Calories in Fish

There is a problem with giving the number of calories in fish. Why? Because there are many types of fish, a lot of which are edible, and hence it becomes very difficult to say which fish has lower calories and which fish has a higher calorie content.

Calorie Counting in Fish

Before we start, a little knowledge for those unaware about fish. Fish can be split in two basic groups: white fish and oily fish. Oily fish as the name suggests, is oily and has a higher fat (and subsequently calorie) content in them than white fish. Not that oily fish are bad for health, though. Oily fish contain something known as omega-3 essential fatty acids that perform a range of functions in the human body and hence have great nutritive value by themselves.

So here are the calories in different fish. Now the serving size of each may be different, so you might have to do a bit of math to arrive at the exact figure. The figures given here have the approximate calorific value of 100 gm of fish.

Type of Fish (100 gm)	Calories
Catfish	100
Caviar	268
Cod (baked)	85
Flounder	68
Lobster Meat	121
Shark	187
Anchovies	276
Herring	203
Kippers	150
Salmon	180
Sardines	170
Trout	79
Tuna	95

Calorie Count in Cooked Fish

Fish sticks: Your favorite mouth-watering fish sticks will give you about 80 calories per stick. So with a little math, you'll be able to work out just how many calories you'll get out of the fish sticks your eating. And of course, the calories may be more or less depending on the other ingredients in the fish sticks and the type of cooking oil used.

Fish and chips: A small 216 gm box of fish and chips will add about 570 calories to your daily intake, again, give or take a few. By reducing the number of chips and increasing the amount of fish, I guess you can reduce the calories.

Fish oil: Fish oil is one of the less used cooking oils and has a very high calorie content. A 4.5 gm teaspoon of fish oil contains 41 calories. But don't let that deter you, as fish oil boasts a lot of enriching nutrients, most importantly omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin A.

So as you can see, fish is remarkably high in nutrition and the calories aren't too high either. Eating fish can add a lot of proteins to our body, in addition to the vitamin A and the omega-3 fatty acids. These fatty acids are supposed to be very good for the heart and when consumed, protect the heart against several heart diseases. So if you choose a fish with lower calories, you will be able to enjoy the best of both worlds: lower calories as well as a high omega-3 fats content.