Fish MAY not always be good for you. Fish can be incredibly healthy or detrimental to our health, depending on where it’s sourced. There’s a world of difference between fish caught in the wild, and farm bred or farm-raised fish.
Why is Farm Raised Fish So Bad for You?
1. Causes Inflammation
Farm raised Tilapia has always been a popular source for fish because it’s widely available and also very inexpensive. Tilapia is the perfect factory fish; it happily eats pellets made largely of corn and soy to gain weight rapidly, easily converting a diet that resembles cheap chicken feed into low-cost seafood.Tilapia can increase the body’s inflammatory response, leading to serious health problems.
2. Contains Cancer Causing Pollutants
Farm bred fish may have at least 10 times the cancer causing pollutants compared to their wild counter parts. This is most likely be attributed to the feeds used on farm-raised fish. Did you know chicken feces is one of the main ingredients in farm fish feed.
3. Contains Antibiotics and Pesticides
Where do farm bred fish get their antibiotics? The crowded conditions of fish farms cause the fish to be more susceptible to disease. To keep them alive, farm owners give massive amounts of antibiotics to the fish to fend off disease. Farm bred fish are also treated with pesticides to combat sea lice. The pesticides used to treat these fish are so deadly that they have been found to kill wild salmon that are accidentally exposed to them.
4. Low Levels of Nutrients
Many of us consume fish, hoping to reap the omega-3 fatty acid benefits that come with it. However, did you know that the omega-3-acids found in farm raised fish are less usable to our bodies compared to wild bred fish, and they also have a lower protein content?
5. Contains Toxic Chemicals
Dibutylin levels (toxic chemical used in PVC plastics) is said to be 6 times higher in farm raised mussels compared to wild ones. Dibutylin is toxic and can impair immune system function while also contributing to inflammation.
Bottom line…make sure you are eating WILD and preferably Pacific cold water fish.