Salmon: Pros and Cons
The Journal of Nutrition asks in a recent issue if the benefits of eating salmon outweigh the risks. On the plus side: heart-healthy fatty acids. On the minus side: high levels of carcinogens in both farmed and wild fish.
I haven’t read the paper, but here are some highlights from the abstract:
- “However, the recommended level of [fatty acid] intake cannot be achieved solely from farmed or wild salmon while maintaining an acceptable level of carcinogenic risk.”
- “Although the benefit-risk ratio for carcinogens and noncarcinogens is significantly greater for wild Pacific salmon than for farmed Atlantic salmon as a group, the ratio for some subgroups of farmed salmon is on par with the ratio for wild salmon.”
- “young children, women of child-bearing age, pregnant women, and nursing mothers not at significant risk for sudden cardiac death associated with CHD…can minimize contaminant exposure by choosing the least contaminated wild salmon or by selecting other sources of (n-3) fatty acids”
