Aquaculture America 2023

February 23 - 26, 2023

New Orleans, Louisiana USA

AFFORDABILITY INFLUENCES NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF SEAFOOD CONSUMPTION AMONG INCOME AND RACE/ETHNICITY GROUPS IN THE UNITED STATES

David C. Love*, Andrew L. Thorne-Lyman, Zach Conrad, Jessica A. Gephart, Frank Asche, Dakoury Godo-Solo, Acree McDowell, Elizabeth M. Nussbaumer, Martin W. Bloem

 

Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future

Department of Environmental Health Sciences

Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University

111 Market Pl, Suite 840, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

dlove8@jhu.edu

 



The 2020 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that the U.S. population consume more seafood. Most analyses of seafood consumption ignore heterogeneity in consumption patterns by species, nutritional content, production methods, and price, which have implications for applying recommendations. We assessed seafood intake among adults (>=20y) by socio-economic and demographic groups using NHANES 2011-2018 dietary data (n=17,559), as well as the cost of seafood at retail using Nielsen 2017-2019 retail sales data to identify affordable and nutritious options. Low-income groups consume slightly less seafood than high-income groups [low income: mean 120.2 (95% CI: 103.5, 137.2) g/wk; high income: 141.8 (119.1, 164.1) g/wk] but substantially less seafood that is high in long-chain n–3 (ω-3) PUFAs [lower income: 21.3 (17.3, 25.5) g/wk; higher income: 46.8 (35.4, 57.8) g/wk]. Intake rates, species, and production method choices varied by race/ethnicity groups and within race/ethnicity groups by income. Retail seafood as a whole costs more than other protein foods (e.g., meat, poultry, eggs, beans), and fresh seafood high in n–3 PUFAs costs more (P < 0.002) than fresh seafood low in n–3 PUFAs. Retail seafood is available in a wide range of price points and product forms, and some lower-cost fish and shellfish were high in n–3 PUFAs, calcium, iron, selenium, and vitamins B-12 and D.