Among Asian American and Pacific Island members of the population in the contiguous United States seafood consumption is an important aspect of cultural behavior.
Self-harvesting and consuming seafood are seen as healthy activities that echo a culturally familiar lifestyle, but may also be an economic necessity.
Asian American and Pacific Island groups consume greater amounts, different types and different parts of seafood than the general population.
A large population of Laotian immigrants who settled in Wisconsin have been studied to determine how their fishing and seafood consumption habits differ from those of the general US population.
The experts in 1994 found that individual in Laotian immigrants households in Green Bay, Wisconsin, consumed an average of 30 fish meals per year compared to 18 fish meals per consumed buy Wisconsin anglers in the general population.
About one third of the fish caught were reported to come from lakes where fishing advisories warned against eating locally caught fish, suggesting that this group is at greater risk from exposure to contaminant in fish than the general population.
Some members of the Asian American population have undergone acculturation resulting in food choices that are more similar to those of the general US population than populations groups from their country of origin.
Research findings show that dietary changes among succeeding generation of Japanese American females and suggest that acculturation-related changes may contribute to decreased intake of many tradition foods, including fish.
Seafood Consumption Among Asian American Populations
