This effort originated from a dispute with a friend who thought that farm raised salmon was as good for you as wild caught, so I promised to vet the issue thoroughly with Google and respond in depth. An interesting thing happened while Googling. I discovered far more reasons to be concerned about farm raised salmon than I was led to believe from social discourse. For anyone who consumes salmon with regularity as a cardiac panacea, I STRONGLY recommend that you read this, preferably before buying Salmon again. 

Websources:

http://www.healthcastle.com/wildsalmon-farmraisedsalmon.shtml  Health Castle article comparison of the two sources of salmon.

http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=96  “World’s healthiest foods” website on difference between farm and wild caught salmon

http://www.albany.edu/ihe/salmonstudy/pressrelease.htmlInstitute for Health and the Environment about risk of farm raised salmon

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Dec05/salmon.ssl.htmlCornell salmon comparision

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/omega-6-000317.htm U Maryland Omega 6 article

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/ck_culinary_qa/article/0,1971,FOOD_9796_4240260,00.html  Which fish cooks up best?

http://www.omega3sealoil.com/Chapter3_1.html  Great general background on Omega 3 & 6 fatty acids 

 Overview: Omega fatty acids are 2 of the 49 essential nutrients needed by, but not produced by, the body. Consequently, they must be consumed, or ingested, in order to be assimilated into the body’s system. What is most important in understanding these two fatty acids is their relationship to each other, which is what dictates their respective effiencies in regulating thousands of the body’s metabolic functions through prostaglandin pathways. Prostaglandins are essential to the body for the following purposes:

• cause constriction or dilation in vascular smooth muscle cells
• cause aggregation or disaggregation of platelets
• sensitize spinal neurons to pain
• constrict smooth muscle
• regulate inflammatory mediation
• regulate calcium movement
• regulate hormone regulation
• control cell growth

Since this isn’t a science lecture, I will leave further exploration of that subject to you. Suffice it to say that despite the very important sounding aforementioned list, people eat salmon because it is supposed to be good for reducing the risk of stroke and other coronary issues that can impact the heart suddenly. While that is a commendable trait, it pales by comparison to the caveats that accompany heavy consumption of this popular food source. It was the discovery of these concerns that prompted me to print this, rather than just prove my point to a friend.  

Interesting Highlights From Various Sources

 Farm Raised

• Canthaxanthin - a synthetic pigment manufactured by Hoffman-La Roche that is used to give farm raised salmon its pink color. Without it, the fish would be pale grey in color. Canthaxanthin has been linked to retinal damage in people when taken as a sunless tanning pill, leading the British to ban its use as a tanning agent
• Farm-raised fish contain much higher amounts of pro-inflammatory omega 6 fats than wild fish. (about 7 X)
•  Farm-raised Fish Provide Less Usable Omega-3 Fats  (note, due to ratio to Omega 6, not amount of the substance)
• …..farmed salmon accumulate more cancer-causing PCBs and toxic dioxins than wild salmon.
• Research on this issue published July 30, 2003, by the Environmental Working Group, indicates 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.
• …..farmed salmon contain significantly higher levels of these polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE)compounds than wild salmon [August 11, 2004 issue of Environmental Science and Technology]
• New research, conducted by PhD. student Martin Krkosek and colleagues from the University of Alberta, Canada, has established that sea lice from farms kill up to 95% of juvenile wild salmon that migrate past them.  
• The researchers found significantly higher concentrations of contaminants in farmed salmon versus wild. In particular, four substances that have been well studied for their ability to cause cancer — PCBs, dioxins, dieldrin, and toxaphene — were consistently and significantly more concentrated in farmed salmon as a group.

• Farmed salmon purchased from supermarkets in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Chicago, New York, and Vancouver triggered a recommendation of no more than two meals per month.

• Given the overall contaminant levels found, if these were locally caught fish instead of fish purchased commercially EPA and many state consumption advisories would suggest that consumers restrict their consumption of farmed salmon to an average of no more than one meal per month
• Lipophilic contaminants, particularly certain organochlorine compounds, tend to accumulate in the fatty tissues of fish. Consequently, fish species with a higher fat content, such as carp, bluefish, some species of salmon, and catfish, may pose greater risks from some contaminants

 Wild Caught

• Wild Fish Provide More Omega-3 Fats  (not true, it provides more ingestible Omega 3)
• …….wild salmon, which could be consumed at levels as high as 8 meals per month.  (safely, which enables you to consume 4 to 8 times as much salmon than farm raised allows)

 Comparisons

• found significantly higher levels of cancer-causing and other health-related contaminants in farm raised salmon than in their wild counterparts.[ published in Science and by far the largest and most comprehensive done to date]
• [Harvard Medical School FAMILY Health Guide, April 2004] a study in theJan. 9, 2004, Science made a big splash because it was much larger (700 salmon samples) and was published in a prestigious journal. The study found that the PCB concentrations in farm-raised salmon were, on average, almost eight times higher than the concentrations in wild salmon……………… The researchers said if those guidelines were applied to farm-raised salmon, it would trigger anEPA warning not to eat any of the farm-raised salmon they tested more often than once a month.
• [Cornell University Dec. 22, 2005] Risk Benefit Analysis   On the one hand, farmed salmon has more heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids than wild salmon. On the other hand, it also tends to have much higher levels of chemical contaminants that are known to cause cancer, memory impairment and neurobehavioral changes in children. (This opening paragraph misses the primary point that the ratio of Omega 3 to 6 is the issue, thereby nullifying the benefit of greater amounts of Omega 3 in farmed raised salmon.

• In a study published last spring (Environmental Health Perspectives, May 2005), the research team reported that the levels of chlorinated pesticides, dioxins, PCBs and other contaminants are up to 10 times greater in farm-raised salmon than in wild Pacific salmon, and that salmon farmed in Europe are more contaminated than salmon from South and North American farms

Essential Fatty Acid Ratios in Wild and Farmed Fish

*The higher the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fats, the more able the body is to use the omega 3 fats. A lower ratio means that the enzymes that convert these fats into the forms in which they are active in the body are more likely to be used up by the omega 6 fats.

• Culinary comparison,  food network  >> In the summer months you can get wild salmon more readily and its firmer flesh amd more intense flavor lends itself to grilling, which farm raised cannot stand up to as well.

• “Wild salmon is much more flavorful than farmed, and has a silky, flaky texture and a rich, mouth-filling taste.”
• Farmed salmon is milder tasting and, generally, the flesh is not quite as firm as wild
• Wild salmon has a season, usually from May to September

 Summary:

• Despite the phenomenal hoopla about the benefits of eating salmon, the reality is that it is the ratio of Omega 3 to 6 that creates the benefit of eating it. This ratio in wild caught fish is 5 times higher than farm raised.
• Farm raised salmon contains over 7 times the amount of Omega 6 than wild caught.  [University of Maryland Medical Center article on Omega-6 Fatty acids, undated]  US and Isreali diets tend to have too much Omega 6 in their diet, especially in relation to Omega 3. Some medical research has suggested that excessive levels of omega-6 acids, relative to Omega-3 fatty acids, may increase the probability of a number of diseases, as well as depression.

• “Omega-6 fatty acids cause prostate tumor cell growth in culture” >> http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/29976.php  
• “Brain fatty acid levels linked to depression” >>  http://www.news-medical.net/?id=10398

• Depending upon which study you quote, farm raised salmon contains between 8 to 10 times the amount of toxic contaminants than wild caught. The types of contaminants listed as both cancer causing and toxic are of the type that accumulate in the body, like PCB’s, dioxins and organochlorine compounds.     
• According to two studies quoted herein, farm raised salmon should be consumed no more than once a month. A third says no more than twice a month. Wild salmon may be consumed as much as 8 times per month. The portion referred to in all studies is 8 ounces, which is fairly large.
• The major argument for salmon consumption is the benefit to prevention of stroke and sudden cardiac issues that accompany coronary diseases.

Fish farming is a major souce of revenue for countries with oceanic control, from fishing rights to marketing privileges. Given the level of economic importance that this industry represents to so many nations, this author wants to assure that the industry is not impuned recklessly. If you want to investigate fish farming, check out the industry website http://www.thefishsite.com/.

Note: for those taking statins or niacin to reduce absorption of cholesterol, first, make sure you are taking COQ-10 to offset the damage of the statins, then, there is a new Dannon yogurt product named “Promise activ”, which actively removes cholesterol with a tasty little 3.3 oz fruit flavored daily yogurt drink.  

Prepared Foods >> http://www.preparedfoods.com/CDA/Archives/92e6322e33788010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0 Probiotics: The Next Big Thing >> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/business/22yogurt.html?ex=1327122000&en=52b2aa03ca40bb48&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss Are You Pro-biotic? >> http://www.nerac.com/food/march2007/bugs

I was first introduced to these mini-bottled drinks in those wonderful European breakfast smorgasbord buffets that have anything you could want and several items you might not. These popular yogurt drinks have had a great impact on Dannon’s bottom line. Activia, which has been gaining tremendous popularity in the US since its introduction a few years ago, has been in European markets since 1987. Hard to understand why the US is some 15+ years behind European health trends, but Promise activ, again, the cholesterol drink,has clinical trials behind it and no concerns about PCB’s, so why not give it a shot?

I hope this was helpful. If nothing else, it removes some of the guilt of ordering a nice juicy steak when dining with your health minded friends as they revel in their fish entree’ and low cholesteral counts. Heck, order some fries too…….just leave out those trans fats.

Have you ever noticed how many foods contain High Fructose Corn Syrup, HFCS? While I am researching this topic to assure the accuracy of my assumptions, please keep one thought in mind. HFCS was invented in 1957, but not refined enough for general consumption until the Japanese improved upon it by 1967. It became a staple sweetener for the carbonated beverage industry by 1970 and now it is the most ubiquitous sweetener in use. My first assumption/observation is that Americans did not start having an obesity problem until two things happened, HFCS became the sweetener of choice and schools started dropping PE and recess from the curriculum. This article will offer you a survey you can take in your grocery store, to find out how many items consumed daily by your family contain HFCS as one of the first 5 incredients. I believe you will find the results educational.

DISCLAIMER – The assumptions and presentations offered herein are drawn from the public domain of the internet, without further research to assure their facts are drawn from reliable sources; therefore, the accuracy of any or all sources could possibly be flawed. This blog provides no guarantees or assurances that our sources are accurate, but welcomes all contributors to challenge ALL assumptions made herein.