Keyhole said:
Ant22 said:
Hi Keyhole, sorry to bump into your response to onemen! I was wondering whether what you said above about fish oil applies to krill oil as well?
Krill oil was mentioned much earlier in this thread (between March and May) as a more stable alternative to fish oil but it does contain DHA and EPA too. Krill oil also has fishy smell and apparently that's a sign of it being rancid so I'm a bit unsure whether it is really a worthwhile alternative.
I'm about to order another batch and since krill oil is pretty expensive I thought I'd ask whether you think it makes sense to invest in it.
Yeah, from what I understand this applies to all polyunsaturated fatty acids. They play physiological roles in cold-blooded species, but the requirements for warm blooded creatures are virtually zero. The whole idea of "essential fatty acids" (omega 3s and 6s) is based on a massive
assumption that there is a "phospholipid bilayer" cell membrane surrounding cells, supposedly made up of these essential fats. This is just a theory, and is has been disputed on several occasions. I will open a thread with the research at some point in the future.
Omega 3s and 6s are probably only required daily in extremely small amounts, such as that contained in two eggs or so. It is needed for growth of the fetal nervous system etc, but the DHA contents is basically the same in newborns of vegetarian mothers as it is from mothers who consumed large amounts of omega 3, which suggests that DHA synthesis is under tight physiological regulation (even when there is little dietary source).
Beneficial results in studies of autoimmunity and such are probably due to a couple factors:
1. It suppresses the metabolism of omega 6 arachidonic acid into pro-inflammatory prostaglandins. (But saturated fat also does this...)
2. It suppresses immunity (and has been used as a successful method for inhibiting the rejection of an organ in organ transplants). Therefore, there is less perceived pain in autoimmune/inflammatory conditions whereby the immune system is in 'overdrive'. This may seem like a good thing short-term, but long-term it is questionable, due to the factors below.
3. It inhibits the function of thyroid gland, conversion of T4 to T3 in the liver, transport of T3 into cell, ability of mitochondria to metabolise substrate = all of this means that it lowers metabolism. The result of this is that there are "less nutrient requirements", but ultimately less adaptability to external stressors and reliance on cortisol metabolism.
Ultimately, Dr Valentine explains in
Human Longevity that the metabolism of PUFA is essentially one of the most destructive processes for the cellular structure, and eventually destroys mitochondria. I tend to agree with the research on this.
Funnily enough I actually invested around £100 in krill oil a couple of months ago. Shortly after, I stumbled across all of this research I decided i did not want to consume the stuff, so still have 2 3/4 bottles left full.
What was your purpose for taking the Krill oil?
Geeze Keyhole, I don’t even know where to start. It's too early to make definite statements but you might have accidentally resolved a health nightmare I struggled with for almost a decade.
My main reason for taking iodine, krill oil (and a lot of other supplements) was debilitating fatigue and brain fogs I was suffering from for like 10 years. In the summer of 2015 it was so bad that there were moments when I was so sleepy I was literally losing track of conversations, I started to catch myself not remembering what was said to me or even what I myself said 5 minutes before. It wasn’t this bad all the time but it was progressively getting worse. My colleague once picked up on this and I was really scared I’d eventually get to a point I simply wouldn’t even be able to hold a job. And I work in a profession where I need to use my brain all the time.
The problems started around a year after I became vegetarian and because of that delay I didn’t put two and two together - or maybe I simply chose to deny it.
Doctors weren’t exactly helpful. Blood tests never showed anything unusual so I was told to relax, avoid stress and do yoga. No other advice was ever given - and definitely no dietary advice.
Then my symptoms finally began to improve when I started the iodine protocol (December 2015) and started eating meat again (March 2016).
I finally felt like I got my life back, gosh, after all these years of sleepwalking I just couldn’t believe it!
But then, out of the blue, my symptoms came back in June 2016, six months after I started the iodine protocol. I just couldn’t make them go away, my condition would improve for a couple of days only to return again. It was nowhere near as bad as before iodine but not as good as between March and June 2016 either.
As a result of my own research I got tests for Hemochomatosis and MTHRF done in September last year. They both came back positive and managing those conditions with supplements helped quite a bit. But I just couldn’t get to the point I was at during the second quarter of 2016. Bouts of fatigue and brain fog were still there. I was happy I finally got some answers, especially that these conditions explained many other symptoms I had since I was 14 but I still felt they weren’t the complete answer.
Another piece of the puzzle was reading your posts about PUFA’s earlier this year in another thread (https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,43449.msg703463/topicseen.html#msg703463). I now suspect PUFA's were actually the main trigger from the beginning: the vegetarian diet obviously relies on vegetable oils and I used them a LOT. When I read your posts I cut them out almost completely - but I was still taking krill oil.
Now, what’s been puzzling me over the past two weeks was how good I’ve been feeling. As if I came back to that amazing time between March and June last year when my sleepwalking nightmare seemed to be over.
I obviously tried to work out what it was that I did differently but there seemed to be nothing - until I read your post above. It made me realise that over the last couple of weeks I haven’t been taking krill oil and I normally took 5 capsules per day! I have little jars with supplements prepared for the whole week in advance and recently for some reason I just could not bring myself to take them anymore.
The health improvement could have been caused by cutting out any other of the supplements I take but I did take them all in the first half of last year when my health seemed to be on the mend so that’s rather unlikely.
Now, the biggest clue came a moment ago when I checked my Amazon order history (this is where I buy most of my supplements): I ordered my first batch of krill oil in May 2016. A month before my fatigue came back.
Of course it may be just my wishful thinking triggered by hope that I finally came across a solution. I may even be omitting some pieces of the puzzle out of pure excitement so I’ll try to research the links between PUFA’s and the conditions I mentioned above to see if there is any link.
What prevented me from coming to the above conclusions was the fact that I’ve actually read plenty of reviews and studies proving benefits of krill oil. Heck, even some people on here said they felt better when they were taking it.
It may be another case of “no size fits all” and what worked for others might have been making me ill. But I must say I haven’t come across a lot of the things you said above at all so I guess my research skills need further development :P
I hope the above explanation makes sense despite being pretty lengthy. I will re-introduce all other supplements into my diet and see how it goes.
But if I’m correct, your posts may have solved a problem that in some ways robbed me of 10 years of my life. Thank you
)
