US-based wellness organization declares 2026 as 'Year of Sardines'

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January 23, 2026 | 4:52pm

MANILA, Philippines — The Medical Wellness Association (MWA), in its mission to improve wellness of consumers around the world, has declared 2026 as “The Year of the Sardines”. 

The aim is to educate and inspire consumers across the globe on the wellness benefits of eating real, nutritionally dense foods — with sardines being one of the optimal and most affordable choices available. And now, they will have some crucial help to drive the message to more consumers. 

“Given the consistent worsening of wellness metrics across most of the developed world, it is clear the wellness community needs to course-correct its recommendations to the public. Metabolic health is rapidly being revealed in research as an underlying key to wellness, from preventing classic metabolic diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver, to cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and even kidney and liver dysfunction,” said Dr. Christopher Breuleux, president of the United State-based MWA.

“Sardines represents one of the stronger options to combat metabolic disease. By consisting of proteins and Omega 3 fats and loaded with a high density of essential vitamins and minerals; coupled with being one of the most cost-effective proteins available, it really is a ‘superfood’.  We believe declaring 2026 as the year of the sardine, is a simple and clear call to action consumers can easily act upon,” added MWA board member and faculty member James Michael Laffety.

Sardines have been garnering heavy press recently, with leading physicians and wellness gurus from around the world promoting concepts such as “The 3-day sardine fast” across social media from Instagram to X. Sardines have been featured on globally leading podcasts, and as the world shifts its focus to metabolic health. And sardines figure prominently on the top of the new US Government endorsed food pyramid. Given this convergence of events, the MWA was keen to seize this momentum to further consumer education and hence improve worldwide health. 

Mega Sardines is one of the world’s leading brands and is the sole brand globally to earn the prestigious MWA seal of “Superfood”. 

“Through our close work with the MWA, we admire their commitment to improving global health. As the sole “Superfood” designated brand, we feel an obligation to step up and help the MWA spread the message. As we are participating in one of the world’s leading food shows, 'GulFood' in Dubai later this month, we have flipped our entire exhibition plan to drive 'Year of the Sardine' and help the MWA. Our investment will be an estimated 5 million pesos to help drive this message,” said Mega’s Chief Development Officer Marvin Tiu Lim. 

“We should leverage this event to help drive the health message. This is the responsible action to take,” he added.

The MWA, for its part, is deeply appreciative of Mega’s support.

“We are honored to have Mega step up and invest in this effort, something they were not obligated to do. It just reinforces the underlying commitment of Mega Prime Foods to providing healthy and nutritious food products,” said Lafferty. 

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