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 gloom or Western afflictions, despite the long, dark winter months.
For thousands of years, salmon has been regarded as an essential source of life and is deeply interwoven into culture. Wild salmon oil for human consumption 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 nourishes more than a hundred different land and aquatic animals.
Sustainable catch
The salmon habitat in Alaska is protected by law. Carefully controlled fisheries ensure that this enormous natural resource remains sustainable. The great rivers and bays of Alaska are the only major sustainable sources of wild salmon remaining.
Before the fishing season opens, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game determines how many fish are allowed to return that year. They then determine what types of fishing gear and boats may be used for fishing, and where and for how long fishing is permitted so that the environmental impact is minimized.
Salmon is caught close to the coast, usually in purse seines or with a rod.
The fresh salmon is back ashore within a few hours, where it is immediately processed for human consumption (salmon fillet). And from the salmon trimmings, our Arctic Blue Wild salmon oil made for people.
One 2 kg wild salmon yields approximately 150 ml of salmon oil for human consumption in the form of fillet trimmings. For Arctic Blue Wild salmon oil is therefore not made from salmon specially caught.
The purest form of Omega-3
Arctic Blue olie van wilde roze zalm uit Alaska voldoet aan de strengste eisen voor zuiverheid of overtreft deze zelfs nog vóór de zuivering. Voor de zekerheid vindt er namelijk altijd een zuivering plaats met behulp van moleculaire destillatie. Dit gebeurt onder zuurstofarme omstandigheden, waardoor de zalmolie geen kans krijgt te oxideren.
Hierdoor behoudt de zalmolie voor mensen zijn unieke versheid (totox-waarde < 10). Dit vertaalt zich in een zachte smaak van de zalmolie, waarvan we garanderen dat deze niet zal opboeren of oprispen.
What are toxins, PCBs, and heavy metals?
You hear a lot about it now: 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?
To build up large amounts of contamination in fat reserves, two things must 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.
Therefore, 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 remain high in the ocean water and feed primarily on small prey.
As a result, they do not have time to build up impurities in their fat reserves, making 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, farmed salmon are given a diet consisting of 70% land feed, primarily dry pellets of soybean meal, cornmeal, rapeseed meal, and poultry by-products. 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 adult: 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:
As a result, the oil also contains three times as much Omega-3 ( EPA and DHA ) as the oil from farmed salmon. Just like chicken, this intensively farmed salmon unfortunately suffers from overly rapid farming methods.
Many researchers consider a global EPA:DHA ratio to be optimal for humans, although we are able to produce EPA from DHA and (to a lesser extent) also DHA from EPA.
An additional benefit of wild salmon is the presence of DPA, which is a precursor to EPA and can be converted into it. The Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio in wild salmon is somewhere around 10:1. The Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio in farmed salmon has presumably dropped to approximately 1:1 (see table below).
The oil also reflects this ratio. Salmon oil capsules (almost always made from farmed salmon) therefore make no difference. Nor do they for animals that are often fed liquid (farmed) salmon oil from a bottle.
All this makes wild salmon one of the richest, cleanest, and best available fish species in Omega-3, while simultaneously 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 known as 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 eyes. However, many women do not feel like eating fish during pregnancy or cannot tolerate the taste well.
Arctic blue Wild salmon oil for humans has a delicious lemon flavor. This makes the oil tasty in yogurt 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 young children.
The lemon-flavored 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.
