Finding omega-3 fats in fish: Farmed versus wild

Recently, a Harvard Heart Letter subscriber emailed us a question: Is there a difference between farm-raised and wild-caught salmon in terms of omega-3 fatty acid content? I’ve wondered about this myself while standing at the fish counter at my local grocery store. I can often find farm-raised Atlantic salmon for about $6.99 a pound, while the wild-caught salmon may be nearly twice as expensive. Salmon and other fatty fish are the main dietary source for omega-3 fatty acids, which are known to lower the risk of heart disease. It turns out that you probably won’t shortchange your heart if you choose the less-costly farmed salmon, as both types seem to provide similar amounts of omega-3s per serving. But that’s likely because farm-raised salmon tend to have more total fat — and therefore more omega-3 fat — than wild ones. How the total fat content of salmon measures up As Dr. Bruce Bistrian, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, explained to me, fish are what they eat. “In the wild, salmon eat smaller fish that are high in EPA and DHA — the beneficial, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.” Farm-raised salmon eat high-protein food pellets. While location and environmental changes can affect the diet of a wild salmon, the flesh of a farmed fish reflects the farmer’s choice of pellets. In particular, farmers often feed the young salmon pellets made from plant and animal sources, then add the more expensive fish- and fish-oil–enriched pellets later in the ...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Healthy Eating Heart Health Prevention omega-3 fats farmed fish Source Type: news