1. How Fish Can Play a Stronger
Role to Achieve Globally Set
Goals
Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted
Research Program Leader
Value Chains and Nutrition

2. Fish for Nourishing Nations
• Fish – an irreplaceable source of multiple, essential
micronutrients, essential fatty acids, especially for the poor
• Quality of fish – nutrients and food safety
• Small fish; dried small fish
• Contribution to recommended nutrient dietary intakes
• Fish in the first 1,000 days of life
• Fish – uniquely placed to nourish nations and contribute to
SDGs, in particular SDG 2

3. Current Shift in Paradigm
Feeding the Billions
• Population growth – mouths to feed
• Quantity – national primary production
• Fish is fish
Nourishing Nations
• Quality
• Who, Why, Which way, When, in Context

4. Some Benefits of Fish for Nourishing Nations
• Diets low in fish and seafood responsible for 1% of the world’s total
burden of disease-related disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)
(Ezzati and Riboli 2013)
• Low seafood consumption during pregnancy increases the risk of
sub-optimal neuro-developmental outcomes, including cognition and
fine motor skills (Hibbeln et al 2007)
• Strong association between low stunting and fish intake (strongest of
all food groups): 112,553 children aged 6-23 months from 46
countries; children in poor, urban Zambia (Headey et al 2017;
Marinda et al 2018)
• Fish consumption in U. S. A. is significantly associated with
long-term weight loss (Smith et al 2015)

5. Small fish: Irreplaceable Source of Multiple,
Essential, Highly Bioavailable Micronutrients
• Minerals: calcium, zinc, iron, selenium, phosphorus, iodine …
• Vitamins: B12, A, riboflavin D, E
• Essential fatty acids
• Animal protein
• Minimal cleaning loss and plate waste
• High bioavailability of minerals and vitamins in fish (low
bioavailability in plant-source foods)
• Fish in a meal enhances the low bioavailability of
micronutrients in the plant-source foods (e.g. rice, vegetables)

6. Reevaluating the Unique Contribution of Fish
to Micronutrients
• Vitamin A 2, Dehydroretinol: 119 - 127% of the biological activity
of retinol (La Frano et al 2017)
• Iron: Haem iron underestimated by 16%; ICP-MS method
(Wheal et al 2016)
• Positive interaction: Vitamin A-rich small fish improve iron
status in children (Andersen et al 2016)

7. Contribution (%) of Common Fish Species from
Bangladesh to Recommended Nutrient Intake:
Vitamin B12 (Thilsted et al 2016)
Small indigenous fish species
Common aquaculture species
pregnant and lactating women infants and young children

8. Contribution (%) of Common Fish Species from
Cambodia to Recommended Nutrient Intake: Iron
(Unpublished data 2018)
Contributions based on a 50 g serving per day for pregnant women
and a 25 g serving per day for children. RNI for iron (WHO, 2004)

9. Dried Small Fish – Super Food for
Nourishment Year-round
• Much greater concentration of essential micronutrients
• Long shelf life; easy to store; overcomes seasonality
• Increases duration / frequency of consumption
• Used to make easy-to-eat, easy-to-prepare fish-based
products for first 1,000 days of life

10. Ingredients: 37% dried small fish, 15% oil, 37% onion, 7% garlic,
and 4% red chili
One heaped tablespoon = 60 g raw fish
Fish Chutney for Pregnant and Lactating
Women (Bogard et al 2015)
Fe, Zn, Ca, Animal
protein
Energy density, Essential fatty
acids
Texture and flavour
Taste enhancer

11. Fish Powder for Young Children
Preparation of Fish Powder
Nutrient composition per 100 gm fish powder
Energy Protein Fat Iron Zinc Calcium
317 kcal 19 g 22 g 22 g 4.5 mg 1669 mg
Fish powder added to different types of family foods

12. Food Safety
Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) 2014
Call for Action on Food Safety and Anti-microbial Resistance
• Pesticides used in fish during drying
• Microbes / Parasites
• Alfatoxins in fish
• Mercury, Arsenic, Lead, Cadium

13. Reduce Fish Waste and Loss to Increase
Supply of Micronutrient-rich Fish
• Reduce fish used for animal feed
• Improve methods for processing
and storage
• Use fish parts removed in
processing, cleaning, cooking
and serving
A 1% reduction in fish loss in
Malawi amounts to 10 kg fish
fish/ per person per year

14. Climate Change and Fish Supply – Reduction
in Micronutrients and Essential Fatty Acids
• Ocean warming: shift in production of fish and shellfish species from
low to high latitudes, potentially reducing catch globally by >6% and
by as much as 30% in the tropics by 2050
• Resulting in >10% of the global population facing micronutrient and
essential fatty acids deficiencies, driven by fish declines, especially in
the tropics (Golden et al 2017)
• Rice field fisheries: erratic rains - intensity and duration; longer
droughts, rising temperature

15. Three Action Points
• Invest in analyses of nutrient content and food safety of
common fish species and fish products and make the data
open access.
• Invest in the development of well-liked, affordable,
nutritious, safe, ready-to-eat, easy-to-prepare fish products
for the first 1,000 days of life.
• Invest in global and national policies, strategies and
research to increase the access of and intake of
micronutrient-rich fish species, especially by the poor.

16. Thank you
Nourishing Nations
Achieving national
targets of the SDGs