Eel: more vitamin A than omega-3

Eel is sold as an oily fish, and the trial evidence for omega-3 is weak before eel even enters it. A Cochrane review of 86 trials with 162,796 adults found that long-chain omega-3, mostly from capsules, left the risk of death almost unchanged (RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.01), and the authors found little evidence on eating fish itself. Eel brings little omega-3 to begin with. The US record for raw eel lists 0.15 g of EPA plus DHA per 3.5 oz (100 g). What eel does carry is vitamin A. Cooked eel has 1137 ug per 3.5 oz (100 g), so one 159 g fillet gives about 1800 ug of preformed vitamin A, over half the 3000 ug upper limit set for adults' daily intake, a figure recalculated from the 100 g value.

The numbers, per 3.5 oz (100 g)

As people eat it, per 3.5 oz (100 g)

How much is actually in it

• Raw eel in US tables has 184 calories, 11.7 g fat and 1043 ug vitamin A per 3.5 oz (100 g), but only 0.15 g of EPA plus DHA. — USDA SR Legacy record, Fish, eel, mixed species, raw Evidence E source
  Per 100 g: 184 calories; protein 18.44 g; fat 11.66 g; vitamin A 1043 ug RAE; vitamin D 23.3 ug; vitamin B12 3 ug; EPA 0.084 g; DHA 0.063 g; cholesterol 126 mg
• UK tables put raw yellow eel at 4.9 ug vitamin D per 3.5 oz (100 g), a fifth of the 23.3 ug in the US record, with similar fat and vitamin A. — UK raw yellow eel versus US mixed-species raw eel Evidence E source
  CoFID 16-173: 168 calories, fat 11.3 g, retinol 1200 ug, vitamin D 4.9 ug per 3.5 oz (100 g); USDA 174193: vitamin D 23.3 ug

What a real portion looks like

• One cooked eel fillet of 159 g carries about 1800 ug of preformed vitamin A, over half the 3000 ug adult upper limit. — USDA SR Legacy cooked eel portions; FNDDS eel portions Evidence E source
  Cooked dry heat 1137 ug RAE/100 g; fillet 159 g = about 1808 ug; 3 oz 85 g = about 966 ug; FNDDS default portion 3 oz (85 g)

What your body absorbs

• In 40 young adults, two fish meals a week for 8 weeks raised the omega-3 index by 2.27 points, as much as a 700 mg capsule. — Healthy adults 18-30 y with low fish intake and omega-3 index under 6%, 8 weeks (n = 40) Evidence B source
  Omega-3 index +2.27 +/- 0.82% with fish; +2.03 +/- 0.88% with 700 mg EPA+DHA; no change in lipids or hs-CRP
• In 42 healthy adults over 12 weeks, oily fish meals raised EPA in blood vesicles but did not cut their clotting activity, unlike high-dose fish oil. — Healthy volunteers, fish oil plus white fish, oily fish plus placebo, or white fish plus placebo, 12 weeks (n = 42) Evidence B source
  Oily fish at half the EPA dose had no effect on vesicle number or thrombin generation; fish oil lowered both

What cooking and storage change

• By the USDA retention table for fatty fish broiled without drippings, about a quarter of vitamin B12 is lost while minerals stay. — USDA retention factors, Finfish and Shellfish Products, FINFISH,>5%FAT,BROILED,WO/DRIPPNG Evidence E source
  Retained: vitamin B12 75%, vitamin B6 90%, folate 90%, thiamin 95%; calcium, iron, zinc, niacin 100%
• A 1998 German Salmonella outbreak was traced to smoked eel, eaten by 9 of 12 cases versus 2 of 21 controls. — 13 cases of Salmonella blockley infection and matched controls, Germany 1998 (n = 33) Evidence C source
  OR 28.5 (95% CI 3.9 to 235.3); eel from Italian fish farms via four smokeries

What it does to your health

• Among 20,670 Korean adults over 5 years, the highest oily fish intake, eel included, was linked to 25% lower risk of high triglycerides in men. — Korean adults in the HEXA-G cohort, 5 years of follow-up (n = 20670) Evidence C source
  Men RR 0.75 (95% CI 0.60-0.95); women RR 0.81 (0.69-0.96), extreme quintiles

Safety, limits and interactions

• Of 90 wild European eels from Lake Garda, 28 exceeded the EU limit of 10 pg/g for dioxins plus dioxin-like PCBs, the worst by over 7 times. — 90 European eels (Anguilla anguilla) from Lake Garda, Italy (n = 90) Evidence C source
  28/90 above 10.0 pg WHO-TEQ/g; 5 above 300 ng/g NDL-PCBs; maximum 77.1 pg/g and 1620 ng/g
• In a Bangkok market, 26% of 1788 swamp eel livers carried Gnathostoma larvae, rising to 74% in the rainy season. — Livers of swamp eels bought at a Bangkok market, April-July 2002 (n = 1788) Evidence C source
  466/1788 infected (26%); 74% in June-July vs 8% in April-May

What people believe that the data does not support

• A Cochrane review of 86 trials with 162,796 people found long-chain omega-3 barely changes death risk (RR 0.97) and little evidence on eating fish itself. — Adults at varying cardiovascular risk, trials of 12 to 88 months (n = 162796) Evidence A source
  All-cause mortality RR 0.97 (95% CI 0.93 to 1.01); cardiovascular events RR 0.96 (0.92 to 1.01)
• Eel with skin holds 7.6-13.3 g of collagen per serving, but only about 30% of meat collagen is freed by digestion. — Meat in Japanese daily dishes; human ingestion test with cooked shark meat Evidence D source
  Most dishes 0.2-2.5 g collagen per serving; eel with skin, beef tendon, shark tail 7.6-13.3 g; about 30% liberated by pepsin and pancreatin

Who this works differently for

• In non-pregnant women, one vitamin A-rich liver meal raised exposure to the retinoic acid metabolites linked to birth defects 3 to 5 times over 24 hours. — Non-pregnant female volunteers, single liver meal up to 120,000 IU vitamin A Evidence B source
  13-cis and 13-cis-4-oxo retinoic acid AUC24h up 3- to 5-fold; all-trans RA exposure unchanged
• A case-control study of 1508 women found no rise in malformations with periconceptional vitamin A above 10,000 IU a day from supplements and fortified cereal. — Mothers of infants with neural tube defects (548), other major malformations (387) and normal controls (573) (n = 1508) Evidence C source
  Major malformations OR 0.73 (95% CI 0.27 to 1.96) for >10,000 IU vs <5000 IU
• A 77-year-old man developed recurrent Edwardsiella tarda gallbladder and bile duct infection after eating eel and raw fish. — One 77-year-old man with gallstones (n = 1) Evidence D source
  Cholecystitis 5 days after the meal, relapse as cholangitis 5 weeks later; recovered with antibiotics and stent

What is still unknown

• In 73,224 Shanghai women followed 7.4 years, eating more eel was linked to higher colorectal cancer risk, while total fish was not. — Shanghai Women's Health Study, women 40-70 y (n = 73224) Evidence C source
  Eel P for trend 0.01 with colorectal cancer; total fish no association

The bottom line

Raw eel in US tables has 184 calories, 18.4 g protein and 11.7 g fat per 3.5 oz (100 g). Vitamin D is where sources disagree. The US mixed species record gives 23.3 ug, and UK tables give raw yellow eel 4.9 ug, a gap that reflects species, life stage and farming rather than an error to average away. Broiling fatty fish keeps about 75 percent of vitamin B12 and all the minerals, by a USDA group factor from 1975. Fish in general does raise omega-3 in the blood. In 40 young adults who rarely ate fish, one oily and one white fish portion a week for 8 weeks raised the omega-3 index by 2.27 points, as much as a 700 mg capsule. In 42 healthy adults, oily fish meals for 12 weeks did not change the clotting activity of blood vesicles, while a higher dose fish oil lowered it. Among 20,670 Korean adults followed for 5 years, the highest intake of oily fish, eel among them, went with a 25 percent lower risk of high triglycerides in men (RR 0.75, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.95) and 19 percent in women, from food questionnaires. Collagen is a weaker selling point than it looks. Eel with skin sits in a group of foods holding 7.6 to 13.3 g of collagen per serving, but digestion freed only about 30 percent of meat collagen in a test that used shark meat. Who should be careful. Of 90 wild European eels from Lake Garda, a lake with known pollution, 28 exceeded the EU limit of 10 pg per g for dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs, the worst at 77.1 pg. Smoking does not reliably make eel safe. A 1998 German Salmonella outbreak was traced to smoked eel, eaten by 9 of 12 cases against 2 of 21 controls. In a Bangkok market, 26 percent of 1788 Asian swamp eel livers carried Gnathostoma larvae, 74 percent in the rainy season, a risk from raw or undercooked eel. A 77 year old man developed a recurrent gallbladder and bile duct infection after eating eel and raw fish, a single case. Pregnancy and vitamin A is unsettled for a specific reason. In non-pregnant women, one liver meal raised exposure to retinoic acid forms linked to birth defects three to five times over 24 hours, but that meal was liver and the study measured blood levels only. A case-control study of 1508 women found no rise in malformations above 10,000 IU a day from supplements and fortified cereal, with intervals too wide to rule a risk out. Nobody has tested eel meals in pregnancy. Among 73,224 Shanghai women, eating more eel went with higher colorectal cancer risk while total fish did not, with no effect size given and pollution only suggested as a reason.

Sources

1. eelf-r8-01 · food composition data
   Fish, eel, mixed species, raw (FDC 174193, SR Legacy): energy 184 kcal; protein 18.44 g; total lipid 11.66 g; vitamin A 1043 ug RAE; vitamin D 23.3 ug; vitamin B12 3 ug; EPA 0.084 g; DHA 0.063 g; cholesterol 126 mg per 100 g
   USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy 2018, FDC 174193 (Fish, eel, mixed species, raw) · checked 2026-09-30
2. eelf-r8-02 · food composition data
   Eel, yellow, raw (CoFID 16-173, group JC): energy 168 kcal; fat 11.3 g; protein 16.6 g; retinol 1200 ug; vitamin D 4.9 ug per 100 g
   CoFID 2021, Public Health England, code 16-173 (Eel, yellow, raw) · checked 2026-09-30
3. eelf-r8-03 · portion data
   Fish, eel, mixed species, cooked, dry heat (FDC 174194): vitamin A 1137 ug RAE per 100 g; portions 1 fillet 159 g; 3 oz 85 g; 1 cubic inch, boneless 17 g. Fish, eel (FNDDS 26113110, fdc_id 2706247): Quantity not specified 85 g; 1 cup 135 g
   USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy 2018, FDC 174194 (Fish, eel, mixed species, cooked, dry heat); FNDDS 2021-2023 food code 26113110 · checked 2026-09-30
4. eelf-r8-05 · randomized controlled trial
   Consumption of 2 portions of fish/week and ω-3 supplementation resulted in a significant mean % increase in O3I of 2.27% ± 0.82% and 2.03% ± 0.88%, respectively.
   J Nutr, 2025 · checked 2026-09-30
5. eelf-r8-06 · randomized controlled trial
   Our results showed that fish oil supplements decreased circulating EV numbers and reduced EV-stimulated thrombin generation, but the consumption of oily fish at half the dose of EPA had no effect on either EV number or thrombogenic capacity.
   Br J Nutr, 2025 · checked 2026-09-30
6. eelf-r8-04 · retention factors
   USDA-RETN-R6:2455 FINFISH,>5%FAT,BROILED,WO/DRIPPNG (Finfish and Shellfish Products): vitamin_b12_ug 75%; vitamin_b6_mg 90%; folate_total_ug 90%; thiamin_mg 95%; calcium_mg 100%; iron_mg 100%; zinc_mg 100%; niacin_mg 100%
   USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors, Release 6 (2007), Retn_Code 2455 · checked 2026-09-30
7. eelf-r8-11 · case-control
   This outbreak indicates that eel may be a vehicle for salmonella infection and that the smoking process may not eliminate bacterial contamination from raw fish.
   Epidemiol Infect, 2000 · checked 2026-09-30
8. eelf-r8-15 · cohort
   Oily fish consumption was associated with a significantly lower risk of hypertriglyceridemia in both men (Relative risk (RR) comparing extreme quintiles = 0.75; 95% CI 0.60-0.95; P for trend = 0.0121) and women (RR comparing extreme quintiles = 0.81; 95% CI 0.69-0.96; P for trend = 0.0110) after adjusting for potential confounders.
   Nutrients, 2019 · checked 2026-09-30
9. eelf-r8-10 · contaminant survey
   However, 28 out of 90 eel samples showed concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (DL-PCBs) above the MRL of 10.0 pg/g fresh weight.
   Toxics 2025, Monitoring of PCDD/Fs and PCBs in European Eels (Anguilla anguilla) from Lake Garda · checked 2026-09-30
10. eelf-r8-12 · prevalence survey
    Of all livers, 466 were infected with Gnasthostoma L3s (infection rate = 26%).
    Ann Clin Lab Sci, 2003 · checked 2026-09-30
11. eelf-r8-07 · meta-analysis of RCTs
    There is little evidence of effects of eating fish.
    Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2020 · checked 2026-09-30
12. eelf-r8-14 · food analysis
    The meat in one serving of most Japanese daily dishes contains 0.2-2.5 g of collagen, except for beef tendon, eel with skin, and skinned shark tail (7.6-13.3 g).
    J Agric Food Chem, 2019 · checked 2026-09-30
13. eelf-r8-08 · randomized trial
    Concentrations of 13-cis and 13-cis-4-oxo RA increased several-fold after a liver meal, and exposure (AUC24h) increased three- to five-fold.
    Int J Vitam Nutr Res, 2005 · checked 2026-09-30
14. eelf-r8-09 · case-control
    For exposure from supplements and fortified cereals combined, women consuming >8000 and >10,000 IU daily had odds ratios for major malformations of 0.79 (95% confidence interval 0.40 to 1.53) and 0.73 (95% confidence interval 0.27 to 1.96), respectively, compared with women consuming <5000 IU.
    Am J Obstet Gynecol, 1997 · checked 2026-09-30
15. eelf-r8-13 · case report
    A 77-year-old man suffered acute calculous cholecystitis 5 days after eating eel and raw fish.
    Clin J Gastroenterol, 2025 · checked 2026-09-30
16. eelf-r8-16 · cohort
    Eel (P(trend) = 0.01), shrimp (P(trend) = 0.06), and shellfish (P(trend) = 0.04) consumption were positively associated with CRC risk.
    Nutr Cancer, 2009 · checked 2026-09-30