Ikan Keli, or Clarias gariepinus; but more commonly, most of us know it as the catfish. The hobbyist fishermen catch a fair amount of this type of fish but most do not think much about it and often give it away because it does not really have the best of taste as far as fish.
Little do we know that the catfish is one of the most nutritionally complete foods we could put on the table.
Its benefits for health range far and wide, including:
• Having high concentrations of Omega 3 fatty acids. Good fat that reduces the risk of cancer and heart disease. Normally, Omega 3 fat is found in walnuts, marine plankton and fish with high-fat content.
• Stabilising irregularities in heartbeat.
• Reducing the chances of arterial blood clots and strokes.
• Reducing cholesterol levels.
• Improving neurological health.
So, it is quite a loss for those of us who have yet to develop a taste for catfish. Beyond lowering the risk of cholesterol, heart and neurological disease, the fatty acids in Ikan Keli are great for brain development and growth in children because of high concentrations of something called docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA. DHA is one particular type of fatty acid-specific for brain function.
The human brain needs more than 20g of DHA in order to be healthy. Levels lower than that cause low serotonin levels; and low serotonin levels are often linked to mental illness, under-development or malfunction of the mental faculties.
Technology Park Malaysia (TPM) found that Ikan Keli has one of the highest levels of Omega 3 in fish and it is a lot higher than salmon and mackerel.
Amazingly, research was done by Technology Park Malaysia (TPM) found that Ikan Keli has one of the highest levels of Omega 3 in fish. Out of every 100g of Ikan Keli, 0.5% is Omega 3. This may not seem much, but it is a lot higher than salmon, which only has 0.2% of Omega 3 for every 100g of salmon meat; or mackerel, which has 0.4% Omega 3 to 100g of meat. Considering that salmon and mackerel are the common sources of Omega 3 supplements that we buy from the local health stores, Ikan Keli outshines them by both cost and quantity.
In the Malaysian market, these sources of Omega 3 are often much more costly than the lowly catfish, especially when so many of us go to health stores and pharmacies to get processed capsules of fish oil and Omega 3.
So perhaps it is time we re-examine our quest for imported nutritional health and start looking towards the humble Ikan Keli.
