The Health Benefits of Eating Seafood: A Systematic Review of the Evidence

Abstract

Background: Seafood consumption offers significant health benefits. Within a healthy dietary pattern rich in wholegrain cereals, fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts and dairy, seafood is linked to reduced all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, stroke, certain cancers, depression, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. This systematic review summarises moderate to high level scientific evidence from peer reviewed journals published from January 2015 to January 2025, that focused on the health benefits of seafood consumption to human health. Methods: Four academic search engines (PubMed, Medline Ovid, Scopus and Cochrane Reviews) were used to extract evidence around seafood and health benefits using the Boolean search terms: seafood, fish, omega, nutrient, health and health benefits. A total of 9,875 articles were reviewed independently by the authors over four stages or ‘culls’. Only those articles with moderate to high level evidence were included in this review. A total of 281 peer reviewed articles met all criteria and with included in this literature review. Results: In the last decade, clinical trials and meta-analyses support seafood’s role in preventing and managing chronic disease. The evidence clearly supports the consumption of a variety of seafood for optimal health benefit. The strongest evidence supports at least one serve of n-3 PUFA rich seafood each week. Conclusions: Positive associations exist between seafood consumption and all human health across the lifespan. Emerging evidence in the past decade supports significant benefits of n-3 LC-PUFA for positive mental, maternal and infant health. Further research should now focus on the optimal intake of seafood for additional health benefits.