Despite its reputation as a nutritious and delicious cuisine, researchers have discovered that eating farm-raised salmon may increase your likelihood of developing cancer.

What people eat can have a variety of effects on our health, and we’re typically encouraged to minimize high-calorie foods, sugary drinks, and processed meat.

However, while eating healthily may slow the progression of cancer, you should think carefully about what you’re having.

Salmon, a food promoted as a healthy alternative for all due to its high levels of omega fatty acid, is one item deemed to potentially offer a concern.

These well-known health benefits apply whether the fish was caught in the wild or farmed.

Which salmon is dangerous?

Concerns have been raised about farmed salmon, which experts believe may be connected to an increased risk of prostate cancer.

According to Harvard Health Publishing, a study from 2004 indicated that a set of man-made chemicals known as Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, were up to eight times more abundant in farmed salmon than wild salmon.

Despite the fact that they have been banned for decades, traces of them can still be found, with food being the most common source.

According to the Environmental Defence Fund, hazardous waste sites are mostly to blame for their release into the environment.

After many cases of contamination were discovered among farmed salmon, scientists warned that consuming them could increase the chance of developing the disease.

CarcinogeCarcinogenic levels were found to be notably high in British salmon, with the inexpensive farmed salmon that dominates supermarket shelves potentially doing more harm than good to the person consuming it, according to research published in the journal Science.

They said: “Risk analysis indicates that consumption of farmed Atlantic Salmon may pose health risks that detract from the beneficial effects of fish consumption.”

Another study published in another journal, Environmental Research, revealed that: “The biologic and toxic effect of PCBs and their metabolites are due in part to their ability to interact with several cellular and nuclear receptors, thereby altering signalling pathways and gene transcription.”

They conducted a study on 58 prostate tumors and 99 controls to put this theory to the test.

They discovered that: “In multivariate analyses, the odds of prostate cancer among men with the highest concentrations of moderately chlorinated PCB was over two times that among men with the lowest concentration.

“These results suggest that a higher burden of PCBs may be positively associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer.”

An additional study suggests that it may increase the risk of other cancers.

The Illinois Department of Public Health disputed these conclusions and said “there is no evidence that PCBs cause cancer at the low levels normally found in the environment.”

“Studies of human workers exposed to high levels of PCBs, have not consistently shown that PCBs cause cancer.”

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