Reacción a "Reactions: Study estimates that replacing red meat consumption with sardines or anchovies could prevent up to 750,000 deaths by 2050"

This study assesses the potential of replacing red meat consumption with forage fish as a nutritionally and environmentally more sustainable alternative. Forage fish include species such as sardines, herring and mackerel, small oily fish with a high content of DHA and EPA, two omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids that have been shown to have very beneficial effects on the body. Most of the market for these species is destined to feed other animal species, ignoring the fact that direct human consumption would not only improve public health, but would also positively affect some of the current problems of overexploitation, climate change and malnutrition with a minimum of effort applied to commercial, environmental and nutritional policies.

Red meat is a food derived primarily from cattle. Several studies have shown that continued consumption of this food group favours the development of cardiovascular diseases and some types of cancer, the two pathologies that cause the highest mortality and health expenditure at national level. There are also studies that show that some of the farming practices associated with this type of food are seriously damaging to the environment.

Therefore, the application of national food policies that favour fish consumption would not only improve the health of the Spanish population, but would also reduce health spending and promote the Mediterranean and Atlantic diets, two dietary patterns that are in danger of extinction despite being recognised worldwide as effective in the prevention of pathologies.