0:04

Welcome to the Nutrition Diva podcast.

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I'm your host, Monica Reinagel. And

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as you may know, a lot of our episodes

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are triggered by questions from listeners,

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including this one. Lindsey recently

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wrote in to say, I was at my local

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grocery the other day debating whether to

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buy farm-raised Atlantic or

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wild-caught salmon. And

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being a fan of the Nutrition Diva podcast,

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I immediately went to your episode archives

0:31

and found the answer to my question there.

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But then I noticed that that episode was from 2014.

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I know that nutrition science changes a lot, and I was

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wondering if there are any updates on

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the differences between farm-raised and

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wild-caught fish.

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So one advantage to having 15 years

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worth of archives is that there really aren't

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a whole lot of food or nutrition topics that we haven't

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talked about.

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But Lindsey is right to wonder whether

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things might've changed in 10 years. So

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today I have an updated answer to

1:04

the question of whether to buy farmed

1:06

or wild-caught fish.

1:09

Obviously, there are a lot of good reasons

1:11

to include fish or other seafood

1:13

in your diet on a regular basis.

1:16

Eating at least two servings of fish or

1:18

shellfish per week appears

1:20

to reduce the risk of heart disease, delay

1:23

the onset of Alzheimer's and other

1:25

forms of dementia, and if you're

1:27

pregnant, might even make your baby smarter

1:29

and healthier. And it can

1:32

offer some protective benefits against depression.

1:35

However, as Lindsey discovered, when

1:37

you get to the fish counter, you've got some decisions

1:40

to make. In particular, should you buy

1:42

wild-caught or farm-raised fish?

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Now, I bet many of you assume that wild-caught

1:48

fish must be a lot better for you because

1:50

it's more natural. But

1:53

is this necessarily the case? And

1:55

what about environmental issues

1:58

and sustainability? Over

2:01

the past 50 years or so, the global

2:04

demand for fish and seafood has

2:06

quadrupled, and that's driven

2:08

in part by things like population growth

2:11

and rising incomes, as

2:13

well as the perceived health benefits

2:15

of eating fish and the desire

2:18

to eat less meat from cows,

2:20

pigs, and chicken. All

2:22

of this increased demand has led in turn

2:24

to massive increases in

2:27

the harvesting of wild seafood, as

2:29

well as an explosion in fish farming

2:32

or aquaculture. And

2:33

there are concerns about the sustainability and

2:36

environmental impacts of both industries.

2:39

So what's a responsible consumer

2:41

to do? Which is the better, or

2:43

maybe the less bad option?

2:47

Although efforts to promote more sustainable fishing

2:49

practices and responsible

2:52

aquaculture have really been gaining

2:54

traction in the last decade since my

2:56

original answer to this question, it

2:58

is still impossible to make a blanket

3:01

recommendation here. Choosing between

3:03

wild caught and farm raised fish

3:06

depends a lot on what kind

3:08

of fish you're buying, as well as

3:10

where and how it's being

3:13

fished or farmed, and other

3:15

considerations such as your budget. But

3:18

let's take a look at some of the issues that you might

3:20

consider starting with nutrition. The

3:22

nutritional differences between wild

3:25

and farmed fish are not as great

3:27

as you might think. By and large, both

3:30

farmed and wild caught versions

3:32

of the same type of fish are going

3:34

to deliver similar nutritional value.

3:36

The nutritional composition

3:38

of wild fish is actually going

3:40

to be a bit more variable, because

3:43

that's going to be dependent on their natural

3:45

surroundings and the food sources,

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which will vary from location to

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location, but also from

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season to season. The nutrient

3:55

composition of farmed fish will also

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vary depending on the feed formulation that's

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being used.

3:59

used and other factors such

4:02

as exposure to sunlight. But

4:05

unlike wild caught fish, the nutritional

4:07

value of the finished product is much

4:09

more under the producers

4:11

control. One of the main

4:13

reasons we recommend eating fish, of

4:15

course, is that they are a uniquely potent

4:17

source for long chain omega-3

4:20

fatty acids. And here, farmed

4:22

fish often have the advantage.

4:25

Today's farmed Atlantic salmon

4:27

provides significantly more omega-3

4:30

fats than wild caught Atlantic

4:32

salmon, for example. Now,

4:34

this was not always the case. In the

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earlier days of aquaculture, farmed

4:39

salmon was significantly lower in

4:41

omega-3 than wild fish due to

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the food that they were being fed. But

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once this was identified as an issue,

4:49

the industry quickly responded, modifying

4:52

the diet to enhance the omega-3

4:54

content of the finished product.

4:56

The color of the flesh is

4:58

not a reliable guide to omega-3

5:01

content, by the way.

5:02

Atlantic salmon, whether it's fished or farmed,

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is a sort of pale orange or

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salmon colored, while sockeye

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salmon, for example, is dark red. But

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in this case, the paler Atlantic salmon

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provide more omega-3. In

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terms of contaminants such as

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PFAs, also not so

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fondly known as forever chemicals,

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the biggest danger, ironically, may come

5:28

from fish that consumers catch

5:30

themselves and not commercially

5:33

caught or raised fish that you're likely to find in grocery

5:35

stores. But again, it

5:37

really is impossible to generalize. The

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level of forever chemicals that you might be

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exposed to depends less on whether the

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fish is farmed or wild caught and more

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on the specific type of fish and

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the waters it came from.

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The other contaminant that most people

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worry about with fish is mercury. And

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again, the amount of mercury depends

5:58

mostly

5:59

of fish. The fish that present

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the biggest concern, swordfish, mackerel,

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tilefish, shark, and tuna,

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are all primarily wild caught. By

6:10

contrast, the most common farm-raised

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fish, which includes catfish, tilapia,

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and salmon, all have low

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or very low mercury levels. What

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about antibiotics or hormones?

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Are fish farmers dumping drugs and other

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chemicals into these ponds in order to maximize

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their harvests? Well, here

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in the United States, regulations strictly

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prohibit the use of hormones or antibiotics

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in order to promote growth in

6:39

farmed fish. This is not

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necessarily the case in other countries. Aside

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from possible impacts on human

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health, there are also concerns about

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the environmental impact and the

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sustainability of this huge increase

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in fish consumption. However,

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these are just as likely to apply to wild

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populations as they are to farmed fish. Wild

7:02

caught fish are sometimes harvested

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using practices that do a lot

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of collateral damage to the ecosystem

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and other fish species. Fish

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farming practices, on the other hand, can

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pollute the water and may threaten

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the local flora and fauna.

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Once again, it depends a lot on who is doing

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either the fishing or the

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farming.

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Here in the US, for example, the

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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regulates wild catch fishing, setting

7:34

and enforcing standards that protect

7:36

the marine environment and fish populations.

7:40

Fish farming operations in the US

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are also strictly regulated. Any

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water that is discharged into the

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environment, for example, must be as

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clean or cleaner than it was

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when it came in.

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Unfortunately, this is not the case everywhere.

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Farm raised fish now constitutes

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than 50% of the global

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food, fish supply and 90% of

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US consumption. But

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the US only produces a tiny

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fraction of that. And what we do

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produce is often more expensive

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than farmed fish that's imported from areas

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of the world that might have laxer regulations.

8:20

As much as I like to

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keep things simple for you, I'm

8:25

afraid there's really no easy

8:27

answer to this one. As you can

8:29

see, there are a lot of factors that we need to weigh.

8:31

Nutrition, safety, sustainability

8:34

and cost.

8:35

And

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the outcome is going to be different depending on what kind

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of fish you're talking about and where it comes from.

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So the best resource that I know

8:44

for keeping this all straight is still

8:47

the Seafood Watch program at the

8:49

Monterey Bay Aquarium. You can search

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their website by the specific type of fish,

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learn what the issues are and get

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recommendations either for the best choices

8:59

or better alternatives.

9:01

They do a really amazing job

9:03

of keeping up with the constantly evolving

9:06

industry practices and environmental

9:08

issues and emerging research

9:11

all over the world. And they offer

9:13

downloadable and digital guides for you.

9:17

Now one big thing has changed

9:19

since my original episode on this topic. At

9:22

that time, it was actually

9:25

widely believed that farm raised fish

9:27

were genetically modified, but that

9:29

was an urban legend. Back

9:32

in 2014, there were no genetically

9:34

modified fish for sale in the US.

9:36

Well, at least not as food. You

9:39

could, and you still can, buy

9:41

genetically modified fish for your tropical

9:43

fish tank that glow in the dark

9:46

thanks to some genes borrowed from iridescent

9:48

coral.

9:50

Later this year, however, in 2023,

9:53

the FDA approved

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the first genetically modified salmon

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for human consumption. called

10:00

the Aqua Advantage Salmon,

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and it's related to the Atlantic salmon,

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but it's been genetically engineered to grow

10:08

faster. The FDA has

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determined that the genetic modifications that

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have been used here cause no harm or

10:15

damage to the salmon itself, and

10:18

that the resulting fish is biologically and

10:20

nutritionally indistinguishable from

10:23

regular salmon and perfectly safe for

10:25

consumption. The

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FDA also addressed the potential

10:29

impact of this fish on the environment,

10:32

including the possibility that this engineered

10:34

salmon might escape from the

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farm and interact with wild

10:39

populations, and they found

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this risk to be negligible.

10:44

Personally, I

10:45

don't have any concern about consuming

10:47

genetically modified salmon. However, if

10:49

you do, rest assured that all

10:52

genetically engineered food products must

10:54

be labeled as such. So if

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you do want to avoid the Aqua

10:59

Advantage Salmon, you can just keep an

11:01

eye out for that.

11:02

This is Monica Brineagle, the Nutrition

11:05

Diva.

11:06

If you have a nutrition question you'd like me to

11:08

answer, you can email it to me at nutrition

11:10

at quickanddirtytips.com. You

11:12

can also leave me a voicemail at 443-9616206. Now,

11:14

if your question is more on the

11:21

subject of habits and behavior

11:23

change, then I hope you'll check out my

11:25

other podcast. It's called the Change Academy,

11:28

and over there we talk about how to convert

11:31

our good intentions into sustainable

11:33

healthy habits, and you'll find that wherever

11:36

you listen to podcasts.

11:38

Nutrition Diva is a Quick

11:40

and Dirty Tips podcast, and I have a

11:42

fantastic team that supports me, including

11:44

our director of podcasts, Adam Cecil,

11:47

my audio engineer, Nathan Semes, Davina

11:49

Tomlin, who runs our marketing and publicity,

11:52

Holly Hutchings is our digital operations

11:54

specialist, and Morgan Christensen is our

11:56

podcast operations and advertising specialist.

11:59

Thanks to all of them for their support

12:01

and thanks to you for listening.