farmed salmon vs. wild samon

[Guest guest]

The following article, from the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, is a very

interesting article about farmed vs. wild salmon. It points out the danger of

over-consumption of farmed salmon due to harmful PCB levels, something I wasn't

aware of. If it was mentioned in previous discussions on this list, I missed it.

[NL]Featured Article[NL]April 2004 [NL]

Salmon: Down on the Farm[PARA]It's important to eat fish because of its

heart-healthy omega-3 fats. Salmon has been catching up with tuna, America's

favorite fish, in large part because it is rich in omega-3s. Canned or fresh,

salmon is widely available in markets and restaurants-and most salmon in the

marketplace is farm-raised, which means it is now plentiful and cheap. Wild

salmon costs two or three times as much, and even if you can afford it, you

can't always find it. Moreover, some wild salmon is endangered.[PARA]Salmon grew

even more popular after the government issued warnings about mercury in large

fish such as swordfish, tilefish, and possibly even tuna. But now farmed salmon

has turned up on the high-anxiety list, not because of mercury but because of

toxins, notably PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). PCBs are organic pollutants

and are thought to promote health problems, including cancer. No one knows for

certain that they cause cancer in humans, or how much PCBs it would take to

cause it, but they do cause cancer in animals. The toxins come from plastics,

waste incinerators, leaky transformers, and insecticide residues. Ubiquitous in

our environment, they are found in many foods besides fish. The farmed salmon

get their doses from their chow, which is a mix of ground-up fish and oil. Wild

salmon get some PCBs, too, but they have a more varied diet. The worrisome thing

about these potential carcinogens is that fish (and humans) store them in fat,

where they can accumulate.[PARA]A study by researchers at Indiana University and

other centers, recently published in Science, found that salmon from all over

the world is contaminated with PCBs and other compounds. They analyzed two

metric tons of fish, some farmed, some wild. The farmed fish was far worse, with

levels high enough to damage the brains of fetuses and infants, at least

according to the standards of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which

are tougher than the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards. And this is

not the only study to come up with such findings. In spite of this, the FDA and

Health Canada were critical of the new study and say it's still okay to eat

farmed salmon. The salmon industry was also critical, saying that the fish in

the study were collected three years ago, and that fish chow has since been

improved, with further measures underway. And some scientists questioned the

findings of the study for other reasons as well. [PARA]The American Heart

Association and other health authorities are in favor of eating fish. Because of

concerns about mercury, we have advised eating no more than 12 ounces of fish

per week, on average, chosen from a variety of species. Thus, if you follow our

advice, you don't eat salmon or any other single species two or three times a

week. But letters from readers lead us to think that a lot of people have been

eating much more salmon lately. [PARA]The lead researcher of the Science study,

Dr. Hites, concluded that nobody should eat more than one 8-ounce serving

of farmed salmon per month. That's not a lot of fish, and it leaves people

wondering where the rest of the fish in their diet is supposed to come from. Dr.

Hites said that he himself eats farmed salmon twice a month, because he is " an

old guy " and older people may have less to worry about when it comes to the

potential long-term dangers of PCBs. [PARA]A fine kettle of fish[PARA]Thus, once

again, the public is left in the dark. Is it better to cut fish out of your diet

entirely and lose the heart benefits, or should you keep eating farmed salmon

and risk getting cancer? Which agency is right? Can you believe the signs that

have gone up in fish stores and on restaurant menus claiming that their farmed

salmon is okay? Has the industry really reformed? Is that " wild salmon " really

wild? How old would you have to be to safely eat two servings of farmed salmon a

month? Pretty soon you'll need a diary or maybe a computer to keep

track![PARA]Here's some food for thought:[PARA]• Don't stop eating fish. Do

vary your intake. We suggest cutting back on farmed salmon if you eat it as your

main fish. There are plenty of other fish to choose from. [PARA]• Watch for

news. The farmed fish industry has made improvements in fish chow and has

promised more. It has also been under attack for its impact on drinking water

and air pollution, and for the use of additives (such as antibiotics and

colorants). Maybe this adverse publicity will motivate it to fix the

problems.[PARA]• Buy wild salmon, if you can afford it. [PARA]• Use canned

salmon. Almost all of it is wild.[PARA]• Ask your fish seller where the salmon

comes from. Fish labeled " Atlantic salmon " or " Icelandic salmon " sound wild, but

are usually farmed. By this October a new law will require fish to be labeled as

to country of origin, and whether it is wild or farmed.[PARA]• See if you can

find farmed salmon from Chile, which exports a lot of fish to the U.S. It is

lower in PCBs and other contaminants than other farmed salmon, according to the

study.[PARA]• To reduce the PCBs in salmon: before you cook it, remove the

skin and the fat under it (not a hard job if you use a very sharp knife-or get

the fish seller to do it). Then broil, bake, poach, or grill the fish instead of

sautéing it. These methods allow the fat to drain off. Plenty of beneficial

omega-3s will remain. [PARA][PARA][NL]Et Tu, Salmon?[NL]Commentary by Dr.

Swartzberg[PARA]You, our readers, tell us you've been eating lots of salmon,

which is high on the heart-healthy list. Now you learn it may be contaminated

with PCBs, a possible cause of health problems, including cancer. What should

you do? [PARA]As the article on page one tells you, opinions differ. Will those

PCBs put you at risk for cancer? Some experts say yes, some say no. If you give

up farmed salmon, what will you eat? Keep in mind that about one out of every

three Americans dies from heart disease, and eating fish helps protect against

this. Even if the PCBs do cause cancer, that would mean, by one estimate, one

extra case of cancer per 100,000 regular consumers of farmed salmon over the

course of a 70-year lifetime. You and I, of course, don't want to be that one.

But such sweeping statements and statistics are not much help when you're

shopping for groceries, or trying to choose between fish and steak in a

restaurant.[PARA]I eat fish about twice a week, and salmon has always been a

favorite. Usually it's farmed, since wild salmon is available fresh only about

four months of the year and is quite expensive. Now I'll limit myself to farmed

salmon once or twice a month, though that may be overly cautious. I would advise

pregnant or potentially pregnant women, as well as young children, to eat farmed

salmon no more than once a month. This is because PCBs, like many other

contaminants, are more likely to be dangerous for fetuses and growing children.

[PARA]But there's still a lot of fish in the sea. I've made a list of good

alternatives to farmed salmon that are relatively low in PCBs and mercury, and

good choices ecologically (not overfished or on the endangered species list).

Here they are: Pacific cod, mahi-mahi, ocean perch, whitefish, pollock, Pacific

halibut, haddock, flounder, sole, most shellfish, tilapia, striped bass, and

wild salmon, plus canned salmon, tuna, and sardines. Many of these are also good

sources of omega-3s. If I eat these-and there are other options, too-I never

have to eat the same fish twice a month. [PARA]The government, working with the

food industry, especially salmon farmers, should insist on broad changes to

reduce our exposure to PCBs and other contaminants. Surely the fishing industry

will want to clean up its act-and some salmon farmers claim to have done so.

Yes, you can eat farmed salmon. But not all the time. Choosing a widely varied

diet is your best protection. [PARA]UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, April

2004[PARA][PARA]