Human health risk–benefit assessment of fish and other seafood: a scoping review

Abstract

Fish and other seafood are important sources of nutrients, but they are also sources of chemical contaminants that may cause adverse health effects. This article aimed to identify existing risk–benefit assessments (RBA) of fish, shellfish, and other seafood, compare methodologies, discuss differences and commonalities in findings, and identify limitations and ways forward for future studies. We conducted a scoping review of the scientific literature of studies in all languages published from 2000 through April 2019. We identified 106 RBA of fish and other seafood across Europe, Asia, North America, Africa, and at the global level. Studies were heterogeneous in terms of types of fish and other seafood considered, beneficial and adverse compounds assessed, and overall methodology. Collected data showed that a diet consisting of a variety of lean and fatty fish and other seafood is recommended for the overall population and that women of childbearing age and children should limit the consumption of fish and other seafood types that have a high likelihood of contamination. Our review emphasizes the need for evidence-based, up-to-date, and harmonized approaches in RBA in general.

Keywords:

• Health effects
• adverse
• beneficial
• nutrients
• contaminants
• fish
• seafood
• impact assessment

Contributions

STT, RA, and SMP designed the study and conducted the literature search. STT, RA, CA, CC, AG, JP, MP, EV, and SMP screened titles and abstracts. STT, RA, and SMP assessed full-text articles for eligibility and extracted the data from eligible articles. STT, RA, SMP, and JP interpreted the data. STT, RA, SMP, CC, CA, and GB wrote the manuscript, and HV, FC, AM, BW, HvdV, JWK, EV, and AG provided input to different versions of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

Hans Verhagen and Ermolaos Ververis are employed with EFSA in the Scientific Committee and Emerging Risks Unit and in the Nutrition Unit, respectively. However, the present article is published under the sole responsibility of the authors and may not be considered as an EFSA scientific output. The positions and opinions presented in this article are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily represent the views or scientific work of EFSA.

Additional information

Funding

Sofie T. Thomsen and Sara M. Pires were partly funded by the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food through the Metrix project. Alberto Garre was supported by a postdoctoral granted from the Fundación Seneca (20900/PD/18) and by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship grant no. 844423 (FANTASTICAL). Ricardo Assunção thanks to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020 + UIDB/50017/2020), through national funds.