The levels of industrial pollutants found in aquaculture.
Farmed Fish vs. Wild-Caught
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Although the levels of dioxins and PCBs continue to decline, there is one dietary source that still remains a threat: fish. Everything eventually washes into the sea. Yes, we can get some from eating horses, but most of human dioxin exposure comes from eating fish. The World Health Organization puts the tolerable upper daily limit of intake at 1 picogram—one trillionth of a gram. As you can see, just eating dairy and we’re already skirting with the max, and fish takes us straight over the top.
Everyone agrees that the omega-3 fatty acids, like DHA, found in fish, are healthy. But, given the industrial contaminants in fish, as a recent analysis in Food and Chemical Toxicology concludes: “If people choose to get their recommended long-chain omega-3 intake from fish, the majority of consumers would exceed the safety limits for dioxins and dioxin-like substances (like PCBs).”
And, just like with eggs, factory-farmed fish have significantly more dioxins. In fact, for every toxin tested, farmed fish had higher levels of DDT, these other banned pesticides, over ten times more PCBs, and ten times more dioxins than wild-caught fish. Aquaculture fish can be considered farmed and dangerous.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Dianne Moore.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- A. Schecter, T. R. Harris, N. Shah, A. Musumba, and O. Papke. Brominated flame retardants in us food. Mol Nutr Food Res, 52(2):266-272, 2008.
- B. Antonijevic, C. Matthys, I. Sioen, M. Bilau, J. Van Camp, J. L. Willems, and S. De Henauw. Simulated impact of a fish based shift in the population n-3 fatty acids intake on exposure to dioxins and dioxin-like compounds. Food Chem. Toxicol., 45(11):2279-2286, 2007.
Although the levels of dioxins and PCBs continue to decline, there is one dietary source that still remains a threat: fish. Everything eventually washes into the sea. Yes, we can get some from eating horses, but most of human dioxin exposure comes from eating fish. The World Health Organization puts the tolerable upper daily limit of intake at 1 picogram—one trillionth of a gram. As you can see, just eating dairy and we’re already skirting with the max, and fish takes us straight over the top.
Everyone agrees that the omega-3 fatty acids, like DHA, found in fish, are healthy. But, given the industrial contaminants in fish, as a recent analysis in Food and Chemical Toxicology concludes: “If people choose to get their recommended long-chain omega-3 intake from fish, the majority of consumers would exceed the safety limits for dioxins and dioxin-like substances (like PCBs).”
And, just like with eggs, factory-farmed fish have significantly more dioxins. In fact, for every toxin tested, farmed fish had higher levels of DDT, these other banned pesticides, over ten times more PCBs, and ten times more dioxins than wild-caught fish. Aquaculture fish can be considered farmed and dangerous.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Dianne Moore.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- A. Schecter, T. R. Harris, N. Shah, A. Musumba, and O. Papke. Brominated flame retardants in us food. Mol Nutr Food Res, 52(2):266-272, 2008.
- B. Antonijevic, C. Matthys, I. Sioen, M. Bilau, J. Van Camp, J. L. Willems, and S. De Henauw. Simulated impact of a fish based shift in the population n-3 fatty acids intake on exposure to dioxins and dioxin-like compounds. Food Chem. Toxicol., 45(11):2279-2286, 2007.
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Title
Farmed Fish vs. Wild-Caught
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
For some of the latest videos on toxins in fish:
- PCBs in Children’s Fish Oil Supplements
- Dioxins in U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish
- How Long to Detox From Fish Before Pregnancy?
- Dietary Sources of Alkylphenol Endocrine Disruptors
And check out my other videos on industrial toxins.
For more context, see my blog post: EPA dioxin limit has National Chicken Council worried products could be declared “unfit for consumption”.
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