Dr. Hoody shares his expertise with Eat This, Not That!
A recent article in Eat This, Not That, by Kaley Roberts, explored the health effects of farmed salmon. One of the experts she turned to was Healthier2gether’s very own Dr. Steve Hoody. We thought we’d use this as an opportunity to share the pros and cons of farmed salmon.
In the article, Dr. Steve Hoody, CEO/Founder of Healthier2gether, elaborates: “Farmed salmon is high in Omega-6 saturated fat, which raises your cholesterol and creates inflammation.”
“Farmed salmon has 10 times more chemical toxicity than wild salmon,” says Dr. Hoody. “This includes Mercury and PCBs, which in high levels can harm our brain and nervous system.” His fix? When you buy farmed salmon, simply remove the skin. Most of the toxic chemicals he references can be found there.
Generally, wild salmon is a better choice than farmed salmon. Farmed salmon has:
- Omega 3s but, also high in Omega 6 saturated fat content, Omega six oils can raise your cholesterol and create inflammation. So, although it has significant amount of omega 3, the high omega six content makes it much less healthy than wild salmon but, still, healthier than most fish.
- Typically, 10 times more chemical toxicity than wild salmon. Most fish contain a significant amount of toxic chemicals. To avoid those chemicals, the best solution is to eat a variety of fish, and in that variety, farmed salmon is still a good pick.
- Most Farmed salmon is fed with high antibiotic food. But so is most fish. The high omega-3 oil’s in farmed salmon still make it a desirable fish to eat 1 to 2 times per week.
The best solution is to eat wild salmon, but it is costly. If you do purchase farmed salmon remove the skin before cooking to reduce the amount of toxic chemicals.
There is an effort to create farmed salmon with no antibiotics, far fewer chemicals, and due to recirculating water tanks, they get more exercise, so they have less of the saturated omega 6 oil’s.
Hopefully, it’s a sign of the future.
Overall, although farmed salmon is far from perfect, it is one of the more desirable types of fish that is healthy. My recommendation is to eat salmon 1 to 2 times a week.
Read the full article at Eat This, Not That here: https://www.eatthis.com/what-happens-to-your-body-farmed-salmon/