John Myers
Basically, salmon is healthy. However, this applies above all to wild salmon, which you can hardly find in shops anymore. The salmon, which is offered comparatively cheaply in every discounter, is farmed salmon and is not necessarily comparable to wild salmon.
Salmon – that’s why the fish is healthy
In addition to other nutrients, wild salmon contains a high proportion of the unsaturated fatty acids that are essential for our organism. The fish is particularly convincing with its long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.
- Omega-3 fatty acids lower the cholesterol level and thus prevent civilization diseases such as cardiovascular problems, vascular diseases and heart attacks. In addition, fatty acids are said to have an anti-inflammatory effect on the organism.
- Apart from that, salmon provides us with important proteins and iodine, which is essential for the thyroid gland. In addition, salmon brings along some essential amino acids and antioxidants.
- And not to forget, the fish tastes delicious and you can conjure up a wide variety of dishes from it.
- In short: The salmon provides our body with a lot of important nutrients, at least the wild salmon.
Wild salmon vs farmed salmon – that’s what makes the difference in terms of health
The fish industry also never tires of reminding us how valuable salmon is for our health. However, the fact that the studies on the effects of salmon on our health primarily relate to wild salmon is hardly discussed. Well over 90 percent of the salmon sold commercially comes from fish farming, also known as aquaculture. Almost all of the inexpensive salmon comes from aquaculture.
- You are what you eat – an ancient saying that has lost none of its truth to this day. Of course, the saying does not only apply to us but ultimately to every living being and thus also to the salmon.
- The wild salmon is a so-called predatory fish. Accordingly, the menu mainly consists of animal food, such as crustaceans, shrimp, and smaller fish.
- With farmed salmon, things are completely different. The food of the farmed fish consists mainly of cheap plant food. Only a small proportion of the fish feed, around 20 percent, consists of fishmeal and some fish oil.
- Ultimately, this means that the organism of farmed salmon contains significantly fewer omega-3 fatty acids than wild salmon. Instead, farmed salmon have significantly more omega-6 fatty acids, of which we often consume too much anyway. To make matters worse, the positive effect of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids cannot develop with an excess of omega-6 fatty acids.
- Most of the salmon we sell comes from the huge fish farms in Norway. While a high proportion of antibiotics was often detected a few years ago, the proportion of antibiotics in farmed salmon from Norway has now been drastically reduced. A few years ago, the Norwegians started vaccinating the young salmon before they were released into the breeding nets.
- The problem today is ethoxyquin. The substance is added to the fish feed to prevent the formation of oxidizing fatty acids in the salmon meat. Ethoxyquin was banned as a plant protection product in Europe many years ago, but not in animal feed.
- Ethoxyquin is suspected to be toxic. However, the experts are still not clear about how the substance affects the human organism. The only thing that is certain so far is that ethoxyquin can be detected in the human body.
- Conclusion: The fact that salmon is healthy may still apply to wild salmon. The extent to which the claim also applies to farmed salmon must first be examined more closely.
