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[vitalchoice.com]

 

Fish Oil Profiteers Put a Key Species at

Risk

 

Production of cheap, mass-market fish oils puts heavy pressure on stocks

of menhaden ... a small fish whose decline portends dire consequences

by Craig Weatherby

 

-------------

Paul Greenberg writes regularly for The New York Times, focusing on

fish, aquaculture, and the future of the oceans. Last March, he penned a

Times op-ed piece in which he decried the practice of feeding mountains

of increasingly scarce wild fish to pets, pigs, and poultry. (See

Fishing for Kitty Food and Piggy Provisions [

http://newsletter.vitalchoice.com/e_article001411260.cfm?x=b11,0,w

..) And this week, Mr. Greenberg wrote about a threat posed to

one of the most important forage fish in the ocean a sardine/herring

cousin called menhaden. Menhaden form a key foundation of the Atlantic

Ocean food chain and they filter vast quantities of ecosystem-killing

algae fed by run-off bearing nitrogen-rich fertilizers and manure from

factory-style pig and poultry farms. Menhaden roam Americas Atlantic

coast in once-endless schools schools that are vanishing as they get

vacuumed up by the largest U.S. maker of commercial fish oil a company

called Omega Protein Recovery. Every Atlantic state but Virginia and

North Carolina has banned the Hoovering of menhaden by boats working for

Omega Protein but because these slim, foot-long fish must pass through

those two states waters during their migrations, those bans are

ineffective. We urge you to read Mr. Greenbergs essay titled A Fish Oil

Story [

http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/go.cfm?z=vitalchoiceseafood%2C412457%2Cb1h3yfLG%\

2C3684414%2Cbgns23B

] and think twice before you purchase a mass-market fish oil brand that

doesnt identify a sustainable source. Plant-source omega-3s are not the

answerWe have only major quibble with Paul Greenbergs otherwise

excellent essay, and it has to do with a key distinction among kinds

omega-3 fatty acids. This passage from his essay contains a significant

scientific error: So what is the seeker of omega-3 supplements to do?

.... Flax oil also fits the bill and uses no fish at all. In fact, the

short-chain omega-3 fat found in flaxseed and all other plants called

ALA is virtually useless to the body. Instead, people require long-chain

omega-3s (EPA and DHA) to build cell membranes and maintain proper

immune, brain, and eye health even life itself. Humans only convert two

to 10 percent of plant-derived ALA into EPA and DHA, with the rest being

burned for energy. People can survive and thrive on diets lacking fish

or fish oil, if they consume ample amounts of leafy greens and/or flax

but it is much harder to attain optimal health without fish or fish oil.

And fish fat is well-proven to enhance child development. American diets

are overwhelmed with omega-6 fats, which compete with omega-3s for

incorporation into our cell membranes, so we need all the pre-formed,

fish-derived omega-3s we can get. Mr. Greenberg also points toward

commercial products - including fish-oil pills made from fish discards -

that dont contribute directly to the depletion of a fishery. While thats

true, these fish oils can contain harmful contaminants and oxidized

fats, so manufacturers find it convenient to clean them by processes

called deodorization and molecular distillation. These purification

methods require temperatures over 400 F, which can alter the structure

of omega-3 fatty acids, with unknown consequences. Where does your fish

oil come from?Most mass market fish oil including natural brands comes

from menhaden, herring, sardines, or waste from fish meal processing of

all kinds of fish. And fish oils increasingly come from farmed salmon,

whose production has proven itself damaging and unsustainable. Like all

of our wild salmon products, Vital Choice Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon

Oil [

http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/go.cfm?z=vitalchoiceseafood%2C412457%2Cb1h3yfLG%\

2C3222574%2Cbgns23B

(and salmon) comes from the well-managed and protected Alaskan

salmon fishery. And our Salmon Oil is certified as a sustainable seafood

product by the respected Marine Stewardship Council [

http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/go.cfm?z=vitalchoiceseafood%2C412457%2Cb1h3yfLG%\

2C3684417%2Cbgns23B

, which uses chain-of-custody audits to ensure our customers

that our Salmon Oil really does come from sustainably harvested wild

Alaskan sockeye salmon. As to purity, every government agency and

university concerned with the issue agrees that wild Alaskan salmon rank

high among the cleanest fish in the sea, containing extraordinarily low

levels of mercury or manmade pollutants. To be sure, Vital Choice Wild

Alaskan Sockeye Salmon Oil is tested by internationally respected NSF

labs, which certify its purity and potency. SourceGreenberg P. A Fish

Oil Story. The New York Times. December 16, 2009. Accessed at

http://www.imakenews.com/eletra/go.cfm?z=vitalchoiceseafood%2C412457%2Cb1h3yfLG%\

2C3684414%2Cbgns23B

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