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Greener Shopping with Vital Green!
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Environmental
Stewardship Program
Vital Green™ is our pioneering environmental program that does 4 things:
1) Fights global warming by offsetting the impacts of shipping.
2) Enables recycling of foam shipping cubes via our innovative FREE program.
3) Supports seafood sustainability and promote a green partnership with our customers.
4) Offers an online, clickable e-Catalog to save trees and energy.
To learn more, and get instructions for recycling foam shipping cubes from Vital Choice, visit our Vital Green™ page.
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Shop Vital Choice
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Gifts
Wild Seafood
Sockeye Salmon Oil
Organic Foods
Sampler Packs, Specials, Extras
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Visit the Vital Circle
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Our new blog provides a platform to discuss food, cooking, nutrition, health, and related envrionmental and social issues.
We encourage you to post comments … either in response to our news and opinion posts, or to comments from other readers.
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World's Finest Fish Oil ... Whole and Unrefined
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Our "whole food" Omega-3 Salmon Oil supplements contain only unrefined oil from wild Alaska Sockeye Salmon: a fish whose renowned purity is reflected in the pristine contents of our naturally colorful capsules.
Unlike standard fish oils, our naturally pure Sockeye Salmon Oil does not need to be chemically refined: a process that can damage omega-3s. Instead, our oil's purity and potency are certified by NSF.
As a result, our whole, unrefined Sockeye Salmon Oil retains all of the omega-3s (EPA & DHA), vitamin D, phospholipids, and fatty acids natural to whole Sockeye Salmon.
The rich orange hue of our Salmon Oil comes from its natural complement of astaxanthin: the super-potent antioxidant pigment that gives Sockeye their distinctive color and protects our Salmon Oil's abundant omega-3s from oxidation.
In addition, ours was the first Salmon Oil supplement certified as sustainably sourced by the Marine Stewardship Council. 
We encapsulate our Salmon Oil in pure fish gelatin, and offer special varieties for special needs:
• Smaller Softgels (500 mg)
• Liquid Salmon Oil for children and folks who may have trouble swallowing our 1,000 mg softgels
• Lemon-Flavored Salmon Oil for folks who experience bounce-back.
Vital Choice Salmon Oil (top left) vs. two standard fish oils
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Smoky Succulence for Breakfast ... or Anytime!
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Vital Choice smoked Salmon is far superior to the notably greasy stuff made with farmed fish.
After curing in natural alder wood smoke, our Smoked Sockeye Portions and silky, cold-smoked Sliced Nova Lox are immediately vacuum-packed and flash-frozen. Thawed and served, they taste as though they came fresh out of the smoker.
Don't overlook our Smoked Salmon Sampler, which is our best smoked value by far. It has just one drawback: you'll get hooked on every part, and especially on our addictive Yukon King Salmon and Yukon King Salmon "Candy"!
"I am in love with the hot-smoked salmon. It is fabulous flaked and scrambled with eggs and onions. They give the eggs a lovely zing." — Dana Jacobi, author of 12 Best Foods Cookbook.
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World's Best Canned Salmon!
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If you haven't tried our Wild Red Sockeye Salmon you're in for a treat, because it tastes much fresher than standard supermarket brands.
The rich, red color of the meat and oil is unlike any you're likely to have had before.
Our minimal processing methods ensure that you'll get the maximum amount of nutrients naturally abundant in Sockeye Salmon.
These include omega-3s, vitamin D, and astaxanthin: the super-potent carotene-class antioxidant that gives the oil brimming in every can of Wild Red its bright orange-red color. (The liquid in standard canned Salmon is pallid and watery by comparison.)
Choose Skinless-Boneless Wild Red, or Traditional Style with skin and soft edible bones for extra flavor and ample calcium.
Both kinds are available with salt (less than is added to most brands) or without added salt ... and several varieties come in EZ-Open pull-tab tops.
“You are providing a wonderful health-giving service to the planet with your business. And it is a pleasure to bring this information to my audience. It is also a pleasure to snap open these little cans of salmon and have an instant healthy meal!”
-- Christiane Northrup, M.D.
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Succulent Salmon Sausage, Seasoned by Dr. Weil
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People seem to really love our Wild Sockeye Salmon Sausage, which comes in three succulent varieties: Savory Country Breakfast Style, Spicy Italian, and NEW Chorizo Style.
The ingredients couldn’t be simpler: just Wild Alaskan sockeye salmon, 100% organic herbs and spices, organic arrowroot, natural sea salt, and water. For tips on how to cook 'em from straight from the freezer, see our Web site.
“I just tried your new Country breakfast sausage for the first time … they are wonderful! I never thought a salmon sausage would be this good. Thanks!” — Dr. Bruce Felgenhauer
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NEW! Vitamin D in Wild Salmon Oil
Get what so many people lack, in a unique, colorful, complementary base of whole, natural, certified-pure, antioxidant-rich wild Alaskan sockeye salmon oil!
Readers of Vital Choices and close followers of health news know that vitamin D is the hottest topic in human nutrition today.
The voluminous evidence linking low vitamin D blood levels to disease is very persuasive … as noted by the American Public Health Association in this recent statement:
“Vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency is recognized as a major public health concern for both children and adults in the United States.” (APHA 2008)
Fatty fish such as albacore tuna and wild salmon rank as the richest known food sources of vitamin D … and sockeye salmon tops the list at a highly healthful 1,170 IU per 6 oz serving.
But even major fans of salmon and other fatty fish can’t eat enough to meet the daily intakes recommended by leading vitamin D researchers.
So we decided to offer our customers a high-quality, higher-potency vitamin D supplement … one with unique characteristics.
The very first vitamin D3 in whole, unrefined, wild Alaskan salmon oil
Better yet, our D3 comes in a base of whole, unrefined, certified-pure, sockeye salmon oil ... a natural companion that is also certified sustainable by the MSC .jpg?i=050509160641) .
Vitamin D3 is the preferred, natural form, proven the most effective at raising and maintaining vitamin D levels in the blood.
And our innovative approach, using a base of omega-3-rich wild salmon oil, makes this a truly superior Vitamin D3 supplement.
As our ingredient list reveals, Vital Choice Vitamin D3 contains no additives of any kind: “Wild Alaskan sockeye salmon oil, softgel capsule (fish gelatin, glycerin, purified water), vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol)”.
(Natural, food-grade glycerin is a key component of all softgel capsules, while cholecalciferol is simply the scientific name for vitamin D3.)
And, as you’d expect, our vitamin D3 supplement contains no artificial preservatives, colors, dairy, starch, wheat, or yeast.
In contrast, take a look at the ingredient lists for a bestselling mass-market brand’s vitamin D3 tablets: Calcium carbonate, cellulose gel, croscarmellose sodium, acacia, stearic acid, maltodextrin, magnesium stearate, corn starch, vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol).
We don’t care to use chemicals or junky ingredients … and we doubt it’s possible to find a vitamin D supplement as pure, whole, and natural as ours!
Why we chose natural D3 over synthetic D2
Vitamin D3 is the form the body makes when UV sunrays strike the skin. It is also the form of vitamin D found in all known food sources … the richest ones being wild salmon, albacore tuna, and other fatty fish.
As we said, most studies support vitamin D3 as the most effective form for raising and maintaining vitamin D levels in the blood.
The cheaper, more common synthetic form ─ called vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) ─ does not occur in the human body naturally, nor is it found in human diets.
Supplement makers use vitamin D2 ─ created by irradiating fungi ─ because it costs less than vitamin D3.
Excerpts from two recent review articles explain why we chose to use vitamin D3 in our supplement:
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“… vitamin D3 has proven to be the more potent form of vitamin D in all primate species, including humans … Vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol, should not be regarded as a nutrient suitable for supplementation or fortification.” (Houghton LA, Vieth R 2006)
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“…several studies have showed that serum level of 25(OH)D is increased more effectively with vitamin D3 … Vitamin D2 should not be regarded anymore as suitable for supplementation or fortification.” (Mistretta VI et al. 2008)
While a recent clinical trial found no differences in the ability of supplemental D3 and D2 to raise blood levels of vitamin D (Holick MF et al. 2008), the preponderance of human and animal evidence remains in favor of D3.
How much should you take?
The best available advice comes from John Cannell, M.D., founder of the non-profit Vitamin D Council.
Dr. Cannell is in constant communication with the world’s leading academic vitamin D researchers, co-authors scientific papers with them, and urges people to ensure adequate sun exposure and/or ...
[Click for printer friendly version]
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Fish-Farm Threats to Salmon Affirmed in Timely Report
Ocean sustainability author affirms range of threats posed to wild Pacific salmon by factory-farmed fish, and echoes our concerns about human health
by Craig Weatherby
We haven’t always agreed with world-travelling writer Taras Grescoe, who is best known as the author of Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood.
In fact, we were puzzled by the stance he took in an essay in The New York Times, titled “Sardines with Your Bagel?”, in which he advised against eating wild salmon, in order to protect it.
But Mr. Grescoe seems to have abandoned his stance, following a trip to Canada’s British Columbian coast to report on the serious problems with industrially farmed salmon.
As he reports, offshore industrial salmon farms in Norway and Scotland drove wild Atlantic salmon to the brink of extinction, while newer ones run by European mega-corporations pose a dire threat to western Canada's wild Pacific salmon.
But Grescoe notes, wisely, that the problem is not aquaculture, per se: “With 45 percent of the seafood in the global diet now coming from farms, aquaculture has become an essential source of nutrition. It's just that there are better ways of doing it than raising a carnivorous species in permeable nets off vulnerable coastlines.” (Grescoe T 2009)
The result of his trip was an in-depth report on the disaster looming for wild salmon in Canada, titled “The Trouble with Salmon”, which appeared in the May 2009 issue of Best Life magazine ... Rodale's maturer-male version of the major publisher's own Men's Health.
As he wrote in the last paragraph of his excellent article, “At home later that week, I barbecue the chinook [king salmon] Smith and I caught aboard the Blue Eagle 1. The fillet is … firm and well muscled, juicy but not oily, and completely lacking in the gooey fat that makes eating farmed Atlantic fillets such a chore …it …bears about as much resemblance to farmed salmon as fine venison does to a cheap package of ground round. It is the taste of my childhood ‘the essence of the Pacific Northwest’ and I don't want it to end.”
We share his concern about the natural glories of “Salmon Nation”, which is why we continue to report on the fight to prevent industrial fish farms from killing wild salmon … a fight led by local fishermen, academic marine researchers, and biologist-activists like Alexandra Morton.
In his well-researched article, Mr. Grescoe explains how wild salmon sustain the unique coastal eco-system of the Pacific Northwest, why farmed salmon threaten the entire ocean food chain, why wild salmon is much healthier than farmed salmon … and how salmon could actually be farmed sustainably.
We urge you to read “The Trouble with Salmon” … and share it with others using the email link at the bottom of the article pages.
Here are some representative excerpts (Grescoe T 2009):
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“Increasing evidence shows that, far from enhancing global food security, salmon farming is hastening the collapse of the world's fisheries, starting with the Pacific Northwest's remaining populations of wild salmon.”
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“Industrial-scale fish farming, promoted as a panacea to world hunger and the salvation of the wild fisheries, is turning out to suffer from the sins besetting the most notorious confined animal feeding operations on land: overcrowding, disease ...
[FULL STORY]
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Fatty Fish May Cut Men's Heart-Failure Risk
Findings of US-Swedish study affirm heart-failure benefits of omega-3s and non-fried fish
by Craig Weatherby
Health authorities worldwide agree that fatty fish and omega-3 fatty acids reduce key risk factors for a range of heart-related conditions.
These beneficial effects include lowering of elevated triglyceride (blood-borne fats), blood pressure, and heart rate levels, and reduced risk of arrhythmia (erratic heart beats).
They may explain a joint US-Swedish team’s recent findings, which indicate that eating fatty fish in moderation may reduce the risk of heart failure.
Heart failure ─ known medically as congestive heart failure (CHF) ─ is a life-threatening condition that develops when the heart can no longer pump enough blood to meet the body’s or its own needs.
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Key Points
- Eating fatty fish once a week was linked to reduced risk of congestive heart failure in an epidemiological study.
- Actual link was between omega-3 intake from fish, and reduced heart risk.
- Eating fatty fish much more than once a week yielded no risk-reduction ... an anomaly the researchers considered irrelevant.
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Over time, the heart-muscle cells of people with CHF begin to weaken, work erratically, and eventually die.
CHF is the leading reason why people aged 65 and older become hospitalized. It’s usually caused by high blood pressure and/or coronary artery disease. Heart failure is characterized by fatigue and weakness, difficulty walking, rapid or irregular heartbeat, and persistent cough or wheezing.
And in recent years, Harvard researchers reported finding that people who eat fish enjoy a reduced risk of heart failure … as long as the fish is not fried in vegetable oil, which is typically high in pro-inflammatory omega-6 and trans fats:
“Among older adults, consumption of tuna or other broiled or baked fish, but not fried fish, is associated with lower incidence of CHF.” (Mozaffarian D et al. 2003 and 2005)
Study supports moderate intake of omega-3s to help forestall heart failure
For six years, from 1998 to 2004, researchers from Harvard Medical School and Sweden’s Karolinska Institute followed 39,367 Swedish men aged 45 to 79.
They recorded details of the men’s diets and tracked their health outcomes through Swedish inpatient and death registers.
All told, 597 men without a history of heart disease or diabetes developed CHF, and 34 of these died.
After comparing the participants’ diets to their health outcomes, links were found between eating fatty fish or fish-borne omega-3s and a reduced risk of CHF.
However, CHF risk-reduction was only seen among men who averaged one serving of fatty fish a week, and who had a correspondingly moderate intake of marine omega-3s ─ about 300mg a day or 2,100mg per week.
A 3.5 oz serving of fatty fish like wild salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel, or sablefish contains 1,000 to 2,000mg of omega-3s, so you'd get the weekly amount the study found beneficial (2,100mg) just by eating fatty fish once a week.
Eating more fatty fish than this did not give a greater benefit.
In fact, to the researchers’ surprise, eating more fish and omega-3s returned the chances of heart failure to the same level seen in men who never consumed any fatty fish or fish oil rich in marine omega-3s.
In a press release, Harvard cardiology fellow Dr. Emily Levitan speculated on the reasons why a moderate intake of fatty fish and omega-3s was associated with lower rates of heart failure in men, while men did not gain any benefit from eating more fish or omega-3 fish oil:
“The higher rate of heart failure in men who consumed the most fatty fish or marine omega-3 fatty acids … may be due to chance. Alternatively, these may be men in poor health who ate more fish to try to improve their ill-health, and therefore the fatty fish and fatty acids appear to be risk factors for heart failure. I suspect this is the most likely explanation ...” (ESC 2009)
Dr Levitan went on to make a key point: “Our study supports the idea that a healthy diet, including moderate consumption of fatty fish, can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases including heart failure.” (ESC 2009)
US-Swedish study yields mysteriously mixed findings
The men were divided into five groups depending on their intake of fatty fish … from very little or none, up to ...
[Click for full story and printer friendly version]
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Customer Rewards Dept.
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HealthWise Rewards Program Gets Even Better
Many customers like to take advantage of our free offers, as in today's email.
But others would rather earn credits they can apply toward any Vital Choice products they want.
Those folks take control by joining our free HealthWise “frequent shopper” program, which provides the opportunity to earn Reward Gift Certificates redeemable for any Vital Choice goods.
Excepting those that include a discount or free bonus, orders placed by HealthWise members count toward earning a HealthWise reward.
We recently adjusted the HealthWise program to better fit folks' individual shopping schedules, and to provide more information about your HealthWise rewards status within your Account.
What hasn't changed
As always, when you compile 9 qualifying orders within 12 months of placing the first HealthWise-qualified order -- what we call a "HealthWise Year" -- you earn a Reward Gift Certificate worth the average dollar amount of those 9 orders.
What has changed ... for the better
Now, after you earn a reward, your next HealthWise Year begins only when you place another qualifying order. You can disappear for months, and the clock won't start on your next HealthWise Year until you place another qualified order.
After you earn a HealthWise Reward Gift Certificate, there's no rush to start placing more orders.
And now, your Vital Choice Account pages let you see how many qualified orders you've placed, the date by which you must to place 9 orders to earn new rewards, and your past HealthWise history.
Learn how to enroll for this free program, and more about how HealthWise works!
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
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Vital Recipes
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Citrus Pepper Broiled Salmon with Fresh Tomato Salsa
The light, refreshing combination of citrus with crispy cucumber and red onion is set alight with a touch of jalapeño chili pepper.
This recipe follows the example of many equatorial cuisines, which combine fish or poultry with fruits and spicy seasonings.
It's a tasty way to get the goodness of foods rich in colorful, flavorful, powerfully healthful antioxidant pigments.
This recipe is for two … to serve more, just multiply the ingredients as needed. Adapted from one by “Katie” on her goodthingscatered blog … and it is a tangy treat!
Citrus Pepper Broiled Salmon with Fresh Tomato Salsa
Serves 2
2 tomatoes, chopped into 1/4"-inch cubes
2 Tbsp finely chopped cucumber
2 Tbsp finely chopped red onions
2 tsp finely chopped jalapeño (or serrano or ancho) chilis
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 tsp orange zest, stripped and minced
1/4 tsp lemon, stripped and minced
1/4 tsp parsley, finely chopped
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Mix tomato, cucumber, red onion, and jalapeño in a small bowl and set aside.
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Heat heavy sauté pan over medium high heat and set broiler to low.
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Add olive oil to pan and swirl to coat.
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Add salmon to hot pan (skin down as appropriate) and cook until browned, about 3 minutes.
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Season top of salmon with zests, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper.
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Flip fish in pan and cook until browned, about 3 minutes.
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Remove skin from bottom of steak and discard.
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Add white wine to pan and swirl to coat.
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Put pan under broiler and cook until heated through and fork tender.
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Flip salmon in pan and swirl to pick up browned bits in pan halfway through.
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Remove pan from oven, flip and swirl on bottom of pan to pick up juices and transfer to plate.
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Top fish with fresh tomato mixture and serve.
[Click for printer-friendly version]
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Published by
Vital Choice Seafood
Copyright © 2009 Vital Choice Seafood, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Information in this newsletter is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by medical professionals, nor is it intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease.
Copyright is held by Vital Choice Seafood, to which all rights are reserved. Other than personal, non-commercial use or forwarding, no material in this newsletter may be copied, distributed, or published without the express permission of Vital Choice Seafood.
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