Question on nutrition of fried fish!

FL_Hiker

Are the benefits of fish lost if it was fried? Omega fatty acids and such? Is it still a good idea to eat fish once a week even if it's fried?

WholeFoods4Lyfe

What kind of fish are we talking here? Most fried fish I'm familiar with are white fish and aren't particularly high in Omega - 3 anyway. For the best benefit/most Omega-3's you want to eat fish like salmon, mackerel, albacore tuna, and sardines.

janejellyroll

My understanding is that it's the *heat* that can reduce the fatty acids, but some types of cooking have more of an impact. Higher heat seems to result in more loss (canned tuna, for example, seems to have less than baked tuna). Baking and boiling seem to retain the most ( https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20091119/baked-fish-beats-fried-for-omega-3-boost#1 ).

If you are eating fish purely for the omega fatty acids, I probably wouldn't eat it fried. If you enjoy fried fish anyway, you can know that you're probably getting *some*, but it's less than you're getting with some alternative cooking methods.

FL_Hiker

WholeFoods4Lyfe wrote: »

What kind of fish are we talking here? Most fried fish I'm familiar with are white fish and aren't particularly high in Omega - 3 anyway. For the best benefit/most Omega-3's you want to eat fish like salmon, mackerel, albacore tuna, and sardines.

It is Basa... which I now know is a very low calorie fish, but it's often caught in polluted waters. We get it at our local seafood restaurant every Wednesday, they serve it blackened and grilled as well which are good.... but their fried fish is so much tastier darn!

WholeFoods4Lyfe

FL_Hiker wrote: »

WholeFoods4Lyfe wrote: »

What kind of fish are we talking here? Most fried fish I'm familiar with are white fish and aren't particularly high in Omega - 3 anyway. For the best benefit/most Omega-3's you want to eat fish like salmon, mackerel, albacore tuna, and sardines.

It is Basa... which I now know is a very low calorie fish, but it's often caught in polluted waters. We get it at our local seafood restaurant every Wednesday, they serve it blackened and grilled as well which are good.... but their fried fish is so much tastier darn!

I'm pretty sure that's a kind of Catfish, right? Then you are already starting out with low to non-existent amounts of Omega-3 to begin with. If you like fish, I'd probably choose a different one. Here is a good list to start you off: https://www.builtlean.com/2016/05/23/fish-omega-3/

NovusDies

FL_Hiker wrote: »

Are the benefits of fish lost if it was fried? Omega fatty acids and such? Is it still a good idea to eat fish once a week even if it's fried?

If you enjoy eating it that is a benefit and not one to be overlooked. There are plenty of meals in a week to eat salmon or similar if you want your fried fish on Wed.

sgt1372

I doubt that the nutritional content of anything is lost when fried but you will gain alot of additional cals fronlm the breading and oil which offer little additional benefit.

kpsyche

Frying the fish is unlikely to destroy any significant amount of omega-3. For omega-3 to be destroyed, the flesh of the fish needs to remain at a temperature high enough to oxidise the fatty acids and unless you fry it until there's nothing but ash that's not going to happen.

The amount of omega-3 in basa is typically 50-65mg per 100g (i.e. 0.05% to 0.065%) so, as already mentioned, basa is not a great dietary source for omega-3 anyway.