Why wild salmon

A big issue with wild salmon tends to be the cost: It can be expensive, and depending on your budget, it may be inconvenient to buy often or at all.

But if cost is a concern, buying farmed salmon is still recommended over avoiding salmon completely. The American Heart Association recommends that most adults eat two servings of fatty fish, such as salmon, per week.

This recommendation is due to the high level of omega-3s in fish like salmon and the health benefits that can come from optimal consumption While farmed salmon and wild-caught salmon are similar in terms of overall health benefits, farmed salmon may have more added antibiotics.

However, given its high content of omega-3s, quality protein , and beneficial nutrients, any type of salmon is still a nutritious food choice. Fish is one of the most nutritious foods you can eat, but some types of fish contain high levels of mercury.

Does it mean you need to avoid all fish? Can you eat salmon skin? Find out here. This is a detailed article about the health benefits of fish. Fish is high in omega-3 fatty acids, and can help protect against many diseases. Antibiotics are commonly used in food-producing animals worldwide.

This article explores the potential risks of antibiotics in foods. A high-protein alternative to red meat, salmon is low in saturated fat and high in omega-3 fatty acids.

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This article looks at 10 of the healthiest cuisines…. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Nutrition Evidence Based Wild vs. Wild-caught salmon vs. Differences in nutritional value.

Polyunsaturated fat content. Salmon is an excellent source of:. Farmed salmon are fish stocks kept in netted pens. The farmers control breeding, feed them, and provide medicine if needed. Sometimes, the pens are very crowded and the salmon cannot swim very far. Fish farming also keeps the price of fish lower. Wild salmon live and breed in their native bodies of water. Humans have no control over their breeding, feeding, or health. Wild salmon swim long distances with no restriction.

Typically, wild salmon have fewer calories , saturated fat and vitamins A and D than farmed salmon but contain more protein. According to a review , farmed salmon have higher levels of omega-6 fatty acids than wild salmon. Both farmed and wild salmon had comparable levels of an omega-3 acid called EPA, but farmed salmon had lower levels of the omega-3 acid DHA than wild salmon.

Omega-3s are important for:. Both farmed and wild salmon contain some compounds that are not good for the body. This is because salmon can absorb some chemicals and pollutants through their diet and their environment. Wild and farmed salmon may differ in color due to their diet. Wild salmon eat a lot of krill, crabs , and shrimp. These shellfish are high in a carotenoid called astaxanthin, which gives the salmon their pale pink-red color.

Astaxanthin is a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory that is essential for the general health of the fish. Fish farmers feed the salmon with pellet foods containing an artificial version of astaxanthin. The synthetic version of astaxanthin is not as strong as the natural version but is still beneficial. POPs can build up in animal tissue. Fatty fish can contain high amounts of POPs. The same article states that POPs can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in humans.

POPs do this by affecting insulin. Another study looking at POPs in indigenous communities where the people eat a lot of wild fish found an increase in type 2 diabetes. POPs may also cause neurotoxicity. A recent study found that wild Atlantic salmon contained higher levels of POPs than farmed salmon. This may be because their environment is uncontrolled and due to pollutants in the oceans. A study looking at farmed Norwegian Atlantic salmon found levels of some POPs and pesticides were decreasing.

It appears that farmed salmon may contain fewer POPs than wild salmon. Unfortunately, fish pens can be small and very crowded , which is why farm raised fish are usually fattier. Plus, overcrowding can lead to problems like toxic contaminants and pollutants accumulating in pens or diseases spreading among the fish.

Of course, every aquaculture is different—some are cleaner and more sustainable than others. And, while some countries like the U. But, one of the biggest differences in farm raised fish is their less-nutritious and less-diverse diet. Most farm raised fish eat a highly-processed, high-fat feed made of corn, grains, fish oil, and fish meal a. Granted, all of that fish oil and fish meal pack TONS of omega-3s into farm raised fish. But, their unnatural feed also alters the nutritional composition in other ways—not necessarily for the better.

Naturally, that salmon and most farm-raised fish would actually be gray-ish in color. Instead, to make the fish look more like their wild caught cousins, many farmers add food dyes to their fish feed. And, as aquaculture practices start to improve in many countries, the quality of farm raised salmon is also improving. Really, that goes for wild caught fish, too.

More on that at the end of the article! Usually, wild caught fish are considered higher-quality, cleaner, and a safer choice. But, they come with an additional cost—both financially and on the environment.

Currently, around one-third of wild fish populations have been overfished, and two-thirds are fully-fished. Because humans eat a lot of fish! Today, the average person eats about twice as much fish as we did 50 years ago. And, that number is only expected to increase over time. And, as always, I encourage you to continue researching and dive deeper!

The main difference: wild caught salmon is lower in calories and total fat than farm raised. On average, a 4-oz wild caught salmon filet contains calories and grams of fat. In the same portion of farm raised salmon , there are around calories and grams of fat.

But, remember, salmon is chock-full of healthy fats—those anti-inflammatory, disease-fighting omega-3 fatty acids! Also, important to note: there are several different species of salmon i. Atlantic, Sockeye, Pacific , which can vary nutritionally. But, farm raised salmon also contain lots of inflammatory omega-6s, while wild caught contain very few.

To truly benefit our health, omega-3s need to be in the right balance with omega-6s. Unfortunately, most people consume WAY too many inflammatory omega-6s, which fuel damaging chronic inflammation in the body.

Ideally, we want foods with a lower omega-6 : omega-3 ratio— low in omega-6s, high in omega-3s. So, this leaves farm raised salmon with a decent omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, around or Translation: farmed salmon contain 2 or 3 times the amount of omega-3s relative to omega-6s. But, wild caught salmon can have a ratio as low as —meaning up to 14 times more omega-3s relative to omega-6s!