By Dr. Joseph Mercola with Rachael Droege
As most readers of this newsletter know, I have been advising against eating fish, whether from the ocean, lakes and streams, or farm-raised, for some time because of their dangerously high levels of mercury, PCBs and other toxins.
Sadly, as fish would otherwise be one of the healthiest meats on the planet, fish (and shellfish) easily accumulate high levels of chemical residues from the water they live in (fortunately, there are still some healthy options, which I’ll discuss below). Residues in fish can be as much as 9 million times the amount found in the water!
So before you open your next can of tuna or sit down to a plate of salmon, consider that contaminants found in fish flesh include:
Factory-Farmed Fish
If you eat fish in a restaurant, it most likely came from a fish farm. Almost half of the salmon, 40 percent of the mollusks, and 65 percent of the freshwater fish consumed today are raised on fish farms. Not surprisingly, fish farming, a multimillion-dollar industry, has become one of the fastest-growing sections of the food production market.
What many people don’t know is that farmed fish face many of the same health issues as factory-farmed animals. In order to be profitable, fish farms must raise large quantities of fish in confined areas, and the overcrowding leads to disease and injuries to the fish. The fish are given antibiotics and chemicals for the parasites like sea lice, skin and gill infections and other diseases that commonly affect them.
The fish are also given drugs and hormones, and sometimes are genetically modified, to accelerate growth and change reproductive behaviors. Farmed salmon are also given chemicals, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin, to turn their flesh pink in order to make them more marketable. Wild salmon eat a diet of shrimp and krill, which contain natural chemicals that make the salmon pink. Farm-raised salmon do not eat a natural diet, so their flesh would be gray if they were not given the additives.
Ocean Fish
Even fish that are ocean-caught are fraught with problems. Tragically, our oceans are largely contaminated with industrial pollutants. Ocean fish pick up these toxic chemical residues, which bioconcentrate in their flesh.
The larger the fish, the more problematic because big fish eat smaller fish, thereby getting an even greater dose of accumulated toxins.
Almost all fish are contaminated with mercury. Mercury is especially dangerous to children and can cause birth defects during pregnancy. In adults, mercury damages or destroys nerve tissue and affects the visual cortex and the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls complex movements and balance. Exposure to mercury may also result in:
Pesticides in fish, such as DDT, PCBs, and dioxin, are also dangerous. They have been linked to cancers, nervous system disorders, fetal damage and many other health problems.
How Do I Find Healthy Fish?
Unless you can verify that the fish has been lab-tested and found to be free on contaminants, don’t eat it! When you visit your supermarket, ask the fish handlers where the fish comes from. They may contact the manufacturer for you, otherwise contact them on your own and ask if their fish has been tested for mercury and PCBs.
Early last year we did extensive testing on fish from a company that takes salmon from the interior of Alaska and were surprised and delighted to find that the mercury levels were virtually undetectable. The company has also conducted numerous tests on the salmon and has never once detected PCBs.
The salmon are sustainably harvested by a native Alaskan tribe to ensure the success of the species. After hatching, the Alaskan salmon swim upstream to pure, fresh water lakes where they feed and grow for one to three years before swimming out to the Bering Sea. The salmon are sustainably harvested during their migration.
If you enjoy the delicious taste and immense health benefits of some of the world's finest salmon--Alaskan wild red--but you are concerned about the mercury and other toxins now found in dangerous amounts in almost all fish, then please consider trying the Alaskan wild red salmon from Vital Choice that tested safe and is now available in our Web site store. The salmon contain very high levels of omega-3 with DHA and EPA.
Another option for obtaining the nutritional benefits of omega-3 is regularly consuming high-quality fish oil. I have researched and tried many brands of fish oil, and I recommend Carlson’s brand above all others as it offers fish oil and cod liver oil with superior purity and freshness. It is purified to the highest standards to be free from mercury and other toxins and is made without chemical modification and processing. If you are unable to find it in your local health food store, you can purchase Carlson’s brand fish oil and cod liver oil on this site.
Fish Farms Become Feedlots of the Sea Do You Know the Facts About Mercury in Fish? Dangerous PCBs Found in Salmon Polluted Fish Reduce Male Birth Rate Toxicology: How Mercury Harms Humans Not Any Old Fish Food Will Reduce Heart Attacks
Fish Farms Become Feedlots of the Sea
Do You Know the Facts About Mercury in Fish?
Dangerous PCBs Found in Salmon
Polluted Fish Reduce Male Birth Rate
Toxicology: How Mercury Harms Humans
Not Any Old Fish Food Will Reduce Heart Attacks