Nutrition

Wildly Delicious Nutrition

 “Rich fish, such as wild Alaska Salmon, are known for their ability to reduce the risk of heart disease when they are consumed regularly. The recently revised Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the American Heart Association have advised people to eat rich fish, the primary source of omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3s), more often, particularly for heart health. Most American diets are low in omega-3s and high in omega-6s, the two main classes of polyunsaturated fatty acids in foods. Recent findings from cancer research suggest that omega-3s may be important in discouraging the development or spread of certain cancers.” Joyce A. Nettleton, DSc, RD ¹ 

Few single foods can offer as many nutritional benefits in significant quantities to your diet as wild salmon. Often touted as one of the top ten superfoods, wild salmon is not only an excellent source of Omega-3 fatty acids—which are necessary for optimal metabolism function and overall health—it also contains other nutrient-packed benefits listed below.

• WHAT ARE SUPERFOODS?

  Superfoods offer disease-fighting antioxidants and essential minerals. In addition, most of the foods are filling, allowing you to enjoy them without overeating. When eaten with regularity superfoods can help fight disease, lower cholesterol, boost immunity, improve memory function and maintain heart health

 Nutrients of Wild Sockeye Salmon:  Omega-3 fatty acids,  High Quality Protein,  Essential Amino Acids, Calcium,  Potassium,  Vitamin A,  Vitamin D,  Vitamin B6,  Vitamin B,  Vitamin E  Appreciable amounts of iron, magnesium, sellinium and phosphorous

All these benefits combine to make Alaskan wild salmon the natural choice for anyone concerned with their own or their family’s health. Further interest in the nutritional content of seafood meals can be found for all the Alaska seafood:http://www.alaskaseafood.org/health/facts/

 Omega–3 Fatty Acids:

• Protect heart health
• Reduce risk of sudden death from heart disease
• Reduce risk of stroke
• Reduce chance of heart disease in Type 2 Diabetes
• Improve blood lipid patterns
• Improve blood vessel function
• Essential in infant brain and eye development during pregnancy and infancy
• Improve symptoms of immune and inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and some skin conditions
• Reduce the risk of some mental disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and depression

WHAT ARE OMEGA 3’S & WHY SHOULD WE EAT THEM?

Undoubtedly you have heard about omega-3s research in the news, advertised on egg cartons or have been told to increase your consumption of wild fish and fish oil. The following explanation is rather lengthy, but hopefully helpful in deciphering the important biochemical role omega-3s play in determining the health of our organs and a healthy metabolism to support them.

 Omega-3s are a class of essential fatty acids also known as polyunsaturated fatty acids or PUFAs that must be obtained through our diet, as they cannot be produced in the body but are essential to our health. Of the Omega 3s docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic (EPA) are the most powerful health agents for your heart health and mood. Omega-3s are found in green leafy plants, algae, and the animals that eat them (such as wild salmon).

 The other category of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), are Omega 6s. Omega 6s are also essential to our health but, like Omega-3s, are not produced naturally within the body. They are primarily found in seeds and the animals that eat them. In terms of foods high in Omega 6s, a few examples include: whole grain breads, most chemically processed vegetable oils, soy, nuts and livestock and fowel raised on a grain-based diet (rather than their natural food).

 It is important to note, multiple studies have documented that omega-3s and omega-6s work in con-junction, but also compete with each other in responding to the body’s needs. The most notable difference between Omega 3s and Omega 6s is the complex biochemical structure and metabolic function.

 At one time omega-3 fatty acids were abundant in our diet. In Omega’s Made Easy, according to Susan Allport, “In the 1980s scientists began recognizing there’s been a huge change in our food supply… . We’re now consuming more omega-6s than ever before. They took a look at all the vegetable, or seed oils Westerners were consuming—in their fast foods, packaged foods, cooking oils and margarines … and they took a look at how livestock was now being raised—on corn and other omega-6 rich grains, instead of grass and other omega-3 rich greens, and they began to worry.”²

 Prior to industrialization and creation of fast foods and many processed foods, diets consisted of healthy omega-6 and omega-3 fats ratios ranging from 1:1 to 4:1. Today, however, Americans’ increased intake of omega-6s fat ratio to omega-3s in the so-called ‘modern’ diet is between 10:1 and 20:1, with a ratio as high as 30:1 in some individuals. Beginning in the 1980s scientists began to make the connection that the influx of chronic diseases could be attributable to the altered body responses to increases in omega-6s.

 Boosting your intake of omega-3s by increasing consumption of wild seafood and salmon oil supplements into your diet is an important first step, although it should not be seen as the silver bullet. Since the 1980s, volumes of bio-medical studies primarily in areas of heart and cancer research as well as brain and skin research reveal that the future of your health is dependent upon an increase of omega-3s and reduction of omega-6s in your diet.

¹ See Nettleton, Joyce A., “Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Can They Thwart Certain Cancers?” in From the Experts quoted in website: www.alaskaseafood.org/health/experts/pages/article-omega-cancer.html.

 ² See Susan Allport in “Omegas Made Easy” in www.susanallport.com.