Why Your Brain Needs Fish and Seafood: A Smarter New Year Resolution

As we step into a new year, I’d like to offer a different kind of resolution, one that supports not willpower, but biology.  A resolution to support the brain.

When we look at what the developing human brain actually needs, the picture becomes very clear. Every tissue in the body requires specific building blocks, but the brain is particularly demanding. It needs fats, minerals, and fat-soluble vitamins in forms that are biologically available.

Key nutrients for brain development and maintenance include DHA and arachidonic acid, zinc, iron, copper, selenium, iodine, vitamin B12, vitamin D, vitamin A, and vitamin E. Many of these nutrients are either absent from plants, present in very small amounts, or poorly converted in the human body.

Vitamin A and vitamin D, for example, are not just vitamins, they act more like external hormones, required for the development and maintenance of all parts of the brain, including the myelin sheath that protects nerves and allows signals to travel efficiently. Without vitamin B12, myelin cannot form at all.

This biology tells us something important. Humans could never have evolved completely as vegetarians. It would be impossible to eat the sheer volume of plants required to meet these needs. An elephant eats hundreds of kilograms of plants per day to cover its nutrient requirements. We do not have that physiology.

Seafood, and particularly shellfish, is uniquely valuable here. Mussels, oysters, and other shellfish are extraordinarily nutrient dense. In fact, their nutrient profile closely resembles that of the human brain itself. Despite modern caution, many cultures, including Japan, continue to consume shellfish regularly, even raw, and have done so for generations.

Net benefit versus fear.

In today’s world, nothing is perfectly clean. We all know about microplastics, pollutants, and environmental toxins. But focusing only on the presence of toxins misses the bigger picture. What matters is not brute toxicity, but net benefit, the balance between potential exposure and the harm caused by nutrient deficiency if we avoid a food altogether.

Shellfish, for example, act as natural filters of the ocean. Mercury present in shellfish is often bound to selenium, which reduces its absorption and toxicity in the human body. The nutritional benefit far outweighs the theoretical risk. Avoiding these foods carries a much greater biological cost.

The real risk for many people today is not toxicity, but deficiency, particularly deficiencies that affect the brain, mood, cognition, and resilience. If you are choosing a resolution this year, do consider eating more fish and seafood, for your brain.