TUNACAN: Nutritional Study on the Beneficial Effects of Canned Fish Consumption on Healthy Adult Population

There is sufficient evidence on the beneficial effects of fish consumption on health, mainly associated with the content of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (EPA and DHA) present mainly in blue fish. Different national and international organizations have issued recommendations on the optimal amount of fish that the population should consume to prevent certain chronic diseases related to diet. Thus, the WHO recommends eating fish regularly (1-2 servings per week for healthy adults) to ideally provide the equivalent of 250 mg of omega-3 fatty acids (EPA + DHA). Not reaching the optimal levels of EPA + DHA increases the risk for cardiovascular diseases, increasing the risk of death according to certain epidemiological studies. In this sense, using more precise techniques such as membrane lipidomics, allow adequate quantification and monitoring of fatty acid levels present in our body and how this lipid profile can change according to metabolism and diet. The objective of this study is to carry out a clinical trial of nutritional intervention with an adult population without pathologies that has a low consumption of fish (<2 servings / week) to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention strategy based on increasing the number of fish servings through a controlled intake of fresh and canned fish.

The results aim to show that increasing fish intake has an impact on lipid metabolism and in the future, for the prevention of certain chronic diseases, the introduction of canned fish can be a healthy strategy to increase fish consumption to long term.