Washington, DC - At a time when almost 9 million children aged 6 to 19 years (15 percent) are overweight or obese — triple the number in 1980 — the U.S. Tuna Foundation (USTF) believes it is important to educate consumers, especially parents, that canned tuna is a healthy food option for children.

Responding to the release today of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) landmark report Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance, USTF said the tuna industry will be working to highlight the weight management benefits of serving more canned tuna to children and teens. Through this educational effort, USTF hopes to make parents aware that canned tuna is not only a tasty and affordable food that most children enjoy eating but that it is very low in calories compared to other protein sources.

“An important take away from this long-awaited report is that parents need increased information about how to add more nutritious foods to their children’s diets that will not promote weight gain,” said Lillian Beard, M.D., an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C and a member of the Tuna Nutrition Council, which advises USTF on nutrition and public health matters. “Besides being a food that most children enjoy eating, canned tuna is an excellent source of protein and essential amino acids that is also low in fat and calories.”

Compared to many other “child friendly” foods, canned tuna is low in fat, rich in certain vitamins and minerals and is so high in protein that one six-ounce can yields one-third of the recommended daily amount. Moreover, canned tuna is very low in calories compared to other protein sources. There are 116 calories in a 100-gram serving of water-packed canned tuna compared with 208 calories in the same serving of turkey.

“Canned tuna is affordable. That makes it an intelligent option from a health and weight management perspective,” said Jeanne P. Goldberg, Ph.D., Professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and another member of the Tuna Nutrition Council. “At a time when childhood obesity is on the rise and parents are looking for good tasting, low calorie foods, canned tuna packed in water is a smart choice.”

Besides the new focus on weight management, USTF also wants parents to learn more about the health benefits of serving children foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which the body doesn’t make on its own. A number of recent studies and research papers find that omega-3 fatty acids, such as DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), are important for learning and memory as well as for optimal vision. According to scientific studies, DHA comprises approximately 40 percent of the polyunsaturated fatty acid content in the cell membranes in the brain and 60 percent of the cell membranes in the retina. Moreover, the omega-3 fatty acids found in canned tuna and other types of fish have a therapeutic effect on autoimmune diseases and depression. Of the top 10 most commonly consumed fish in this country, the highest levels of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA can be found in salmon and canned albacore, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Nutritional Database.

More information about canned tuna and its health benefits is available at the USTF Web site, www.tunafacts.com.

Established in 1976, the U.S. Tuna Foundation (USTF) is the national organization representing the canned tuna processors and the fishermen who supply them and addresses issues ranging from fishing access arrangements to federal and state regulations and domestic marketing.

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