32 Fish-Free for Life: Why Plant Omega-3s are Better for You and the Environment
Sustainability fish farming and are just as harmful to human best sources is flaxseed oil, containing 57
The promotion of the supposed health health. A chemical used to kill sea lice has per cent ALA and 16 per cent LA, with an
benefits of fish, combined with dwindling been linked to testicular cancer, for example, omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of 0.28:1. A 14
wild supplies, have spawned a dramatic and antibiotic resistant superbugs owe their gram tablespoonful of flaxseed oil provides
expansion in aquaculture (farmed fish), appearance largely to factory farming. eight grams of ALA.
increasing at an annual rate of 9.2 per cent.
In the wild, fish have become infected with Flaxseed oil must be kept in the fridge and
Nearly half the fish consumed worldwide deadly sea lice and other diseases caught can be added to dressings, sauces, dips or
as food (43 per cent) are now raised on fish from fish that have escaped from fish farms. cooked food but cooking with it will destroy
farms. In 1980 it was just nine per cent. Wild- There is even evidence of genetic pollution its properties. It’s always best to buy and
caught fish have reached a peak at around in wild salmon – factory-farmed fish breeding store nuts, seeds and their oils in small
90-93 million tonnes annually, despite with wild fish and reducing their ability quantities to ensure that they’re as fresh as
increasing demand due to a growing world to survive. Couple this to the terrifying, possible and have little time to degrade.
population and there are no prospects of automated scoop-it-all-up nets that catch
an increase in catches, according to the UN everything in their path – and then throw It is difficult to say exactly how much of
FAO. If fact, it’s all downhill from here on! back up to a quarter of the catch dead – and a certain food should be eaten to obtain
the pressure on the oceans is extreme and is your EFAs but a sensible approach is to
If people maintain their eating habits, an unsustainable. The better and more sensible limit how much omega-6 rich vegetable oil
additional 40 million tonnes of food from – in fact the only answer – is to obtain our you use, switch to olive oil for cooking
the sea would be required by 2030 just omega-3 fats from sustainable plant sources. and increase your omega-3
to support current levels of consumption. intake from the sources
This is clearly unsustainable and we have (For more information on the we’ve listed. Spurn
to look for alternatives – but fish farming is environmental impact of fishing see Viva!’s saturated and
not the answer. Its demands on wild-caught guide End of the Line). trans fats as
fish as food and the spread of disease, sea much as
lice and pollution are unacceptable and Recommendations possible,
environmentally irresponsible. A well-balanced, plant-based diet containing which
green leafy vegetables, wholegrain foods, means
Just as in other forms of factory farming, pulses, nuts and seeds will provide all the cutting
chemicals and antibiotics are widely used in plant omega-3 ALA you need. One of the down
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52