Spotlight: aquaculture for human nutrition and health outcomes

The global nutrition and health challenges are substantial and complex. Sustainable management of aquatic foods is essential to support the urgently needed global shift to sustainable and healthy diets across populations and continents. Fish and other aquatic foods are well recognized as an important source of high-quality protein, lipids and micronutrients, promoting human health and well-being. Yet, the approaches that promote alleviating malnutrition and healthy diets largely have ignored the role of aquaculture supplies of aquatic foods. A key barrier for policy makers for considering aquatic foods in health promoting strategies is the enormous complexity and diversity of the aquatic food systems.Research addressing these gaps in understanding the complex linkages between aquaculture, aquatic resources and human nutrition and health is needed to reveal the potential of aquaculture-driven food systems to benefit human well-being in all aspects.To build inter-disciplinary academic space for research addressing all aspects of how aquaculture connects to human nutrition and health, the human nutritional and health outcomes section of the Frontiers in Aquaculture is dedicated to publishing research focused on the nexus of aquaculture-driven aquatic food systems and human nutrition and health.Malnutrition in various forms affects billions of people, challenging health through the shifting nutritional needs through the life-course, from the critical '1000 days' of pregnancy and early infant life, through child-and adulthood to the years of elderly. Malnutrition covers a wide range of unbalanced diets affecting short-and long-term health status. Overnutrition leading to overweight and obesity affects 2.5 billion people at risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer. Undernutrition leads to an estimate of 3 million preventable deaths annually of children under 5 years of age, due to insufficient food and micronutrient deficiencies. Hundreds of millions of children suffering from early life malnutrition will not reach their potential, in school and later in life. Women not meeting their nutritional needs risk giving birth to unhealthy children, closing the life course loop of malnutrition. These challenges come with high expenses for the individual and for the society.Aquatic foods are among the most nutritious in the world, and aquaculture-driven food systems hold untapped potential to be a part of the solution to alleviating malnutrition, in high-as well as low income settings. The tremendous diversity of aquatic foods resources is a treasure to human nutrition, if managed sustainably securing safety and accessibility for the dependent populations. Fishing, hunting and harvesting from inland and marine waters supply 3 billion people with aquatic foods as their primary animal protein source. Aquatic foods provide vital of high biological value, yet the paradox we face is that highly dependent populations 43 also among the most vulnerable to undernutrition. Aquaculture offers new opportunities to increase the availability and of aquatic foods, the best access and consumption to meet the nutritional needs. 46To reveal the potential of aquaculture for human health and well-being, it important 47 to consider that aquaculture favors selected fast-growing species. When aquaculture is 48 integrated into complex aquatic food systems, such as in river basins and coastal 49 communities, the introduction of aquaculture is likely to change the composition of the aquatic 50 foods in the diets. Replacing traditional dishes covering a diversity of wild fish and other aquatic 51 foods with cultured species will change the nutritional value. The early days of farming for example salmon relied purely on feeding fish from wild fish stocks, 104 compromising the sustainability by converting 'fish to fish'. Research has supported the 105 transition to more plant-protein based feed to save costs and marine resources. The 106 substitution of marine-derived oils with plant oils may impacts the nutrition and health profile 107 of the cultured fish. Consumers are aware of the environmental impacts of the food and aware 108 of the unique health benefits of LCPUFAs. Evidence-based communication and certification is 109 important to preserve the consumers trust in foods from aquaculture. 110Research should continue to provide evidence supporting green transition of aquaculture 111 production, documenting the implications for human nutrition and health. Documenting 112 aquaculture production is sustainable will promote the consumers in trusting that aquatic 113 foods are the right choices in sustainable healthy diets. 114 Questions remain whether a much larger proportion of the marine resources can be used for 115 direct human consumption rather than for fish meal for animal feed. Research and innovation 116 supporting to redirect fish meal from animal feed to producing high-quality fish powders and 117 protein concentrates for human food would help the food sector to a much wider use of fish-118 based proteins. The aquatic food sector has huge untapped potentials to make new 119 contributions to the green transition to sustainable diets through research and innovation in 120 high-quality proteins suited as human food ingredients. Such ingredients should be 121 documented for acceptability and impacts on human nutrition and health in relevant 122 populations. Stable supply of high-quality fish-based ingredients, based on sustainable aquatic 123 sources, and produced by small-and large scale producers in socially responsible way, will 124 scale up the applications of bringing the aquatic foods to the heart of the green transition. 125 Food safety and bioactivity 126 Food safety along the chain from production to consumer is essential. For the safety and for the 127 trust of the consumers. We welcome inter-disciplinary and disciplinary research addressing the nexus of aquaculture 149 and human nutrition, health and well-being. To reveal the full potential of aquaculture, we invite papers conceptualizing the approaches to embrace the complexity of aquatic food systems 151 and human nutrition and health, as well as human intervention studies, context specific dietary 152 studies, food quality studies in context of nutrition and health needs, along with novel ideas to 153 build research addressing all knowledge gaps. 154