Seafood salad is a popular picnic side dish, also served in buffet-style restaurants. Made correctly, a tangy dressing perfectly complements tender, salty seafood. However, sometimes this dish isn't as healthy as you might like it to be. Fortunately, if you have a little information, you'll be able choose seafood salad you can enjoy without sacrificing your health goals.
Ingredients
According to "Cooks Illustrated Magazine," seafood salad is typically based on some type of shellfish, such as shrimp or crab. This is coated with a dressing, usually made of mayonnaise and mixed onions or other savory vegetables such as shallots or green onions and flavored with herbs, salt, pepper or other seasonings. If you're not making seafood salad yourself, make sure to read labels so you'll know what you're getting.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition facts vary between brands. For example, one popular brand lists a serving size as 1/2 cup, which has 180 calories, 13 g of total fat, 2 g of saturated fat, 35 mg of cholesterol, 6 g of protein, 10 g of carbohydrates, 3 g of sugars and 2 g of dietary fiber. Another brand lists a serving as 3/4 cup, which has 110 calories, 9 g of total fat, .5 g of saturated fat, 15 mg of cholesterol, 2 g of protein, 7 g of total carbohydrates, 3 g of sugars and 1 g of dietary fiber.
Benefits
The shellfish used to make seafood salad has some health benefits. Like all fish, shrimp and crab provide heart-healthy omega-3 fats, according to Selene Yeager's "The Doctor's Book of Food Remedies." Yeager also reports that these foods are rich in vitamin B12, which helps maintain nervous system function and zinc, which helps keep the immune system strong.
Considerations
If you're on a restricted-sodium diet, you may want to either make seafood salad yourself or choose another option. Like other processed foods, commercially prepared seafood salad tends to be high in sodium. One popular brand contains 440 mg, while another contains 310 mg. To put this in perspective, consider that the Mayo Clinic recommends keeping total sodium consumption below 1500 mg -- about 1 tsp. of salt -- per day.
Warning
Shellfish is one of eight foods responsible for 90 percent of food allergies, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The Food Allergen Labeling and consumer Protection Act of 2004 requires all foods containing shellfish to carry a warning. However, homemade foods don't usually have labels, so if you're making seafood salad for a picnic or other social event, make sure to ask your guests about food allergies or perhaps place a sign such as "this contains shrimp" near the bowl.
References
- "Cooks Illustrated Magazine"; Shrimp Salad; Christopher Kimball; July 2007
- "The Doctor's Book of Food Remedies"; Selene Yeager; 2006
- Mayo Clinic: Low Sodium Diet
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Food Allergies: What you Need to Know
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