When shopping for either fresh or frozen fish, do you consider how they were raised? Well, here’s an eye opener. Farmed fish have the potential to cause cancer and have lesser nutritional benefits than those caught in the wild. Here are many reasons why you should start reading labels before baking or barbequing your next filleted fish:
FISH FACTS
– Farmed crustaceans, fish, mollusks and aquatic plants are given antibiotics , exposed to more concentrated pesticides and at times given unhealthy salmon-colored dyes.
– Aquafarming, also known as Aquaculture, is a method whereby freshwater and saltwater populations of aquatic organisms (a.k.a. fish, etc.) are raised under controlled conditions, contrasted with commercial fishing, whereby wild fish are harvested.
– Aquafarming is not eco-friendly and has a negative impact on wild salmon. Research shows that sea lice from farms kill about 95 % of young wild salmon who migrate past them.
Nutritional Differences
· Farmed fish have less available heart healthy omega 3 fats than wild fish.
├é┬╖ Farmed salmon are excessively high in fat–30-35% by weight. However, wild salmon have 20% more protein and 20% less fat than their counterparts on the farm.
· Studies show that farm raised fish contain higher amounts of pro-inflammatory omega 6 fats than wild fish. Omega-6 fats are readily converted to arachadonic acid, a precursor to pro-inflammatory prostaglandin. These inflammatory molecules can lead to arthritis, strokes, blood clots, heart attacks and blood vessel wall inflammation.
· Farmed fish are fattier, because they do not spend their lives swimming in either the ocean or leaping in rocky streams. They live in crowded pens waiting to be fattened up on controlled diets designed for increasing their weights.
· Disease and parasite levels are lower in fish who live in streams and the oceans. However, farmed fish can be easily infected, because of their densely packed environments. To protect them, farmed fish are vaccinated. Then they are they are given either antibiotics or pesticides to ward off infections.
· Scientists in the United States are concerned about two preliminary studies in British Columbia and Great Britain which showed that farmed salmon build up more cancer-causing PCBs (Any of a family of industrial compounds produced by chlorination of biphenyl, noted primarily as an environmental pollutant), that accumulate in animal tissue with resultant pathogenic effects.
· Research shows that that levels of carcinogenic chemicals, called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), found in farmed salmon purchased from U.S. grocery stores are so much higher than levels of PCBs found in wild salmon that they pose an increased risk for cancer. PCBs have been banned in the US since 1979, but they persist in the environment and end up in animal fat.
├é┬╖ Flame-retardants used widely in electronics and furniture production are appearing increasingly in fish, and farmed salmon contain significantly higher levels of these polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) compounds than wild salmon. PBDEs have been shown to have reproductive toxicity—and also may play a role in cancer formation. Farmed salmon contain higher PBDE levels than wild ones due to the “salmon chow,” a mixture of ground fish and oil, they are fed.
Regardless of the fish you are planning for your next meal, now you know where they came from is best for both you, the environment and aquatic organisms. Always select wild or line caught fish. When selecting salmon, chose line caught Alaskan fish. These are healthiest and tastiest too!
Lisa DeFazio├óΓé¼Γäós a leading nutrition expert and a Master├óΓé¼Γäós degree level Registered Dietitian, so be sure to check out her website and follow her on Twitter for more tips and videos — and if U wanna know more about fish OR anything else, U can always email us at [email protected]!!
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