Wild Salmon vs. Farmed Atlantic Salmon

So you're at the grocery store, and there is Wild Alaskan Salmon and next to it its Farmed Atlantic Salmon.  Well, obviously you grab the Farmed Atlantic Salmon since its like 5 dollars cheaper.  It looks the same so it is the same right?

Not really.

Here are a few facts:

>  Wild Atlantic Salmon are actually virtually extinct due to damaged habitat and overfishing.  So EVERYTIME you see "Atlantic Salmon" it is farmed, NOT wild.  Atlantic Salmon is a pretty standardly used name for any and all farmed Salmon.  (and no, I don't know if "standardly" is an actual word... but you get the gist)

>  Farmed Salmon are fed a mixture of ground up fish and oil, which results in a much fattier salmon.  

>  Wild Salmon feed on krill, mollusks, and other planktonic crustacea that have feasted on red algae.  This wild red algae is what gives Salmon its pink flesh.

>  Farmed Salmon live in tightly packed, closed quarters.  Because of the unsanitary conditions, they are fed lots of antibiotics to keep disieses from spreading.

>  Wild Salmon are much leaner than Farmed Salmon.  Their freedom to swim around the ocean contributes to this, as well as their wild diet.  They have lots of Omega 3 fatty acids which are very healthy for us consumers!

>  Farmed Salmon also have Omega 3 fatty acids, but in addition they have lots of Omega 6 fatty acids... which are not good.  Omega 6 fatty acids are a PRO-inflammatory, where as the healthy Omega 3's are an ANTI-inflammatory.  K this is a little technical but... Both Omega 3's and Omega 6's use the same enzymes to break down and become useful for the body.  When both are present, the Omega 6's use the enzyme first and our bodies do not have enough of the enzyme to use for the Omega 3's.  So basically, Farmed Salmon does not have as many usable Omega 3's as Wild Salmon.

>  Oh yea, and one more "fun" fact :-)  My friend Kelsey mentioned this to me, so I looked it up to research further.  Check this picture out.

This color wheel is presented to salmon farmers and they pick out which color they would like to dye their salmon.  Wild Salmon receive their color from their nutrient rich, wild diet.  Farmed salmon are actually a grey color.  The industrialized food industry knows that no one is going to buy a grey, sickly looking salmon filet.

So..... salmon farmer Joe picks out color 33 since he knows most Americans associate a deeper color of flesh with a better quality fish.  Smart pick Joe!

Ok, last little note.  I did read some articles that talked about studies that were done on the toxicity of farmed Salmon.  They claimed that while there is some risk eating farmed salmon, the benefits of the omega 3's and other nutrients far outweighed them.  I wasn't able to find the actual studies, but the articles did claim that they were independent studies.  Stick that in your back pocket and think it over, along with all this other info... and then make a more educated decision next time you buy some salmon.

sources:

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Dec05/salmon.ssl.html

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=96

http://www.samcooks.com/food/seafood/salmon_wild.htm