Not All Salmon is Created Equal

When you go to the grocery store you may find they are selling two sources of salmon: farm raised and wild caught. So, is there a difference? The obvious answer is that one kind of salmon is born and bred at a farm designed to mass produce salmon. Conversely, the other type of salmon is caught in natural environments like oceans and rivers. However, what you may not know is the differences between the two goes deeper than just where they came from. Farmed salmon are fed a high fat diet that makes them much larger. They are fed manufactured oils high in Omega -6 which can upset the balance of 4 (omega-6) to 1(omega-3) for these two essential fatty acids. Too high a ratio is related to all major diseases. In addition, they are fed hormones and broad spectrum antibiotics that can easily upset our gut microbiome. Also many are fed chicken feces pellets and grains, increasing the lectin in our bodies that can lead to the “leaky gut” syndrome which can lead to 13 diseases and 3 conditions. One third of the US adult population has one of these diseases: Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver disease. This forced diet for farm raised salmon is much different than the natural organisms and sea plants wild salmon consume. This causes a difference in the nutritional value of the two salmon. According to the US Department of Agriculture the nutritional differences between the two are stated as:  Chart sourced from Healthline.com Wild salmon contains numerous health benefits over farmed salmon such as: more iron. Due to often contaminated living conditions caused by overcrowding and lack of a clean environment, farmed raised salmon contains many more harmful substances and contaminants than wild salmon. The bottom line is if you’re willing to pay more for a better product, wild caught salmon is your best option.