Fish Oil Isn't The Whole Story About Omega 3's

FISH OIL  

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 "Fish Oil Isn't The Whole Story About Omega 3's"," The assumption was that their diets, which contained a lot of fish (maybe up to three times a week) was helping them stay healthier for longer. Fish is therefore seen as having some protective benefits. Another very important aspect to their health, that wasn't seen as being very important at the time of the research, was that these people are also very community-orientated. However fish oil supplement manufacturers focused on the link between health and fish consumption, because it was an easy marketing message. Your body can make saturated and monounsaturated fats from carbohydrates. If you don't get them in your diet you will be deficient in them. Fish Oil ≠ Omega 3 Omega 3 is a family of unsaturated fatty acids, which have a number of very important functions to perform in the human body. The Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids (EFA's) family contains a number of different fats, of which DHA and EPA are very well known. A little more scientific detail behind the fish oil story One of the reasons for the confusion about whether fish oil Omega 3 supplementation is better than plant based Omega 3 supplementation is because fish oil contains the derivatives of the plant based Omega 3 fats, DHA and EPA. However, this does not mean that a derivative is unimportant. In the same way, the original, or foundation compound, the plant based Omega 3 fats, are also critical for health, as they also have very important functions to perform in all our cell membranes, as well as our cells, organs and tissues. Can DHA and EPA only be found in fish? People have been led to believe that the Omega 3 derivatives, DHA and EPA, are only obtained in cold-water fish and fish oil supplements. They are also found in certain forms of algae. So, your body can make the derivatives of the plant based Omega 3 fats, which are already present in cold-water fish. (This topic is discussed in more detail further on in this article). When a small fish has eaten algae, and then been eaten by a bigger fish, all the way up to the larger fish, this larger fish only has DHA and EPA in it because the fish at the bottom of the food chain, ate the algae. Cold-water fish, such as salmon, mackerel and herring, and to a lesser extent sardines and tuna are rich sources of DHA and EPA because they are carnivorous fish and eat the smaller (vegetarian) fish that have eaten algae. This is also incorrect. Only consuming DHA and EPA will not lead to long-term health. Clinical trials on fish vs plant-based Omega 3's When researchers looked at the Mediterranean studies of health, they saw that people who ate fish regularly, up to three times a week, were less likely to suffer from heart disease. However, an astounding fact emerged too - one that they weren't expecting. However, another trial indicated that consuming a plant-based Omega 3 supplement reduced the risk of having a second heart attack by at least twice that of the fish oil! This was a 70% reduction in mortality. When assessed four years later, patients were still benefiting if they were following the diet. Plant Omega 3's also reduced the number of painful, not-fatal heart attacks, and there are long-term survival benefits from consuming plant Omega 3's whereas there weren't with consuming fish oils. But you also need more of the right fats than you may have been led to believe. If you only consume a fish oil supplement, you are supplying your body with a maximum of 3 - 5 mg of fat, which is about 2. You actually need more than 15% of your calories, but less than 60%, to be made up of fat! Your ideal intake will depend on your level of activity. If you were to consume 15% of your fat calories in the form of a fish oil supplement, you would need to be consuming 33 gms, or 2 tablespoons. This is because it only contains the Omega 3 essential fats, with none of the Omega 6 fats. Furthermore, your body doesn't only need Omega 3 fats, which is what is in fish oil. Therefore, your body needs much more fat than a fish oil supplement can provide, to keep you healthy. So, if you do choose to take a fish oil supplement, you also need to supplement with another plant-based Omega 3 and Omega 6 blend, otherwise you will not have enough of the balanced essential fats, which are the foundation fats of health. Some Myths about Fish Oils vs Plant based Omega 3's Fish oil manufacturers have perpetuated two myths about Omega 3's for a very long time: 1. They say that we battle to do the conversion from plant-based Omega 3's to the DHA and EPA derivatives Genes govern the conversion of the plant based Omega 3's to DHA and EPA. If you cannot do the conversion at all, and ate no cold-water fish, you would die, as DHA and EPA are critical for vital functions in the body and brain. But we need enough of this foundation, and many people don't consume enough of these plant-based Omega 3's. Their bodies 'forgot' how to do the conversion quickly, because they ate so much cold-water fish and they didn't need to do the conversion as regularly. These people may benefit from taking an algae based DHA and EPA supplement, in addition to the plant based Omega 3's. Most of the fish oil products on the market today contain damaged fat molecules. Only high temperatures can remove some of the toxins that are present in our fish today, so the fish oil molecules are exposed to heat, which they don't like at all. Unfortunately, even after the damaging exposure to high temperatures, many fish oil supplements still contain detectable levels of some of these extremely damaging environmental toxins, which mean that you will be ingesting them unknowingly. Marine oils used in various food products are often partially hydrogenated, to ensure stability and prevent rancidity. 2. And the label will say so. The extended transport times, which occur when fish is moved from the ocean to processing plants, for processing, often causes both microbial and enzymatic degradation of fish tissue, causing increased oxidation. Vitamin C is often added as an antioxidant to try to counter these effects. Variations in fatty acid composition of fish, according to location, season and species means that the end product is not always consistent in DHA and EPA composition. Fish oil also contains cholesterol, as it is an animal product, although the amount will vary according to species. 6. 7. We all have to become environmentalists if we care about eating fish and leaving fish in the ocean for the generations to come. However, the same 'authorities' never thought we'd see the destruction of as many fish species as we're seeing today either. Ask your fish oil manufacturer these questions:When researchers say there are no acceptable limits to PCB's, dioxins, furans, pesticides, as well as Mercury and Lead, why do you still use this 'less than acceptable limits' as a selling point? The damage that occurs to the fish oils due to processing, such as the formation of cross-linked, cyclised, fragmented and double-bond shifted molecules, trans fatty acids and polymerised acids, are not listed on your products. They are also getting the other components of health, that accompany the consumption of Omega 3 and Omega 6, such as increased energy, improved metabolic rate, smoother, clearer skin, insulin sensitivity, mood and concentration improvements, improved ability to cope with stress, lowered inflammation and increased immunity, as well as lowered heart disease and cancer risk. Simply by-pass the fish, and use a product that hasn't had to be detoxified and therefore damaged. However, don't forget that you still need to supplement with a foundation blend, as simply taking a DHA and EPA supplement will not provide all your foundation essential fat needs. .

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