(NaturalHealth365) Head to the seafood counter at your local grocery store and you’re faced with a big choice: farm raised fish or wild caught fish.

You already know that certain types of fish, such as salmon, offer many health benefits. But, there are also the stories of health risks and contaminants that surround certain types of fish.  And, while eating fish is often considered a healthy option, that’s not always true – especially if you don’t pay attention to the type of fish you take home from the store.

While shopper demand for tasty fish remains high, some of the world’s fish stocks continue to decline.  So, some “experts” claim to have the answer: farmed fish.  But is this really a healthy and safe choice?

One recent study discovered that farm raised fish have a fatty liver, leading to multiple negative health consequences and caused from a variety of factors we should find concerning.

Fatty liver in farm raised fish results in negative health consequences

According to researchers, fatty liver has become very common in fish raised on farms. When fish have a fatty liver, it reduces growth and can reduce their nutritional quality when we eat them, and even impair their immune response.

Although scientists haven’t figured out one definitive cause of fatty liver in farm raised fish, one of the biggest contributors is likely the unbalanced nutrition and excess energy intake that occurs as a result of overfeeding, foods deficient in essential vitamins, and a diet that includes excess carbohydrates and dietary fats.

Researchers believe that one way to reduce the problem with fatty liver among farm raised fish is to focus on feeding them a more nutrient-balanced diet, keeping the water environment healthy, and ensuring the feed given these fish is fresh.

Additional health risks to eating the wrong kind of fish

Of course, beyond this new information showing that farm raised fish often have fatty liver, there’s plenty of other research that shows additional health risk to eating farm raised instead of wild caught fish.

One of the key differences between farm raised and wild caught fish is their nutrition. Wild caught fish usually has fewer calories and lower fat content than farmed fish.

When you eat this kind of commercially-produced fish, you have a risk of being exposed to persistent organic pollutants, which are found to be 5-10 times higher in farmed fish and have been linked to diseases like obesity and type 2 diabetes.

In addition, due to crowded conditions, farmed fish are pumped with antibiotics to keep disease away.

Unfortunately, eating large quantities of fish and meat packed with antibiotics contribute to diseases becoming antibiotic resistant. Studies have also shown that the contaminant levels in farmed salmon are higher than in wild caught salmon – which means that farm raised fish is likely to be higher in contaminants while wild caught options are considered to be safer overall.

No doubt, wild caught fish offers a more nutritious, safer option when you’re trying to add more fish to your diet. So next time you’re in the store picking out fish for dinner, skip the farmed fish and pay a little extra for the healthier, wild caught fish.

Sources for this article include:

CNKI.com.cn
ClevelandClinic.org