Fish and Fish Oils: What's Safe, What Isn't.
Noel Peterson, ND
In America, our intake of saturated and polyunsaturated fats has changed markedly during the last century. Our saturated and polyunsaturated oil intake has gone up 60% while Omega-3 oil intake has declined by 80%.
If there was a food supplement proven to prevent heart disease in your husband, improve the mental development of your children, treat Attention Deficit Disorder, relieve your sister's arthritis, heal ulcerative colitis and clear up your neighbor's psoriasis, would you be interested?
Did you know that Eskimos have one of the lowest rates of heart disease of any population in the world and at the same time have the highest intake of fat? In fact, Eskimos have a 90% lower incidence of heart disease and joint disease and a 95% lower incidence of skin disease compared to those on a typical western diet. How can this be? As it turns out, the high fat diet of the Eskimos is composed of the beneficial Omega-3 oil from cold-water fish, while the American diet is dominated by harmful saturated and polyunsaturated non-Omega-3 fats. Non-Omega-3 oils can be important sources of calories but can build up tight bonds in cell membranes, which make it difficult for cells to exchange nutrients and wastes, and at the same time make the cell membranes stiff and inflexible. Omega-3 oils form more fluid cell membranes that are both flexible and permeable to nutrient and waste exchange. The net result is healthier cell walls, and greatly improved cell function.
In America, our intake of saturated and polyunsaturated fats has increased by more than 60% during the last century, while Omega-3 oil intake has declined by 80%. At the same time, western culture has experienced an epidemic increase in the incidence of heart disease, cardiac arrhythmia, autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, cancer, asthma, kidney disease, and inflammatory bowel disease. Most researchers believe that these disease trends are associated with our change in dietary fats.
Researchers have shown that supplementing the diet with natural, stable fish oil can markedly improve all of these diseases, sometimes preventing their onset. Daily intake of just 500-1,000 mgs reduces cardiovascular death in middle-aged men by 40%. Supplementation with this same oil improves joint pain in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, reduces symptoms of lupus, improves inflammatory bowel disease by 50%, lowers the incidence of asthma, controls the itching, scaling and severity of psoriasis, enhances I.Q. and nervous system development in children (including a lowering of incidence of ADD and ADHD), reduces the incidence of Alzheimer's disease by 40%, and lowers the incidence of cancer and prolongs survival of cancer patients.
Omega-3 involvement in both heart and brain function may explain recent compelling clinical evidence linking cardiovascular disease to major depression. Doctors at the University of Berlin believe that Omega-3 fatty acids are the “missing link” that explains why patients with major depression are at increased risk of developing and dying from heart disease. They cite numerous studies showing that major depression is characterized by specific imbalances in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids ratios in red blood cells. These same imbalances also underlie heart arrhythmia, a condition that results in poorer prognosis in heart disease and heart attack.
Not all Omega-3 oils are the same. The brands we carry and recommend have been extensively tested and we believe them to be superior to any other fish oil supplement for the following reasons: Unlike other fish oil supplements, ours do not oxidize (become rancid) quickly, nor do they contain common toxic environmental pollutants. They are pharmaceutical grade and molecularly distilled. A recent study found that our brands were over 10 times as stable as 13 other brands tested. An independent study reported 21 of 22 fish oils tested had detectable levels of industrial toxins, including mercury, DDT and PCBs. Our brands are free of industrial toxins and heavy metals, including mercury, cadmium, and lead. Because of superior stability and purity, our fish oil is free of the unpleasant odor and aftertaste associated with other fish oil products and has a lemony fresh taste. It is available in liquid oil or soft gel capsules. If you are concerned about getting your fish oils from restaurants and supermarkets, add our fish oil to your diet and leave the toxins out.