Vitamin D in Wild and Farmed Atlantic Salmon ( Salmo Salar )—What Do We Know?

• Published in: Nutrients
• Main Authors: Jette Jakobsen, Cat Smith, Anette Bysted, Kevin D. Cashman
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019
• Subjects: vitamin D; vitamin D 3; wild; farmed; aquaculture; salmon; salmonids; Salmo salar; Nutrition. Foods and food supply; TX341-641; Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11050982; https://doaj.org/article/5186c7c4a3ec4bcdb5e50a6fe26054e4

Salmon have been widely publicized as a good dietary source of vitamin D, but recent data points to large variation in vitamin D content and differences between wild and farmed salmon. We aimed to: (1) investigate the content of vitamin D in Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) in wild species caught in two different waters, (2) perform a 12-week feeding trial in farmed Salmo salar with 270−1440 µg vitamin D 3 /kg feed (4−20 times maximum level in the EU) and (3) conduct a review for the published data on the content of vitamin D in salmonids. Content of vitamin D 3 in the fillet from wild salmon caught in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea was significantly different ( p < 0.05), being 18.5 ± 4.6 µg/100 g and 9.4 ± 1.9 µg/100 g, respectively. In the farmed salmon the content ranged from 2.9 ± 0.7 µg vitamin D 3 /100 g to 9.5 ± 0.7 µg vitamin D 3 /100 g. Data from 2018 shows that farmed salmon contained 2.3−7.3 µg vitamin D 3 /100 g. Information on the content of vitamin D in wild and farmed salmonids is very limited, which calls for further research to ensure a sustainable production of salmon with adequate vitamin D.