than eating filets of larger ones, according to the study.
“Nutrients and physiologically active substances unique to small fish could contribute to maintaining good health.”
Just 1–3 Times a Month
The university investigators used a food frequency questionnaire to measure how frequently the participants ate whole small fish. During nine years of follow-up, 2,482 people in the study died, approximately 60 percent of them from cancer.
The women who reported eating small fish even just one to three times a month were less likely to die of cancer—and of all other causes—than were those women who rarely ate small fish.
In the male subjects, the reduced risk of all-cause and cancer mortality was similar to the risk among women, but it did not reach statistical significance, the researchers reported. They suggested this may have been due to the smaller number of male subjects (34,555, as opposed to 46,247 women), or other factors not measured in the study, such as fish portion sizes and sex-specific cancer types.
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Other factors were linked to how often people ate small fish. Those who did so more frequently were more likely to be older (the mean age of study subjects was 54.7 years), non-lean, non-smokers, current drinkers (among the men), to be physically active, and to have hypertension.
Small Fish, Big Nutrition
“Small fish offer a unique advantage in that they can be consumed as a whole,” the researchers wrote, unlike large fish, which are typically processed to remove the bones and organs, leaving only the filet.
When eaten whole, they explained, the bones and organs in small fish make them “a good source of micronutrients such as ca [calcium], vitamins and fatty acids.”
Who Eats Small Fish?
Fish preferences are in part a cultural phenomenon. Eating small fish is much more common in Japan and Europe, for instance, than it tends to be in the United States. In Japan, whitebait, Atlantic capelin, Japanese smelt, and small dried sardines are popular, as well as small horse mackerel and young sweetfish, according to the researchers. The Japanese eat them raw or prepare them by marinating them in vinegar, simmering them in soy sauce, deep-frying, or drying them, they wrote.
Lead researcher Ms. Kasahara noted in the university press release, “I was interested in this topic because I have had the habit of eating small fish since childhood. I now feed my children these.” However, she added, all cultures can benefit from her research. “While our findings were only among Japanese people, they should also be important for other nationalities,” she said.
