If you do not eat smoked salmon, you should seriously think about adding it to your eating plan. Smoked salmon contains omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, and nutrients, that all have health-boosting properties. Smoked salmon can also lower your risks of cognitive decline, heart disease, and cancer.
What Is Smoked Salmon?
Some people mistake lox for smoked salmon. The difference is that smoke salmon undergoes a smoking process, while lox is a product that is cured. Both are eaten on bagels or crackers alongside cream cheese or other delicious toppings.
Smoked salmon is very high in beneficial nutrients but quite low in calories. 3.5 ounces or 100 grams, has:
- Fat: 4.3 grams
- Calories: 117
- Calcium: 11 milligrams
- Protein: 18.3 grams
- Zinc: 0.31 milligrams
- Sodium: 672 milligrams
- Selenium: 32.4 milligrams
- Iron: 0.85 milligrams
- Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol): 1.35 milligrams
- Vitamin A: RAE: 26 micrograms
- Vitamin B12: 3.26 micrograms
Smoked Salmon Pros:
The health benefits of smoked salmon include:
- Improved brain health
- Lowers the risks of cardiovascular diseases
- Less anxiety
- Lowers the risks relating to cognitive decline
- Fights inflammation
Smoked salmon is an excellent source of Omega-3 fatty acids, and this helps to ease inflammation, preserve brain structure and function, and reduce triglycerides.
Omega-3 fatty acids also help with preventing heart disease in the way of balancing Omega-6 fatty acids present in the blood.
Both Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids are vital for health, but when the body has high levels of Omega-6 fatty acids it increases the potential for inflammation and inflammatory disease. When you eat smoked salmon, you can balance out the ratio of the fatty acids.
Smoked salmon also contains:
Vitamin B12 helps to enhance nerve function, red cell production, and DNA production.
Vitamins E and A. These antioxidants override the free radicals that can result in tissue damage and disease.
Astaxanthin. This is one of the antioxidants that help to reduce the risks relating to heart diseases through an increase in HDL (good cholesterol) and decreases LDL (bad cholesterol).
Smoked salmon is not only very low in calories, but it also contains protein at high levels, which helps you to feel fuller for longer. It can also enhance your metabolism, which can help you to maintain a healthy weight.
Research and one of the studies have shown that children that have fatty liver (non-alcoholic) disease experienced higher loss in liver and belly fat after consuming more Omega-3 fatty acids.
Smoked salmon also has the potential to reduce inflammation, which caused a host of chronic conditions including heart disease, ulcerative colitis, cancer, and diabetes.
One of the studies that involved women between the ages of 35 to 70 proved that the candidates of the study reduced inflammatory markers inside their bodies when they ate 80 grams of fatty fish or smoked salmon every day.
The Cons Of Smoked Salmon:
Smoked salmon contains high levels of sodium. There are 672 milligrams in just a 100-gram serving. Fresh salmon in the same amount only contains 75 milligrams.
Sodium in excess can raise the risks of heart disease and stroke. The World Health Organization states that our sodium intake should not exceed 2,000 milligrams a day. While the American Heart Association recommends a limit that is even more modest at just 1,5000 milligrams daily.
It is important to limit your intake of smoked salmon when you already have one the cardiovascular conditions.
It could also increase your risk of cancer. Eating smoke meat in excess can also raise your risks of developing colorectal cancer, or other types of cancers.
It may contain harmful bacteria. If you have a very sensitive stomach or a weakened immune system, you should not be eating smoked salmon. Cold smoked salmon may contain a bacteria known as Listeria monocytogenes, and this can result in listeriosis.