# Fish Consumption Frequency in the Adult Population in Poland
## 4 Discussion
In our study, this percentage was slightly higher in men and similar in women. Too-low fish consumption, as well as eating fish in too-small quantities compared to the recommendations, was also observed in the nationwide cross-sectional study conducted in 2021 among Polish youth aged 14-22 years. Only 13% of the survey participants consumed fish 1-2 times a week or more often. Consumption of fish products with this frequency was declared by only 5.6% of the respondents. The majority of the survey participants consumed fish (70.5%) and fish products (53.7%) 1-3 times a month or less often. Fish were not consumed at all by 16.5% of the respondents, and fish products were not consumed at all by 40.8%. The average amount of fish and fish products consumed by the surveyed young people was 78.7 g/week (girls: 65.8 g/week, boys: 103.6 g/week), and among their parents/guardians it was 107.2 g/week (women) and 165.7 g/week (men) [14]. A study conducted in 2019 among subjects aged 50 or over also confirmed the low consumption of fish in Poland [29]. Fish was usually eaten once a week or less; the percentage of subjects consuming fish several times a week was 15.26%, and the percentage of subjects consuming fish daily was 1.56%. A similar study was carried out in Greece, where these percentages were higher: 23.4% consumed fish twice a week, and 4.17% consumed fish daily [29]. Countries with low fish consumption also include Bulgaria. According to a study conducted in 2018, the largest percentage of respondents (45.8%) consumed fish 1-2 times a month, 25% 1-2 times a week, and 5% more than twice a week [30]. In the US, a low percentage (14%) of adults aged between 20-65 years consumed seafood (fish and shellfish) more than eight times a month between 2011 and 2016 [31]. In contrast, countries with a high frequency of fish consumption include Portugal. A 2012 study estimated that 77% of respondents ate fish at least twice a week, and 13.2% once a week [32]. The same group of researchers conducted a parallel study in Brazil. In this country, the frequency of fish consumption was lower: 12% ate it at least twice a week, and 28.7% once a week [32]. Our study reported a higher consumption of sea fish than freshwater fish. Polish food-based dietary guidelines at the recommended level indicate eating oily sea fish (salmon, herring, hake, mackerel, sardine, or cod) at least once a week [4]. However, the majority of respondents (67.8%) consumed sea fish less than once a week, and 1.9% could not determine the frequency of consumption of these fish. It would be very difficult to achieve step 3 of guidelines, which suggests eating these fish twice a week, because as many as 93.0% of respondents reported less frequent consumption of sea fish. Consumption of sea fish was also examined in a nationwide study carried out by the National Institute of Public Health NIH--National Research Institute in 2018 (before the COVID-19 pandemic) and 2022 (post-pandemic) among subjects aged 20 or older [33]. That kind of fish was most often eaten less than once a week: by 47.1% in 2018 and by 49.4% in 2022. Only 7.8% of respondents in 2018, and 8.1% in 2022, ate sea fish at least twice a week. In our study, sea fish was also more frequently consumed once a week and was very rarely consumed more frequently, but these percentages were lower than in the cited 2018 and 2022 studies. Similarly, in a Cyprus study, a decrease in fish consumption frequency after the COVID-19 pandemic was observed: for 1-2 portions/week, the share fell from 45.2% (before pandemic) to 36.1% in normal-weight persons aged 18 years old and over [34]. In our study, there was no difference in fish consumption between men and women. Similarly, in a study by [PERSON] et al. [28], gender was not a differentiating factor in the case of the frequency of fish consumption. A study conducted in Spain in 2009-2013 among respondents aged 9-75 also showed no differences in the consumption of fish and seafood depending on gender [35].