The study was published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. As for suppliers, "the industry needs to improve ways of farming fish," said Katherine Tallmadge, a national spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "The whole idea of farming is a great one, but they're feeding the fish food that's inexpensive, so they can keep the price down, and it's having an adverse effect on the nutritional quality of the fish." Several health groups, including the American Heart Association, recommend eating two servings of fish a week, preferably fatty fish such as salmon. The reason: primarily to increase omega-3 fatty acids. But no one has really looked at the nutritional effect of an explosion in farmed fish (increasing at an annual rate of 9.2 percent, compared with 1.4 percent for wild fish). In particular, inexpensive tilapia is exploding in popularity. This study used gas chromatography to analyze the fatty acid composition of 30 widely consumed farmed and wild fish.
Tallmadge recommends looking for wild fish. Wild salmon, even canned wild salmon, has high levels of omega-3s and is an excellent source of protein.
Concentrate on cold-water fish such as salmon, rainbow trout, sardines, tuna and anchovies, all of which have healthy fats, added Marianne Grant, a health educator with Texas A&M Health Science Centers Coastal Bend Health Education Center, in Corpus Christi.
Bonnie - it is nice to see some research data on the "dirty little secret" of the fish industry. For the same reason why grain-fed beef lost its omega-3 content when it stopped feeding on grass, the same goes for farmed fish that are fed corn, soy, and other grains. This why we always defer to wild caught when choosing fish for its omega-3 content.
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