Seafood studies from 2017 illustrate the vital role seafood plays in the diet. Eating seafood helps fight heart disease, stroke and diabetes – chronic diseases that are linked to an increased risk of premature death.

Science this year looked at the role of the diet in protecting against these types of chronic diseases. And the top nutrition studies show how seafood is part of a disease-fighting solution.

The top studies:

1. Prevent Chronic Disease with Seafood: A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association linked food habits with 45% of American deaths from heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Not eating enough seafood was linked to about 8 percent of those deaths.
2. Improve Quality of Diet with Seafood, Boost Life Expectancy: A Harvard study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found people who improve the quality of their diets, including eating more fish, may significantly reduce the risk of premature death. The authors note that fish is among the food groups that contribute the most to improvement.
3. Diets in Low in Fish Raise Risk of Early Death: Ongoing research published in The Lancet found that poor diet is a factor in one in five deaths around the world. The study found that diets low in foods, including fish, raise the risk of an early death.

But wait there’s more…

The above studies form only part of the cadre that illustrates seafood is beneficial to living a long healthy life. From alleviating depression, to reducing the risk of asthma, studies in 2017 continue to demonstrate the far-reaching health benefits of seafood.

Here are some runner-ups:

• Eat Seafood to Boost your Mood: A study published in the journal, BMC Medicine, found that following a “healthful diet” which includes lean protein such as seafood provides an effective and accessible treatment strategy for managing depression.
• Eat Seafood to Prevent Asthma: A study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that high levels of omega-3s, primarily found in oily fish, are associated with a reduced risk of asthma in children.
• Eat Seafood while Pregnant to Improve your Infants Health: A research paper published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that eating fish during pregnancy is beneficial to an infant’s growth and development and will lessen the chance of the infant developing asthma.

Versatile, delicious, affordable… and so healthy

Seafood is not medicine. It’s a versatile, delicious, affordable and accessible protein that research from the past year also shows, can save lives. There’s no better time than now, for Americans to include more seafood in their diets.

Watch our 1 minute VIDEO round-up these studies.