McGivern Dishes on Best, Worst Fish to Eat

Medford resident and registered dietician Syrah McGivern recently weighed in on the healthiest fish to consume for Women’s Health Magazine.

McGivern, on the board of the Medford Farmers Market and recently hired as Medford’s Community Transformation Grant Coordinator, was quoted in the magazine’s April issue. According to McGivern, the healthiest fish to eat, due to their high protein content, dose of omega-3s, sustainable sources, and low doses of mercury, are wild Alaskan salmon, farmed mussels, and wild sardines.

Watching your weight? Tilapia, crab, mussels, and shrimp are good choices, which have less than 150 calories in a six ounce serving and are low in fat.

What to avoid?

“The worst to eat are eel and very large fish such as bluefin tuna, Chilean sea bass, orange roughy, and swordfish, because they’re high in mercury,” said McGivern.

McGivern has been quoted in other media outlets. She previously worked as a nutritionist in the Roxbury WIC program at Whittier Street Health Center. She graduated from Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in 2007, where she earned her master’s in the Agriculture, Food and the Environment Program. McGivern became a registered dietician in 2009 and has been teaching low income families how to eat better for less with Cooking Matters Massachusetts since 2005. In her new position as Community Transformation Grant Coordinator for Medford, McGivern will work a variety of public health projects to improve health in the community such as increasing access to healthy food through food pantries, working with restaurants to improve healthy menu options, and improving bicycle routes.

– InsideMedford.com