Tuna versus salmon: Which is best for you?

Nutritionist Renee McGregor explains the nutritious benefits of salmon and tuna, and discusses which is the healthiest for endurance athletes

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Renee McGregor

Published: November 16, 2018 at 11:16 am

The benefits of tuna

Tuna is a great source of lean high biological value protein for all endurance athletes meaning that it provides all the essential amino acids required for repair and recovery especially post training.

Per 100g of canned tuna provides 116 calories, 25g of protein, 50% of your RDA vitamin B12, 16% of your RDA phosphorous and over 100% of your RDA for selenium; all nutrients essential for oxygen uptake, bone health and energy utilisation.

It is versatile and can be used as a wrap filling, top a baked potato or added to a pasta bake to create a well balanced pre or post training meal; thus making a can of tuna an essential store cupboard staple for any endurance athlete.

15min recipe: Cannellini bean salad with seared tuna

The benefits of salmon

Salmon is also a great source of protein but has the added benefit of being high in omega 3 fatty acids, whether fresh or tinned in comparison to tuna where only fresh Tuna has omega 3 fatty acids, while tinned tuna loses this property during the canning process.

Per 100g it provides 208 calories, 20g of protein, 2.3g of omega 3 fatty acids thus one serving provides almost your weekly requirement for optimal health; It provides 50% of your RDA Vit B12, 67% RDA selenium and is one of the only food sources of Vitamin D.

A study is 2017 (Hingley L, et al. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2017) showed that Omega 3 rich fish such as salmon can reduce the oxygen cost of physiologically stressful cycling in trained cyclists, i.e. it improved the economy of cycling.

Which is better? Tuna or salmon?

While both are excellent choices for endurance athletes such as triathletes, salmon pips the post due to its high omega 3 fatty acid content regardless of whether it is tinned or fresh. Just one serving a week can provide athletes with their RDA of omega 3 fatty acids helping to encourage recovery, prevent fatigue and reduce inflammation.

Sports dietician

Renee McGregor (BSc (hons) PGDIP (DIET) PGCERT(sportsnutr) RD BASES) is a leading sports dietitian, specialising in eating disorders, REDs, The Female Athlete, athlete health and performance. Her practice and knowledge is supported by extensive experience of working in both clinical and performance nutrition, including Olympic (London, 2012), Paralympic (Rio, 2016) and Commonwealth (Queensland, 2018) teams. She is presently working with a number of national governing bodies, including Scottish Gymnastics, The GB 24 hour Running squad, Scottish Ballet, Women’s Reading Football and England National Ballet. She has also provided CPD to The Welsh Institute of Sport and Sports Institute, Northern Ireland. On top of this Renee is the diet lead for global ultra-marathon events series Ultra X, part of the Stylist Strong Women series and an ambassador for Bath MIND Charity. She is regularly asked to work directly with high performing and professional athletes that have developed a dysfunctional relationship with food that's impacting their performance, health and career. No matter who she is working with, whether that’s elite, club-level athletes or those with a dysfunctional relationship with food and training, compassion and care is always central to her practice. She provides a person-centred, holistic approach. She's the best-selling author of Training Food, Fast Fuel books. and Orthorexia, When Healthy Eating Goes Bad. She is the co-founder and director of #TRAINBRAVE a campaign raising the awareness of eating disorders in sport; providing resources and practical strategies to reduce the prevalence. In 2020, in order to increase accessibility to her knowledge and experience she started The Trainbrave Podcast and had over 40,000 downloads in its first year. She is on the REDS advisory board for BASES (The British Association of Sport and Exercise Science) and sits on the International Task Force for Orthorexia. Renee has been invited to speak at several high profile events including The European Eating Disorder Society Annual Conference as the UK expert in Orthorexia, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Cheltenham Science Festival, The Stylist Show and Google. She writes for many national publications and is often asked to comment in the national press. She regularly contributes to radio and TV, including News night and BBC 5 Live. On top of this Renee recently appeared on BBC to support as a diet lead in Freddie Flintoff’s ‘Living with Bulimia’ documentary.