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by Reggie Perna
A healthy diet is of utmost importance where our families are
concerned. Fish, which is high in protein and many other nutrients,
is still considered to be a healthy choice. As a source of lean
protein, low in saturated fat, seafood provides essential omega
3 fatty acids that are important for cell function. The American
Heart Association recommends consumers eat two servings of fish
per week to prevent coronary heart disease. However, today's processing
techniques are very complex, and some fish choices are healthier
than others.
 Most fish sold in today's supermarkets are farm raised. Though
some farmed fish conditions are cleaner than others, for the most
part these fish swim in extremely close quarters where waste accumulates
and lack of drainage causes breeding beds to become extremely polluted.
To deter the spread of disease in such an environment the fish
are fed antibiotics - medications that are passed to humans at
the dinner table causing further health problems in terms of human
antibiotic resistance1.
Carnivorous farm raised fish, like salmon, are often fed fishmeal
and fish oil manufactured from small fish which, according to the
Environmental Working Group (EWG) Report, 2000, are the source
of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in most salmon. (PCBs are toxic
substances which are reported by the National Academy of Sciences
to be linked to brain damage and immune deficiencies in utero and
in early childhood.) Chemicals are often given to salmon to fatten
them up. EWG studies have shown that farmed salmon contains 5 to
10 times the PCBs of wild salmon. Because of the concern of PCBs,
the NAS recommends that the government focus on reducing exposure
to farmed salmon for girls and young women in the years before
and during pregnancy2.
Wild fish are those that are not raised in a hatchery, but are
allowed to hatch and exist freely in open waters. Wild fish have
significantly greater health benefits because they arrive from
clean waters and are not fed contaminated fish meal. (According
to Mark Powell, however, U.S. Director of Fish Conservation-Ocean
Conservancy, 40 to 90 percent of salmon that is labeled "wild" in
supermarkets comes from fish that are hatched in trays and grown
in ponds for a year or more before being released in the ocean3.)
 Another toxin of concern is that of mercury in fish. Mercury released
to the air from industrial sources settles into surface water and
accumulates in streams and oceans. Fish absorb these toxins as
they feed on aquatic organisms, and the larger, longer-living fish
accumulate mercury in their muscle tissue, posing a risk to people
who eat them regularly. Farm raised fish are more at risk for mercury
contamination because of the higher levels of bacteria in the water.
Even though our waters are becoming more and more polluted, wild
fish still tend to have less mercury contents that farm raised
fish because the bacteria levels in the wild are still lower than
in farm-raised environments. Exposure to mercury can lead to a
variety of health problems, most of which are neurological in origin.
The FDA recommends women of childbearing age and mothers who are
breast feeding avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel and
tilefish as these fish are high in mercury. Albacore tuna should
be limited to 6oz per week. Seafood that contain lower mercury
levels include shrimp, salmon, pollock, catfish, cod, crab, haddock,
herring, tilapia, trout, canned light tuna, whitefish, scallops
and orange roughy2.1
In conclusion, wild fish which have lower mercury contents, less
PCBs and are not fed antibiotics tend to be the healthier choice.
For charts and easy to read guidelines on healthy fish choices
go to the following websites:
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_regional.aspx
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Efrf/sea-mehg.html
Footnotes:
1. Monterey Bay Aquarium: Seafood Watch Program - Online Seafood
Watch Guides.
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_regional.aspx
2. National Academy of Sciences (NAS). 2003. Dioxins and dioxin like compounds in the food supply: Strategies to decrease exposure. National Academies Press.
Washington, D.C.
3. http//blogfishx.blogspot.com/2007/05/fish-farms-produce-so-called-wild.html
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