Swapping Red Meat for Small Fish Could Save Lives
Swapping red meat for certain types of fish like anchovies, herring and sardines could save up to 750,000 lives a year in 2050, according to a new study.
And this could have the biggest impact on health in poorer countries, say researchers from Japan and Australia.
Fish like these are known as "forage fish" — they are small creatures that are eaten by larger fish.
But people are missing out on their health benefits, according to the study.
In fact, many of the forage fish that are caught in our oceans are made into fish oil, which is mostly used in fish farming.
Forage fish are rich in polyunsaturated fats, which may help prevent heart disease, and they're also high in calcium and vitamin B12.
But eating red and processed meats has been linked to an increased risk of things like heart disease and some cancers.
The researchers used data for projected red meat consumption in 2050 for more than 130 countries, and historical data on the amount of forage fish caught in the past.
For each country, they modeled different scenarios to work out what effect replacing red meat with the potential supply of forage fish would have on diet-related diseases.
Forage fish are cheap and plentiful in some parts of the world, the research team noted, but they admitted that there wouldn't be enough to replace red meat completely.
At best, forage fish could only replace about 8% of the world's red meat. But the researchers found that even increasing fish consumption by this amount could help prevent between 500,000 and 750,000 deaths in 2050.
A scenario in which forage fish are given to poorer countries with high levels of heart disease could have a particularly strong effect, the authors wrote.
They added that forage fish also have a much smaller carbon footprint than red meat, so the planet would feel the benefits too.
