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Willoughby Chiropractic Health
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Helping you and your family towards greater Health
JUNE 2013
Dear Valued Member
This is the second in our informative emails; I hope you found the 1st on cooking oils helpful and
informative. Another type of oil we all hear about all day every day is Fish Oil. But is Fish Oil that special?
If so what makes it special and who should and shouldn’t be taking it.
Helping
guide
your
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towards
Fish oil is a short chain Essential Omega 3 Polyunsaturated Fatty acid, it is made up of DHA and EPA but
don’t concern yourself with that last part. Essential means you cannot make it in your body so you must
consume it. You’ll remember last article we spoke about canola oil, vegetable oil and margarine they are
all rich in Omega 6 fatty acids.
With the introduction of farming came the evolution omega 6 containing grains like wheat (Grass
contains Omega 3). Grains now make up much of our food and the food of our animals (Including
farmed fish) used for meat production. Due to this our ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 has been increased
dramatically. As a side note this is why buying grass fed meat from your butcher is so important. Our
ancestors meat was all grass fed and on the whole they used to eat lots more fish (either fresh water or
salt water) than what we do today. Unfortunately the option to eat lots of fish is no longer viable due to
the degradation of our river systems and mercury and short supply of fish in the sea. My understanding
is eating enough wild caught fresh fish to balance the Omega 6 to 3 ratio would be risking severe
mercury toxicity. It is a combination of the above two factors which has led to global Omega 3 deficiency
all over the developed world. Traditionally our diet has had a balance of Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty
acids ranging from 1:1(The ideal ratio) to 4:1.1 The current American diet is generally at least 11:1 up to
20:1. Australia would be very similar.
So who cares if our Omega 6 to 3 ratio is not right? Well fatty acids are the subunits of the fat we store
in our cells. All cells have essential fats in them, not just fat cells which store our excess fat. EPA and
DHA omega 3 EFAs also play a major role in regulating inflammation via substances called
prostaglandins. EPA and DHA Omega 3 EFA’s produce anti-inflammatory prostaglandins while Omega 6
fatty acids produce pro-inflammatory prostaglandins. Inflammation is at the route of almost all of
society’s chronic diseases including but not limited to
- Heart Disease
- Stroke
- Osteoarthritis
grea
- Rheumatoid and other types of inflammatory Arthritis
- Most cancers especially bowel, prostate, breast.
- Crohns Disease
- Irritable bowel
- Fibromyalgia
- Eczema
- Psoriasis
- Joint Pain
- Diabetes
Omega 3 intake has been shown scientifically to be linked to most of these conditions and theoretically
to the rest.
As mentioned above Fats are found in the cell membrane of all cells and are essential for the function of
all cells. Omega 3 is a far softer and slippery than omega 6. Their concentration is directly reflected in
cells characteristics theoretically making blood flow far simpler and reducing risk of high blood pressure,
stroke, cholesterol, how hard the heart must work and therefore heart attack. A recent study this year
found Fish Oil to prevent all 3 of these things in moderate doses.2 Another study by which is regularly
quoted against the use of fish oils within and outside the medical profession is the 2012 JAMA review.
This article looked mainly at the use of fish oil to decrease mortality in people who already had Cardio
Vascular Disease (secondary prevention as opposed to primary prevention). On closer reading of the
articles most of the participants were also on statin drugs which are designed to reduce cholesterol.3 I
personally suspect that these drugs which alter how the body distributes and deals with fats also alter
how fatty acids are dealt with in the body hence the negative result. Earlier studies where these drugs
were not present or only partly present have consistently had positive results. Either way a study on
secondary prevention of heart disease is not a study on the effectiveness of Omega 3 fatty acids for
primary prevention of heart disease and certainly not on Omega 3 fatty acids as a health promoter.
Overall there are over 2000 articles on the health benefits of fish oil.
Finally Essential Omega 3 fatty acids form essential parts of the brain in addition to being part of the cell
membrane of Brain cells. DHA is essential in forming the receptors for serotonin and dopamine as well
as numerous neurotransmitters which nerves use to communicate throughout the brain. Serotonin and
dopamine are strongly linked to Mood disorders, depression, ADHD and most other mental problems.
Alzheimer’s and Dementia are not totally understood but it makes sense to me that I would like to do
everything I could to avoid them. Common sense would indicate decreasing my inflammation and
supplying my body with the necessary building blocks for the brain have to be beneficial.
In times gone by we used to also prescribe plant oils like flaxseed (linseed), walnuts and soybean. These
oils are great, they have many health properties including being anti-inflammatory. Unfortunately they
are long chain omega 3 fatty acids, the human gut can only break this down into the usable DHA and
EPA very slowly. Fish and herbivores on the other hand can do this very efficiently and therefore flourish
on grass and algae ect. In the concentrations we need Omega 3’s; we need to consume them in the
short chain form, directly from an animal source.
Fish oil is best used as a preventative supplement rather than a treatment, theoretically it should help
prevent or help any condition which is inflammation based. Most of society’s chronic diseases are
inflammation many are mentioned above but the list is by no means limited to them.
The ideal intake of fish oil is still undecided and obviously depends on what else the person is eating.
What is known is it is not simply an endless more is better and high doses have marginal bonus over
moderate doses. The current consensus is roughly 1500mg of omega 3 per day. Quality is everything
with fish oil. Don’t buy solely on price. I recommend buying at the health store as their products are
generally superior. Like everything preparation and storage is everything.
I hope this article wasn’t to dry! I promise the next one will be a bit lighter. If you would like to know
more about fish oil the below link goes into far more detail on its benefits. I personally believe the
Innate Choice brand to be the premier Fish Oil on the market due to the oil being in its most natural
form, purist and how it is produced. It is the Fish Oil I take. If there is interest I would be happy to stock
it at a discounted rate which is less than $1.00 per day for our clients. If you would like us to stock it
please send us a return email or leave your name on a list in the office.
http://www.innatechoice.com/faq.cfm?cat=2
1. Eaton, Eaton and Konner. Paleolithic Nutrition revisited: A twelve year retrospective on it’s
nature and implications. Eur J. of Clin Nutr. 1997: 51;207-216
2. Mozaffarian, D. et al.Plasma Phospholipid Long-Chain n-3 Fatty Acids and Total and CauseSpecific Mortality in Older Adults.Annal Intern Med. 2013; 158:515-525
3. Association Between Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation Risk and Risk of Major
Cardiovascular Disease Events. JAMA. 2012;308(10):1024-1033).
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