I try to pursue a healthy and nutritional diet, with salmon as a source of protein, fats and other vitamins. I do eat salmon 1-2 days per week. Choosing to purchase hormone-free, antibiotic-free salmon from either my local grocer (Publix) or Costco which both claim to sell these types of fish. I recently reviewed an article regarding salmon, that seems very relative to today’s current public debates over what is considered healthy or not. Or how, big corporations have become demonized (sometimes rightfully so) for promoting food or healthcare products with questionable health benefits. I have previously known about most of these issues that the article brought up, but thought it would be good information to share to a wider audience. We only have so many options for our food products, so we need to be even more diligent in reading labels and doing the research on foods in question.
The article I chose to review is entitled “Salmon – The way they live, the food they eat, and the effect on us” by Douglas Frantz and his wife Catherine Collins. Both authors seem to have strong journalism credentials where Frantz was a managing editor at the Los Angeles Times and where he shared a Pulitzer Prize as a foreign correspondent at the New York Times. Later he was chief investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and an assistant secretary of state in the Obama administration. Collins was a reporter and foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and also a contributor to the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. She later became a private investigator where she specialized in international financial fraud. I could not find any personal reasons or information as to why these two chose to investigate the salmon industry.
The article attempts to bring some light onto the discussion of how salmon consumption has been promoted by doctors and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its health benefits. The authors state that there often exists false marketing of salmon, as being a certified-natural product, organic, sustainable, and naturally raised. The USDA has no approve definition of what exactly is organic salmon. Sustainability comes into question when we learn that salmon are carnivores that feed on other fish. In order to farm salmon on a large commercial scale, salmon need their diet supplemented from other sources that require more acquisition of proteins from larvae, algae or bacteria. Natural is questionable as the ground fish feed used to sustain the salmon, contains chemicals and antibiotics. Salmon are farmed in crowded cages for years that have parasites within them.1
Salmon comes to the US mostly from far away. A whopping 90% of our salmon is farmed Atlantic salmon, raised then and then flown in from Chile, Canada, Norway, and Scotland. The remaining 10% is mostly wild-caught Pacific salmon commercially harvested from Alaska. Alaska is one of the few places that wild salmon are still fished commercially.1
I think that Frantz and Collins offered a fairly neutral stance as far as presenting the information. One can debate this as being more or less sensationalized depending upon your viewpoint on this particular issue. I did not get the feeling of sensationalism however it is quite sobering to hear that farmed salmon have their own health risks of disease, parasites, and predators. In 2020 the government of Norway reported that 52 million fish died before harvest and in 2019 the figure was 53 million. The government of Scotland reported the mortality rate for farmed salmon quadrupled between 2002 and 2019. And in 2019, Newfoundland had more salmon died in cages than were harvested.1
The authors do report that there are some positive tentative actions being done to hopefully move to change the salmon industry to being more reputable in regard to natural, organic, and sustainable. This would include a contest of some sort, by a collaboration of governments, academic researchers, nutritionists and the private sector, with the goal of enticing fish feed companies to develop alternatives to the existing feed products.1 This issue of how to feed the salmon that will eventually feed humans seems to be a major issue in regard to sustainability, and at what cost?
This article does give many insights at how far the salmon industry has veered off from years back where salmon were not farm raised with chemicals and antibiotics. Going back to the late 1700’s and the Industrial Revolution, the decline in salmon consumption was due to waste being dumped directly into rivers and streams. By the mid-1800’s, the salmon population was reduced further by commercial fishing. Additionally, construction of dams and mills destroyed fish habitats and blocked salmon rivers.1 The authors do not come off as experts in the field of nutrition but rather as experts in investigative reporting as noted in their background information.
There is is good and bad in everything (yin and yang) and it is our individual responsibility to research what food or healthcare products with questionable health benefits, we consume or use.
References:
1 Frantz, Douglas, and Catherine Collins. 2022. “Salmon. (Cover Story).” Natural History 130 (7): 22–27. https://search-ebscohost-com.northernvermont.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=aph&AN=157318533&site=eds-live.
2 Wikipedia contributors. (2021, May 2). Natural History (magazine). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_History_(magazine)
https://www.verywellfit.com/salmon-nutrition-facts-calories-and-health-benefits-4106641
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I write often about topics that affect our health and well-being. Additionally, I teach and offer lecture about qigong, tai chi, baguazhang, and yoga.
For more info, contact Jim Moltzan at info@mindandbodyexercises.com, 407-234-0119 or through my site at http://www.mindandbodyexercises.com
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