If you enjoy salmon, you’re in luck! Along with being delicious, salmon is perhaps the healthiest fish around. Wild-caught Alaskan salmon is particularly healthy – it has more nutrients and less fat than farmed salmon as a result of its natural lifestyle. Did you know that salmon can actually help improve your health in many ways? If you’ve incorporated more salmon into your diet recently – or have thought about doing so, you’ll be happy to read about these 5 Surprising Health Benefits of Salmon!

5 Surprising Health Benefits of Salmon

Anti-inflammatory Properties

Inflammation isn’t just what you can see on the outside, like when you hurt your ankle and it swells. Inflammation can also occur inside your body. Sometimes you may directly feel the effects, and other times you may not even know about it. Either way, inflammation is bad for you – and chronic inflammation may lead to cancer. Luckily, one of the great benefits of salmon is that it has anti-inflammatory properties. This is due to the peptides and fatty acids in salmon working together to reduce inflammation, including joint inflammation linked to arthritis.

Sharpen Your Mind

If you want to keep your brain healthy and your mind sharp, you should be eating salmon. All the DHA omega-3 fatty acids in salmon are critical to maintaining a healthy brain. The DHA you get from salmon can help keep your brain functioning at full force in your day-to-day tasks, and can help prevent it from slowing down when you get older. It can also help prevent inflammation in your brain, which can cause a host of problems.

Improve Your Mood

Did you know that one of the many benefits of salmon is that it can improve your mood? People who don’t have enough DHA in their brain have an increased chance of depression and moodiness. That’s because if you don’t have enough DHA, your mood stabilizing hormones become unbalanced. This can lead to anxiety, aggression, and depression. So stay happy and healthy by adding salmon to your weekly meals!

Stay Heart Healthy

Salmon is wonderful for your heart. The fatty acids in it can reduce your risk of heart disease by keeping your blood and arteries healthy. Salmon can even help improve your cholesterol and your blood pressure. The better your blood flows and your arteries work, the less likely you’ll have a heart attack. And the better your heart will work everyday, leading to better overall well-being, especially when doing taxing activities.

Anti-cancer Properties

The omega-3 in salmon are great for so many things. Yet another of the wonderful health benefits of salmon is that eating it can reduce your risk of cancer. This is due to both the omega-3 found in salmon, and the carotenoid that makes salmon pink, called astaxanthin. Astaxanthin is a strong antioxidant. Antioxidants help fight free radicals, and free radicals can cause all kinds of health issues, including cancer. So help your body stay cancer free by eating salmon. If your body does develop cancer cells, salmon’s nutrients can help your body fight to eradicate them or stop them from spreading as fast.

We grew up eating salmon weekly in our home. It was always one of my mamas favorite dishes to prepare. Salmon is easy to work with, and a 2 inch thick cut of salmon takes just 20 minutes to bake. I highly recommend seasoning it with a citrus blend, spraying with Pam and popping it into the oven. Served with a side of jasmine rice and veggies, you can’t go wrong for dinner. I also cure salmon for gravlax – and will be posting the recipe soon. How often do you incorporate salmon into your diet?

Want to see more super food health benefits? Learn about these 5 Health Benefits of Honey!