A Dietitian's View

There is a concern, however, about a few types of high fat fish that are high in a not-so healthy kind of fat. Quick review – some fish are high in a type of polyunsaturated fat called omega-3 fatty acids. These fats have been shown to reduce blood pressure, lower triglycerides, prevent further heart attacks, and reduce inflammation in your body. Omega-3s also help balance out the omega-6s in our body (another kind of polyunsaturated fat). Problem is our food supply is abundant in omega-6s resulting in a very unbalanced ratio in our bodies. We typically consume a 20-1 ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s when the recommendation is more like 4-1. Omega-6 fats are also found in many commercially made foods such as cakes, cookies, chips due to the use of vegetable oil in these products.

The American Heart Association recommends eating fatty fish at least twice a week. Examples include salmon, bluefish, carp, catfish, halibut, herring, lake trout, mackerel, albacore tune, whitefish and anchovies.

Recent research suggests that 2 common types of fish – farmed tilapia and catfish – may contain more omega-6s than omega-3s. This is most likely because these farmed fish were raised on commercial feeds that were high in omega-6 fats. However, farmed trout and Atlantic salmon were shown to have relatively good concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids.

Take home message: Wild fish tend to have more omega-3s than farmed fish (because they feed on algae, which is high in omega-3s). Farmed catfish and tilapia would not be a good choice if you were trying to eat more omega-3 fats.