All Those Canned Fish - Comparison Data

OK, I have to be honest, I have been kinda obsessive about canned fish lately.  I'm not sure why.  I just see the cans of fish in the grocery store and feel like there's a lot of good nutrition to be had for not much money.  I was pretty big on sardines in a previous post, but I think it is time to sort them all out using data rather than impressions.

There are 6 basic choices in canned fish (not counting crustaceans and mollusks) in our grocery stores:  red salmon, pink salmon, white tuna (with variations), light tuna, mackerel (with three variations: mackerel, chub mackerel, and jack mackerel), and sardines.  When I was growing up we used to eat something called bonito which came in a can like tuna and was cheaper but I don't see that in the stores anymore.  All of these are available packed in water; no point in adding extra soy oil.  I went to the store and bought examples of each so I could assess the nutrition labels at leisure, and recorded prices.  On a head to head comparison, here is what I find:

COST

Food                             $ per lb

Salmon, red                  $    7.92

Salmon, pink                 $    3.57

Tuna, Light                    $    3.48

Tuna, White                  $    4.12

Mackerel, jack               $    2.23

Mackerel, chub              $    2.13

Mackerel                       $    2.02

Sardines                       $    4.28

Let's look at cost first.  I used on-sale prices when they were commonly available - $1 a can for sardines, $3.29 a can for pink salmon.   Red salmon stands out as expensive, basically twice the price of the others.  Pink salmon, tuna, and sardines fall in a group around $3.50 to $4.50.  Sardines are the most expensive in this group so my buck-a-can-bargain argument is clearly busted.  Light tuna is the cheapest of the group followed closely by pink salmon when it's on sale.  The mackerels cluster together at about half the cost, $2 per pound, so they are the obvious bargains.

NUTRITION

All values per 1 oz (28 g):

Food                             Calories     Carbs       Fat                 Prot       % Carb     % Fat       % Prot

Salmon, red                  58             0.0            18.3             39.4          0%           32%          68%

Salmon, pink                 38             0.1            12.2             25.8          0%           32%          68%

Tuna, Light                    32             0.0            2.1               30.4          0%           6%           94%

Tuna, White                  36             0.1            7.5               28.3          0%           21%          79%

Mackerel, jack               36             0.0            20.5             15.0          0%           57%          42%

Mackerel, chub              44             0.0            15.9             27.7          0%           36%          64%

Mackerel                       40             0.0            15.0             25.0          0%           38%          62%

Sardines                       56             0.0            26.3             29.3          0%           47%          53%

There are no carbs involved here; this is all about fat and protein.  Interestingly, red salmon and sardines have significantly more cal per oz than the other fish. They also have less water content, so these two fish pack more grams of protein and fat and fewer grams of water into an oz of meat.  Tuna is surprisingly lower in fat and correspondingly lower in calories than the others, especially light tuna which might be considered the "skimmed milk" option of canned fish.

By the way, all proteins are complete relative to essential amino acids.

Let's look at the fat in more detail, especially with regard to omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids:

                           Fat mg      W3,mg      W6, mg     W3/W6     W3/Tot Fat

Salmon, red          2000           515           34             15.3          0.26

Salmon, pink        1400           339            27             12.7          0.24

Tuna, Light             236             79             3             31.2          0.33

Tuna, White           830            266           15             17.3          0.32

Mackerel, jack     2500             545           39             13.9          0.22

Mackerel, chub    1768             386           28             13.9          0.22

Mackerel             1500             327           24             13.9          0.22

Sardines              2895            398            29             13.8          0.14

Jack mackerel is higher in fat (and low in protein) compared to the others, a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, especially if you are getting protein from another source.  By the way, I did not have complete data for all three types of mackerel and so assumed the W3/W6/Total fat ratios were the same for all three, using values from the one for which I had data.  Fat and protein weights for the three mackerels are from the can labels.  

Light tuna has the highest ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 and the highest percentage of omega-3 relative to total fat but is so lean it probably is not a useful source of omega-3's.  

Alright, alright; sardines have the highest level of fat, the lowest protein to fat ratio and the lowest omega-3 to total fat ratio.  I retract everything I said previously about sardines being a nutritional bargain.  They are expensive, provide the worst "fat bargain" viz-a-viz omega-3's and protein, and nobody except me seems to like them.  I'm off it.

DISCUSSION

I have not gotten around to trying the red salmon yet so I don't have any idea why it should command such a high price.  If I try it and find out it is twice as good as the others, I will let you know.

Looks to me like pink salmon and mackerel are both good ways to boost omega-3's in a high protein food.  If you are just looking for balanced, complete protein with low fat, light tuna is clearly the choice.  Flavor-wise, I like salmon best, then tuna, both of which have distinctive flavors.  The mackerel is good in a nondescript, generic fish sort of way, and as noted before, cheap compared to the others.

Three recipes posted so far can be used for any of these:  "Salmon" Eggs and Grits, "Salmon" and Rice Cakes, and "Tuna" Salad with Raita.  I will keep myself open to other ideas and let you know if any of them turn out worthwhile.  Also, I would be interested in ideas for seasoning flavors to use with fish if you have nay to post in the comments.

Remember to make lemon-dill raita and keep it on hand to serve with any of these whenever you have them.

Lindsey