The benefits of Omega 3 have long been promoted as playing a vital role in health and well being. The most commonly promoted source of Omega 3 fatty acids has been from the consumption of oily fish, but recent studies and a growing battery of evidence suggests that this may not be the right way to get your daily dose of these essential fatty acids.
Western diet
The western diet, as eaten by average consumers, has become highly deficient in Omega 3. With convenience and processed foods becoming the norm to fit in with most busy working lifestyles, our consumption of fish, the usual source of Omega 3, has declined dramatically. Now, our diets are mainly composed of meat such as chicken, beef and pork. But although beef, for example, is a source of Omega 3, changes in how cattle and other farmed animals are fed has broken that chain and resulted in commonly consumed meat no longer providing any Omega 3 at all.
Over the last few years, more farmers are supplementing their feeding regimes with corn and grain. Although this fattens up the animals quickly and is highly profitable for the meat producers, it lessens the effect of their natural diet – grass – and reduces the amount of Omega 3 produced. So, to counteract the effect of this, fish has been widely promoted as the best source of Omega 3. But once again, changes in how fish are produced may now be starting to affect this source, contaminating it with other, more harmful substances.
Aquaculture – the perils of fish farming
The diminishing stock of fish in the ocean has led to an explosion in the popularity of aquaculture or fish farming over the last 30 years. Farm raised salmon may mean that cheap salmon is available to the consumer in the shops, but serious questions are beginning to be raised concerning not just the welfare of the fish, but of the possible knock-on effect of intensive aquaculture methods. Farm raised salmon and other fish species are fed on food pellets, and not their natural diet of sea algae. They are also injected with a range of chemicals including growth hormones and even colouring, to ensure the flesh of farmed fish is the same ‘pink’ as wild salmon (as a selling point with consumers). But even if you decide to avoid the chemical cocktail that may be present in farmed fish and stick to wild fish to get your Omega 3, you could still be consuming some rather nasty chemicals as well.
The seas suffer from man’s contamination. We use the world’s oceans as a dumping ground for our unwanted industrial waste, and prolonged studies by biologists specialising in wild fish stocks have shown that fish absorb many of these chemicals readily. Included in this toxic mix are some of the most poisonous substances known to man such as mercury, PCBs and lead. Mercury, if consumed by pregnant women, can cause mercury poisoning and damage the foetus’s development and the well-known effects of PCBs and lead on human physiology have been well documented.
The alternatives
So if our wild fish stock is contaminated with heavy metals and chemicals known to be detrimental to our health and our farmed fish are being injected with hormones and colorants that have no place in our diet, how are you supposed to get your Omega 3 daily dose?
Purified fish oil capsules are an easy alternative and one of the best ways to get all the benefits of Omega 3 without running the risks of ingesting mercury or growth hormones. Look for fish oil supplements that have been molecularly distilled. This process removes contaminants such as mercury, making them safe for consumption. Alternatively, Omega 3 from plant sources such as flax are becoming more popular, and not subject to the same type of contamination as fish oil-based products. Products such as Resveratrol, primarily designed to act as an anti-ageing product, work in synergy alongside other antioxidants, supplements and vitamins to ensure that your diet is supplemented with the right amount of nutrients for overall health, fitness and weight control. Combine this with a balanced diet and plenty of exercise and a good skin care routine and the benefits quickly become apparent.
It may be time to start thinking about an alternative source of Omega 3. As much as you may enjoy that piece of salmon or fresh mackerel, looking at the bigger picture could mean that you uncover some truths about your food source that may be hard to swallow.
