Sonia Jones ND from The Haven Spa and Health Clinic

We have known for many years, that fish is good for us. We have been encouraged for years to eat more fish, especially if you have a condition like arthritis. My father-in-law at 85 still keeps up the old tradition of eating fish every Friday, come what may. He might eat fish on other days too, I’m not sure.

Fish is a rich source of protein, low in cholesterol and easier to digest than meat. Cold water fish – oily fish are high in omega-3 essential fatty acids. This essential fatty acid helps to lower cholesterol, maintain a healthy circulation, protect the heart and keep blood thin, also a powerful anti-inflammatory. Making it a good food if you have an inflammatory condition like arthritis.

So if we are going to eat more fish to slow down the degenerative aging process, there are a few things you should know.

Cod and chips please, use to be common place, for how much longer? Once upon a time the best place for cod was off the coast of New England. This fishing ground use to serve Europe. Then giant trawler nets were introduced scooping up everything, literally everything in its path. By the 1980s the traditional fishermen began to realize stocks of fish were seriously dwindling. Their pleas to the US government were ignored. By the 1990s the traditional fisherman had nothing left to catch. These waters use to the best cod fishing grounds! This gap has allowed an opportunity for the Artic cod to move into the area, where once Atlantic cod thrived, that doesn’t sound so bad, or does it?

The Artic cod has no market value and they eat the Atlantic cod’s eggs!! This makes it almost impossible for the Atlantic cod to make a comeback and today cod have been classed as endangered. What a shame as I use to love cod, one of my favourite fish.

I am glad to say in Norway the picture is quite different. By the 1980s their fish stocks were also becoming seriously depleted. However, the Norwegian government listened to the fishermen’s pleas taking them seriously, and did something before it was too late. After only three years the fish stocks were improving, saving some of the traditional fishermen and the fish.

Due to an international quota system fishermen are encouraged to throw back one third of their catch. This maintains their quota and they keep the more valuable fish. The problem is that a lot of the fish have been damaged in the nets and more often than not are dead when they are returned to the sea.

Salmon was such a luxury when cod was cheap, and then came farmed salmon. Just four countries produce and supply almost 98 percent of the world’s farmed salmon! These are Canada, Norway, Chile and Scotland/UK. Farming has focused on increasing production with little regard to the environment and the effect intensive farming might have on it. Salmon farming is slowly polluting the ocean’s coastlines and is slowly contributing to dwindling stocks of wild fish.

Salmon in the wild live on deep-ocean krill this is something we don’t eat. On the other hand farmed fish are fed fish we would eat, literally taking the food right out of our mouths. It takes about 3 to 5 pounds of fish meal to add 1 pound of weight to a farmed salmon. Does this make sense! Not to me. It is taking a huge amount of fish to produce some inferior farmed salmon compared to the wild salmon. This is putting a large strain on fish stocks. The industry is looking to give farmed salmon  bean feed for most of its growing life and then towards the end, feed them fish oil. Most of the world’s soy beans have been genetically modified. Plus salmon are not naturally soy bean consumers.

Wild salmon per 100 grams will contain about 6.5% omega-3 fatty acid, with a total amount of 6 grams of fat.

Farmed salmon per 100 grams will contain about 0.80% omega-3 fatty acid, with a total amount of 11 grams of fat.

This is a perfect example of ‘you are what you eat’. The diets of the wild salmon are completely different from those fed in captivity.

The Pew Commission reported in 2003 –

A fish farm of about 200,000 will release as much faecal matter as 65,000 people, straight into the shallow coastal regions. This can kill the other fish in the area, marine plants and encourage harmful algae. According to the Pew commission escaped farmed fish carry sea lice that eat fish flesh. If they mate with wild salmon they can past on genes to the off-spring that can disadvantage them for life in the wild.

700 wild and farmed fish were purchased from 8 countries and analysed. David Carpenter from the State University of New York at Albany said “We found that farmed salmon contained 7 times higher levels of PCBs, dioxins, and pesticides than wild salmon”. The survey also revealed that salmon from Norway, Canada and the UK was twice as contaminated as farmed fish from Chile. They recommend you eat salmon from Norway and Canada once every 2 months only, salmon from Chile once a month.

The US Environmental Protection Agency says- you can cut your risk by half. Score the salmon fillets grilling them and letting the juices drip away, cooking until the internal temperature is 175F and removing the skin before eating.

Shrimp Fishermen lose their ability to support themselves and their families as fish stocks decline. Shrimp was another food I remember in the past as being a real treat, a luxury. Now they are farmed in places like East Asia, and the shrimp farms have a shelf life of about 10 years, after which the area is too polluted to support any life. In this process they put traditional farmers out of work for good. A traditional industry in areas that had been sustainable for hundreds of years, wiped out in a decade!

Tuna – much is farmed in pens off the coast.

Trout has been farmed for some years now. As for the wild trout, after years of modern farming methods with chemical fertilizers, insecticides and the pollution from industry, our rivers and waterways have become heavily polluted. The chemicals found in our rivers today encourage the growth of algae which robs the fish of oxygen. There have been reports that fish from some rivers should not be eaten, due to levels of pollutants.

Buying Fish

Try to buy fish that is not farmed. Some fish is frozen at sea as soon as it is caught, so in a sense is very fresh.

Fish is important to our diet. It is a high-quality protein the flesh is tender, flaky and easy to digest (if it’s not over cooked). It contains ‘essential fatty acids’ lowering cholesterol and protects against heart disease, balancing inflammatory responses.

Fresh fish once dead rapidly becomes prone to fungal and bacterial infections, which usually cause corrosion of the skin of the fish.

A fresh fish will have:

· shiny, clear, bright eyes

· moist purple gills

· neat and clean body flaps

· scales that are firmly attached (unless they have been removed)

· an agreeable aroma, with a hint of the sea

A stale or badly stored fish will have:

· skin that appears dull and slimy to the touch

· eyes that have become dull and sunken

· gills that have turned grey

· loose scales

· a very fishy smell

Press the fish lightly with your thumb, the flesh should bounce back if it is fresh.

Once you have purchased your fresh fish, it is best to use it almost immediately. If you want to store it for another time, you would be better off buying frozen. Once you get your fish home wash it well and cook it enough to kill any pathogens but not too much as to make it dry.

Omega-3 essential fatty acid is found mainly in marine plant life called phytoplankton and on land in linseeds. Fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines, and mackerel etc are our primary sources of omega-3. It protects against heart disease by lowering LDL cholesterol. Omega-3 helps to keep the blood thin, preventing blood clots. Also an anti-inflammatory, making it useful for arthritis, also helps to protect against cancer.

However, if you don’t like fish, you need to consume flaxseeds or linseed oil, (linseeds or flaxseeds are the same thing).

Practical Advice

If you eat fish try to eat fish that has not been farmed.

The salmon that comes from Alaska is wild.

Supplements – Fish oil capsules from a wild source.

Here is a list of the top five fish to eat that have very low levels of mercury

1) Wild Salmon

2) Herring

3) Sardines

4) Freshwater Trout

5) Pollock