Everyone knows that omega-3 fatty acids are extremely important to a person’s health. They are essential fatty acids, or, EFA’s. We, and many other animals, require them to grow and stay healthy but can’t make them ourselves. Therefore we must take them in via a secondary source.
We are taught from a young age to take our fish-oil supplements or to eat lots of fatty fish to make sure we get enough of our daily dose of omega’s. However, our knowledge of the environment has increased as well and found that seas are being fished empty and that the fish (and other animals) breeding facilities emit too much CO2 to be healthy. It has been found that in 2048, the seas will be fished empty completely, study says. This would be a horrible future to look forward to, don’t you think?
Krill is another source of our omega-3. However, the pure and (still) unspoiled Antarctica is now being threatened by large fishing ships that fish up all the krill. Whales, seals, penguins and other animals living there need to eat krill in order to keep living. Us taking this source of food away from them would mean an increased mortality rate and higher chances of extinction of these species.
Lucky for us, there is a sustainable and plant-based way to obtain omega fatty acids: Marine phytoplankton. Plankton is at the source of the food chain and completely plant-based. All marine life consume plankton in a form, this causes them to be rich in omega acids to begin with.
After getting to know all this information, I started to wonder why we consume omega-3 fatty acids when it’s been proven to be threatening for our health and the environment in all kinds of ways. Apart from the fact that we are emptying our oceans of fish and the threatened inhabitants of Antarctica, what are other reasons why we should stop consuming Fish, fish-oil and krill?
Heavy-metal contamination
Some factories excrete their heavy metals into seas and oceans to get rid of it. This is extremely harmful for the wildlife there. Fish and crustaceans get infected and too much consumption in both fish and humans can lead to serious damages in the body and can even be lethal.
Too much heavy metals in your system can cause kidney damage/failure, damaged skin, circulatory problems, neurological issues and increases your chances of getting cancer. These issues are not solved with a quick doctors visit, but rather seriously damage the quality of your life.
Microplastics
Because of the mass pollution of the earth, a lot of plastic finds its way into the ocean. There it can be mistaken for food and get eaten by fish, turtles, seagulls and many more. Visible plastic if, of course not used and eaten by humans when found in fish. Yet, microplastics are. Since microplastics are not visible to the naked eye, we consume them when eating different types of food. These microplastics can heap up in our system and eventually lead, like heavy-metals to serious damage or death.
Dangerous PCB’s
Not only should we fear heavy metals and plastics in the ocean. PCB’s (Polychlorinated biphenyl) form a big threat as well. These particles are used to make dielectric and coolant fluids. These particles are heavy and sink to the ocean bottoms where they build up in the sediments and later get eaten by shellfish and fish. These build up in the fatty tissue of these animals and get transferred to our bodies when we eat them.
PCB’s have been proven to cause cancer in lab-animals and seriously damage the circulatory, digestion and immune systems. It has also been found that children of mothers that consumed a lot of PCB-containing food had a smaller head size, reduced muscle development and reduced visual recognition. Older adults that ate a lot of PCB’s scored significantly worse on memory test than adults that did not eat PCB-containing food.
Fish-oil Capsules
A lawsuit found that many fish-oil capsules contain a lot of dangerous PCB’s and other chemicals that have been banned since 1979. Five makers of these capsules were named, two of which being Rite-Aid and CVS. Omega Protein Inc. Houston, which calls itself the world’s largest producer of fish-oil was named as well.
Attorney David Roe filed the suit and helped write Proposition 65 which requires companies to warn customers of potential dangerous substances in their supplements. Fish-oil capsules aren’t as innocent as you may think.
Krill
Greenpeace recently noticed a lot of fishing activities close to seashores where colonies or penguins nest. These colonies depend on krill with their lives, so fishing means that they are losing their main source of nutrients. Greenpeace also noticed that a lot of these ships practice a so-called transfer during which they transfer their ships contents to another vessel in order to be able to continue fishing above the allowed law.
Two cargo ships have also been identified and have a history of pollution and safety violations. Other ships anchored close to protected areas which damages the seabed’s and can lead to decline in the health of both sea life and seabed’s.
Greenpeace urges companies to stop buying krill and urges other fishers to stop fishing around fragile areas as well. Consuming krill is dangerous for the environment and its inhabitants.
What is phytoplankton?
Plankton is a term that covers all life that floats freely through water. Phytoplankton, which PlanktonHolland uses for their supplements, is a collective name for the flora component of plankton. This type of plankton converts CO2 into at least fifty percent of all the oxygen on earth.
Without plankton, there would be no life on our planet! Especially since plankton is at the very beginning of the food chain of our global waters. As a results, it provides predatory fish, seabirds, marine mammals and fish-eating humans with all its essential nutrients.
Phytoplankton from PlanktonHolland
Phytoplankton from Planktonholland is a safe and healthy way to make sure your body gets enough omega-3 acids. But they also contain many vitamins, minerals, proteins, antioxidants and the Omega’s 6, 7 and 9.
The plankton is cultivated in water from a clean and deep underground water source containing salty water. The water is pumped from a depth of 90 metres to the surface into multiple basins in which the Marine phytoplankton is being grown.
The water dates back to the Pleistocene period and is about 130 thousand years old. During the whole cultivation, no pesticides and fertilizers are used. Only pure water and the right nutrients plankton needs to grow.
The greenhouse in which the basins reside is not artificially warmed or lighted except for a bit of warmth during the winter months to prevent the water from freezing. This makes it a very sustainable source of plankton. The Dutch marine climate with mild temperatures makes causes the phytoplankton to grow all year long. Only the purest and most natural circumstances enable the phytoplankton to grow containing all the right nutrients.
When you choose for Marine Phytoplankton from PlanktonHolland you can be sure of getting the right nutrients from a trustable source without contributing to climate change. The products range from powder, flakes (both which can be mixed through your food) and capsules. There is a reason why fish eat plankton, after all.