Wild salmon has been eaten in Alaska for generations. Before the introduction of the Western diet, the diet of Alaska's indigenous people was rich in Omega-3 from salmon and seal meat, and the people showed few signs of low mood or Western affluence-related conditions, despite the long, dark winter months.
For thousands of years, salmon has been seen as an essential source of life and is deeply woven into the culture. Wild salmon oil for humans is therefore increasingly on the rise.
The life of the wild salmon
The great rivers of Alaska are the largest, and probably the last, source of wild salmon in the world. The fish are born in streams deep in the forest and make their way to the ocean, where they spend their adult lives.
When they are fully grown, they return to the stream where they were born (through a still mysterious system!). Here they spawn and die, a natural process that feeds more than a hundred different land and water animals.
Sustainable catch
The salmon's habitat in Alaska is protected by law. A carefully controlled fishery ensures that this enormous natural resource remains sustainable. The great rivers and bays of Alaska are the only major sustainable sources of wild salmon left.
Before the fishing season is opened, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game determines how many fish may return that year. They then determine what type of fishing gear and boats may be used for fishing, and where and for how long fishing is allowed, so that the impact on the environment is as small as possible.
The salmon is caught close to the coast, usually in purse seine nets or with a rod.
The fresh salmon is back on land within a few hours, where it is immediately processed for human consumption (salmon fillet). And from the salmon fillet trimmings, our Arctic Blue wild salmon oil for humans is made within 24 hours of the catch.
One wild salmon of 2 kg yields about 150 ml of salmon oil for humans in fillet trimmings. So no salmon is specially caught for Arctic Blue wild salmon oil.
The purest form of Omega-3
Arctic Blue oil from wild pink salmon from Alaska meets the strictest requirements for purity, or even exceeds them, before purification. To be on the safe side, purification always takes place using molecular distillation. This is done under low-oxygen conditions, so the salmon oil has no chance to oxidise.
As a result, the salmon oil for humans retains its unique freshness (totox value < 10). This translates into a mild taste of the salmon oil, which we guarantee will not cause burping or repeating.
What are toxins, PCBs and heavy metals?
You hear a lot about them nowadays: toxins, PCBs, dioxins and heavy metals in fish. They are the result of industrial pollution. These toxins settle in the sediment at the bottom of our rivers and seas. From there, they find their way into the food chain.
They accumulate in the fat reserves of large fish (such as tuna and swordfish) and can pose a health risk.
How can they be avoided?
For large amounts of contamination to build up in fat reserves, two things need to happen: the fish must live for a number of years and it must consume food deep in the ocean, where the toxins and heavy metals tend to settle.
That is why you should avoid large fish, such as tuna, and instead consume short-lived fish that feed high in the water, such as pink salmon. Unlike other salmon species and most large fish, pink salmon lives for only two years.
During adulthood, they stay high in the ocean's waters and feed mainly on small prey.
As a result, they do not have the time to build up contaminants in their fat reserves, which makes the pink salmon, from which we make our salmon oil for humans, one of the cleanest and purest sources of Omega-3.
Farmed salmon vs. wild salmon
However, a farmed salmon is given a diet that consists for 70% of land-based feed, mainly dry pellets of soy meal, corn meal, rapeseed meal and poultry by-products. The wild salmon, on the other hand, lives in a labyrinth of waterways.
Here the fish feeds on insects, invertebrates and plankton when young, and on small fish, squid, eels and shrimp when mature: a diet rich in Omega-3. As a result, the amount of Omega-3 in wild salmon is much higher than in farmed salmon.
This is shown in the following table:
The oil therefore also contains 3 times as much Omega-3 (EPA and DHA) as the oil from farmed salmon. Like factory-farmed chicken, this factory-farmed salmon unfortunately suffers from overly rapid farming methods.
Many researchers consider an overall EPA:DHA ratio to be optimal for humans, although we are able to make EPA from DHA and (to a lesser extent) DHA from EPA.
An additional advantage of wild salmon is the presence of DPA, which is a precursor of EPA and can be converted into it. The ratio between Omega-3 and Omega-6 in wild salmon is somewhere around 10:1. The ratio between Omega-3 and Omega-6 in farmed salmon has presumably dropped to about 1:1 (see table below).
The oil also reflects this ratio. Salmon oil capsules (almost always made from farmed salmon) therefore do not make much of a difference. Nor for animals, which are often served liquid (farmed) salmon oil from a bottle.
All this makes wild salmon one of the richest, cleanest and best available fish species with Omega-3, while at the same time avoiding an excess of Omega-6, which is already so abundant in the modern diet.
Wild salmon oil contains as many as 50-60 different fatty acids, of which 10-12 are different Omega-3 fatty acids. This is also called a broad (or full spectrum) fatty acid profile.
Omega-3 and pregnancy
Omega-3 is very important before, during and after pregnancy. Among other things, it helps with the development of the brain and the eyes. But many women have no appetite for fish during pregnancy or cannot stand the taste.
Arctic Blue wild salmon oil for humans has a delicious lemon flavour. This makes the oil tasty mixed into yoghurt or straight from the spoon. Salmon oil is perfect for a pregnant woman because 5 ml of salmon oil (1 dessert spoon) contains exactly the daily recommended amount of the brain building block DHA.
Pregnant women are advised not to consume too much anise. We therefore do not recommend the salmon oil with anise oil variant for pregnant women or small children.
The lemon-flavoured salmon oil, on the other hand, is 100% safe and a very good choice for women who want to become pregnant, are pregnant or are breastfeeding.
