Omega 3 Fatty Acids

[Mr. Premise]

I've seen Nordic Naturals recommended and their label says they are certified heavy metal and other contaminant-free.

From their website:

Surpasses International Pharmaceutical Standards
Standards are set to protect consumers
Governmental fish oil quality standards do not exist in the United States. To ensure consistent quality, Nordic Naturals adheres to and exceeds the stringent Norwegian Medicinal Standard (NMS) and the European Pharmacopoeia Standard (EPS) as well as the voluntary standards set by the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) and the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3 (GOED) for all of our products. These standards guarantee quality products by setting maximum allowances on peroxides, heavy metals, dioxins, and PCBs.

Heavy Metals
Nordic Naturals products show no detectable lead or mercury when tested down to 0.01 ppm, which is 10 times below the Norwegian Medicinal Standard and European Pharmacopoeia Standard limits.

Dioxins
Nordic Naturals fish oils show no detectable dioxins when tested down to 1.0 ppt. The Norwegian Medicinal Standard and European Pharmacopoeia Standard limits for dioxins are 2 ppt. Analysis is based on the toxicity equivalent testing methodology established by the World Health Organization (WHO).

PCBs
Nordic Naturals oils show no detectable Dioxin-like PCBs when tested down to 1.0 ppt. The Norwegian Medicinal Standard limit for these type of PCBs is 3 ppt. Analysis is based on the toxicity equivalent testing methodology established by the World Health Organization (WHO).

 

[Seamus]

Thank you for your suggestion Mr. Premise, I will look into Nordic Naturals as well.

 

[Gaby]

Worthy of keeping an eye on:

Some Known Consequences of Omega-3 Excess

http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?p=3287

What are the likely consequences of omega-3 toxicity?

The obvious dangers are those related to oxidative stress from lipid peroxidation. The concern with omega-3 fats is not direct toxicity, but toxicity from their oxidation products. Omega-3 fats have a lot of fragile carbon double bonds which are easily oxidized: EPA has 5 double bonds and DHA 6. These are therefore among the most fragile lipids in the human body.

We would expect such problems to show up primarily in the liver and in the nervous system, where EPA and DHA levels are highest.

Indeed, they do. In mice, high dietary omega-3, in conjunction with alcohol or sugar, induces fatty liver disease. [1] In pregnant rats, excessive doses of omega-3 fats cause offspring to have shortened life span and neural degeneration. The authors concluded, “both over- and under-supplementation with omega-3 FA can harm offspring development.” [2]

However, there are associations of high omega-3 intake with disease in other tissues. In particular, emerging work is linking high omega-3 intake to diseases of pathological angiogenesis.

Angiogenesis is the creation of new blood vessels in mature tissue. (Vasculogenesis is the creation of vessels in a developing embryo.) It is a normal part of wound healing, but over a dozen diseases feature inappropriate angiogenesis.

[...]

Before I go further, let me emphasize that nothing I am saying here repudiates the idea that it is desirable to bring tissue omega-6 and omega-3 fats into proper balance.

There are many studies showing that when tissue omega-6 to omega-3 ratios are too high, as on the standard American diet (SAD), additional omega-3 DHA and EPA can improve the omega-6 to omega-3 balance, reduce inflammatory signaling, and through reduced inflammation exercise an anti-angiogenic effect.

The mechanisms linking the anti-angiogenic effects of omega-3 to a condition of omega-6 excess are fairly well understood.

[...]

The authors specify that the issue of omega-3 toxicity is most dangerous when omega-3 fats are combined with alcohol or fructose, and that fish oil capsules are particularly dangerous. They recommend instead around 1 pound per week of omega-3 rich marine fish, like salmon, sardines, or herring, but taking no omega-3 supplements. They say that that amount is sufficient to optimize the tissue omega-6 to omega-3 ratio for cardiovascular health, and is not so great as to raise great risks of toxicity. They emphasize that mixing omega-3 fats with sugar or alcohol must be avoided. More info and resources in their blog.

I would still take this info with a grain of salt, but the more I read, the more I prefer saturated fat! Nothing like stable fats as a source of hormones and composition of cellular membranes.

 

[Woodsman]

While trying to figure out a diet with the right ratio of Omega 3 vs Omega 6 fats, I ran across this. . .

from _http://www.mercola.com/beef/health_benefits.htm

Why Grassfed Animal Products Are Better For You

[...]

After isolating these fats scientific experiments determined that if the ratio of omega 6 fats to omega 3 fats exceeds 4:1, people have more health problems. This is especially meaningful since grain-fed beef can have ratios that exceed 20:1 whereby grass-fed beef is down around 3:1.

Similar ratios are also found in all grain-fed versus grass-fed livestock products.

It makes immediate sense that animals eating lots of high Omega 6 oil-containing grains would themselves be rich in those same fats. I know one farmer who sells grass-fed beef, but I don't buy from him because the guy across the way sells for less. Both raise free-range cattle, but I don't know how much grain is in the second farm's diet. I'll have to ask next time I go around there.

Another thing I learned while researching this stuff was that I need to cut Sesame seed oil from my diet; I've been using the stuff as a flavoring oil for a couple of years, and coincidentally, I've been feeling noticeably foggier over the same period, and I've been going through the list trying to figure out why. Turns out sesame seeds are very high in Omega 6 oils. Duh. What a shame that an oil with such a great flavor will have to be abandoned. Ah well. I'm sure feeling better will be sufficient pay-off for cutting it out of my diet!

By gum! I feel like every day I'm doing cutting edge (from my perspective) research, and I'm STILL tripping over really basic things like these! Better late than never, I suppose!

Thanks everybody for all the shared info. :)

 

[Stranger]

Thanks für the article, Psyche!

Really disturbing...As far as I know damage to the nervous system is especially dangerous for a clear mind, so whe should be careful with that. But eating hight amounts of fish (instead of o3-capsules) in these times is not harmless, I think: ingested plastics and accumulated toxins and heavy metals. So we replace one evil with another?

The link to fructose and alcohol is helpful, one more reason for me to limit (or stop) my intake of fruits and increase meat and, fish, eggs, vegetables.

*Edit for better comprehensibility.

 

[Gaby]

Here is another related article:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fish-oil-prostate-cancer/

"A bad diet plus fish oil is still a bad diet. And given the oxidation-prone nature of all polyunsaturated fats, a massive intake of omega-3’s – despite their brilliance in moderation – could potentially do more harm than good."

The author (Mark Sisson) debunks an article relating omega 3s with prostate cancer, but he adds that warning quoted above in the end.

 

[Woodsman]

A thought. . .

While researching this, (I just went out and picked up a bunch of gel-cap supplements and spent a while reading labels and talking with the women who run the local natural food store), I noticed something which has my little warning blinkers going. . .

Omega 3's are a pretty hot item these days. I'm getting a, "Eat Wonderful Soy!" vibe off this. If you key in "Omega 3" into Google, the internet spits back a forest of pages all saying the same things with a great deal of enthusiasm, and that spooks me a bit.

Personal rule of thumb: "If everybody is doing it, then it's evidence of population control. Something is being overlooked which actually makes this a trap."

So I dug (a little) further. . , and I noted that fish oil supplements which are extracted from fish livers might also come with high quantities of Vitamin E and D, which can build up and become toxic. Also that Omega 3 rich diets leads to lowered vitamin K amounts in the body, but very little is discussed regarding this.

Having gone through this gauntlet before in the exploration of "What Do I EAT???" I am reminded that it's a bloody hair-ball of confusion and conflicting information out there. Nutritional COINTEL? It wouldn't surprise me.

Any thoughts? Am I being over-cautious?

 

[Gaby]

Any thoughts? Am I being over-cautious?

I think their anti-inflammatory properties are very sound, but the fact that they are polyunsaturated fatty acids prone to oxidation should then bring awareness upon the importance of having a healthy diet that will "preserve" them better.

 

[Human]

Last week, after reading excellent Doug DiPasquale's article about fat in DCM 13 (which has, btw, greatly refreshed my high-school chemistry info) I decided to supplement Omega 3.
Bought TwinLab's Cod Liver oil (labeled "for kids").

For some time been taking 5-HTP and every time when, for whatever reason, omitted to take it for few days I noticed my mood swinging with easy fatigue, depression, more ANTS... And sweet craving was almost always present even with 5-HTP.

Positive effects of Omega 3 were experienced almost instantaneously that I was surprised, even mildly shocked, with so obvious "change" in my overall state. Physically I feel healthier in a way that my energy levels are more uniform and need less sleep. Emotionally I feel more, but not so driven by those feelings. Mentally my thoughts are clearer, ANTS decreased and bodily sensations, which at times would heavily influence my thinking, are still there, maybe even more than before, with little effect on my "head".

I'm playing with 5-HTP and seeing that there is no change in my mood when not taking it.
Sweet tooth subsided, not completely though, but on a level that I almost don't notice it. Actually, potatoes taste sweet now and that's enough to keep craving under control.
I'm also hungry less often, with not loosing any weight (which is great success for me).

I presume that all this probably didn't came from Omega 3 alone, possibly my observations coincided with it, it's just that "the change" has been so evident (to me) not to be registered.

 

[Stranger]

Heres an article about the "other side" of fish oil, so to speak. It lists some of the studies we read nothing about in mainstream media, were fish oil is promoted as beneficial without any disputation.

What do you think about that?

In end it might be better to just get enough saturated fats from the diet and, if possible, eat grass-fed meat, so your O-6/3 ratio is good enough without supplementation.

The Great Fish Oil Experiment
Reading medical journals and following the mass media, it's easy to get the idea that fish oil is something any sensible person should use. It's rare to see anything suggesting that it could be dangerous.

During the recent years in which the U.S. government has gone from warning against the consumption of too much of these omega-3 oils ("to assure that the combined daily intake of two fatty acids that are components" "(i.e., eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)) would not exceed 3 grams per person per day (g/p/d)") to sponsoring biased industry claims, there has been considerable accumulation of information about the dangers of fish oils and omega-3 fatty acids. But there has been an even greater increase in the industry's promotional activities.

The US government and the mass media selectively promote research that is favorable to the fish oil industry. The editorial boards of oil research journals often include industry representatives, and their editorial decisions favor research conclusions that promote the industry, in the way that editorial decisions in previous decades favored articles that denied the dangers of radiation and reported that estrogen cures almost everything. Marcia Angell, former editor of the NEJM, has observed that the "significant results" reported in published studies can be properly interpreted only by knowing how many studies reporting opposite results were rejected by the editors.

One way to evaluate published studies is to see whether they tell you everything you would need to know to replicate the experiment, and whether the information they provide is adequate for drawing the conclusions they draw, for example whether they compared the experimental subjects to proper control subjects. With just a few minimal critical principles of this sort, most "scientific" publications on nutrition, endocrinology, cancer and other degenerative diseases are seen to be unscientific. In nutritional experiments with fish oil, controls must receive similar amounts of vitamins A, D, E, and K, and should include fat free or "EFA" deficient diets for comparison.

In declaring EPA and DHA to be safe, the FDA neglected to evaluate their antithyroid, immunosuppressive, lipid peroxidative (Song et al., 2000), light sensitizing, and antimitochondrial effects, their depression of glucose oxidation (Delarue et al., 2003), and their contribution to metastatic cancer (Klieveri, et al., 2000), lipofuscinosis and liver damage, among other problems.

"Houston-based Omega Protein Inc.'s bottom line may get a little fatter.

The publicly traded company, which produces an Omega-3 fatty acid product called OmegaPure, has signed an agreement to provide its fish oil in school lunches in 38 school districts in South Texas beginning this month.

The 500-person company, which has ties to former President George Bush's Zapata Corp., will distribute the product through an agreement with Mercedes-based H&H Foods.

Although the dollar amount of the contract between Omega Protein and H&H Foods hinges on future sales, the company is poised to cash in as school administrators and parents refocus their attention on the nutritional content of student diets.

Omega Protein President and CEO Joseph von Rosenberg says the company's recent investment of $16.5 million for a fish oil refinery in Reedville, Va., scheduled for completion in May, and an increased awareness of the benefits of Omega-3 in human food, positions Omega to capitalize on predicted demand."

Jenna Colley
Houston Business Journal

Andrew Weil was on the radio recently recommending DHA (usually found in fish oil*) to treat depression, and I think that means that a lot of people are buying it and eating it. A few years ago the government declared that it was "generally regarded as safe" and approved its use in baby formula, and a few months ago Texas school districts contracted with Omega Protein (which grew out of the Bush family's Zapata Corporation) to provide menhaden fish oil for school lunches. Between the 1950s and the 1970s, people were assured that eating polyunsaturated seed oils would protect them against heart disease. There's no evidence that the bad outcome of that campaign decreased the gullibility of the public. They are happily joining in the latest public health experiment.


*Weil recommends eating "oily fish"--"wild Alaskan salmon, mackerel, sardines, or herring"--. "If you do take supplements, fish oil is a better source of DHA than algae"

When a group of people in government and industry decide on a policy, they can use carrots (good jobs, grants, and prestige) and sticks (loss of jobs and grants, organized slander, and worse) to make their guidelines clear, and most people will choose to follow those cues, even if they know that the policy is wrong. Historically, policy makers have told the public that "radiation is good for you," "estrogen will make you fertile (or safely infertile) and feminine and strong and intelligent," "starchy foods will prevent diabetes and obesity," "using diuretics and avoiding salt will make pregnancy safer," and that the polyunsaturated fatty acids are "nutritionally essential, and will prevent heart disease."

The original "essential fatty acids" were linoleic, linolenic, and arachidonic acids. Now that the toxic effects of those are coming to be recognized, new "essential fatty acids," the omega-3 fatty acids, including those with long chains, found in fish oils, are said to make babies more intelligent, to be necessary for good vision, and to prevent cancer, heart disease, obesity, arthritis, depression, epilepsy, psychosis, dementia, ulcers, eczema and dry skin.
With just a normal amount of vitamin E in the diet, cod liver oil is certain to be highly oxidized in the tissues of a mammal that eats a lot of it, and an experiment with dogs showed that it could increase their cancer mortality from the normal 5% to 100%. Although fish oils rapidly destroy vitamin E in the body, some of them, especially the liver oils, can provide useful vitamins, A and D. In studies comparing fish oil diets with standard diets, these nutrients, as well as any toxins besides fatty acids (Huang, et al., 1997; Miyazaki, et al., 1998) in either type of oil, should be taken into account, but they seldom are.


Despite the nutritional value of those vitamins, fish oils are generally much more immunosuppressive than the seed oils, and the early effects of fish oil on the "immune system" include the suppression of prostaglandin synthesis, because the more highly unsaturated long chain fats interfere with the conversion of linoleic acid into arachidonic acid and prostaglandins. The prostaglandins are so problematic that their suppression is helpful, whether the inhibition is caused by aspirin or vitamin E, or by fish oil.


Some of the important antiinflammatory effects of fish oil result from the oxidized oils, rather than the unchanged oils (Sethi, 2002; Chaudhary, et al., 2004). These oils are so unstable that they begin to spontaneously oxidize even before they reach the bloodstream.


In experiments that last just a few weeks or months, there may not be time for cancers to develop, and on that time scale, the immunosuppressive and antiinflammatory effects of oxidized fish oil might seem beneficial. For a few decades, x-ray treatments were used to relieve inflammatory conditions, and most of the doctors who promoted the treatment were able to retire before their patients began suffering the fatal effects of atrophy, fibrosis, and cancer. (But a few people are still advocating x-ray therapy for inflammatory diseases, e.g., Hildebrandt, et al., 2003.) The fish oil fad is now just as old as the x-ray fad was at its peak of popularity, and if its antiinflammatory actions involve the same mechanisms as the antiinflammatory immunosuppressive x-ray treatments, then we can expect to see another epidemic of fibrotic conditions and cancer in about 15 to 20 years.
Around 1970 researchers reported that animals given fish oil in their food lived longer than animals on the standard diet. Alex Comfort, who was familiar with the research showing that simple reduction of food intake increased longevity, observed that the animals were very reluctant to eat the food containing smelly fish oil, and were eating so little food that their longevity could be accounted for by their reduced caloric intake. Even when "fresh" deodorized fish oil is added to the diet, its spontaneous oxidation before it reaches the animal's tissues reduces its caloric value. Without antioxidants, fish oil is massively degraded within 48 hours, and even with a huge amount of antioxidant there is still considerable degradation (Gonzalez, 1988; Klein, et al., 1990).
Fish oil has been used for hundreds of years as varnish or for fuel in lamps, and the fatty fish have been used as fertilizer and animal feed, and later the hydrogenated solid form of the oil, which is more stable, has been used in Europe as a food substitute for people. When whale hunting was reduced around 1950, fish oil was substituted for whale oil in margarine production. Like the seed oils, such as linseed oil, the fish oils were mostly replaced by petroleum derivatives in the paint industry after the 1960s.


Although by 1980 many animal diseases were known to be caused by eating oily fish, and the unsaturated oils were known to accelerate the formation of the "age pigment," lipofuscin, many "beneficial effects" of dietary fish oil started appearing in research journals around that time, and the mass media, responding to the industry's public relations campaign, began ignoring studies that showed harmful effects from eating fish oil.


When reviewers in professional journals begin to ignore valid research whose conclusions are harmful to the fish oil industry, we can see that the policy guidelines set by the industry and its agents in government have become clear. Around the end of the century, we begin to see a strange literary device appearing, in which research reports on the toxic effects of omega-3 oils are prefaced by remarks to the effect that "we all know how great these oils are for good health." I think I detect groveling and shuffling of the feet by authors who want to get their work published. If you are willing to say that your work probably doesn't mean what it seems to mean, maybe they will publish it.


For more than 50 years, the great majority of the medical publications on estrogen were part of the drug industry's campaign to fraudulently gain billions of dollars, and anyone who cared to analyze them could see that the authors and editors were part of a cult, rather than seekers of useful knowledge. Likewise, the doctrine of the harmlessness of x-rays and radioactive fallout was kept alive for several decades by demonizing all who challenged it. It now looks as though we are in danger of entering another period of medical-industrial-governmental cultism, this time to promote the universal use of polyunsaturated fats as both drugs and foods.
In 2004, a study of 29,133 men reported that the use of omega-3 oil or consumption of fish didn't decrease depression or suicide, and in 2001, a study of 42,612 men and women reported that after more than 9 years the use of cod liver oil showed no protective effect against coronary heart disease (Hakkarainen, et al., 2004; Egeland, et al., 2001).


The most popular way of arguing that fish oil will prevent heart disease is to show that it lowers blood lipids, continuing the old approach of the American Heart Association's "heart protective diet." Unfortunately for that argument, it's now known that the triglycerides in the blood are decreased because of the fish oil's toxic effects on the liver (Hagve and Christophersen, 1988; Ritskes-Hoitinga, et al., 1998). In experiments with rats, EPA and DHA lowered blood lipids only when given to rats that had been fed, in which case the fats were incorporated into tissues, and suppressed mitochondrial respiration (Osmundsen, et al., 1998).


The belief that eating cholesterol causes heart disease was based mainly on old experiments with rabbits, and subsequent experiments have made it clear that it is oxidized cholesterol that damages the arteries (Stapran, et al., 1997). Since both fish oil and oxidized cholesterol damage rabbits' arteries, and since the lipid peroxides associated with fish oil attack a great variety of biological materials, including the LDL lipoproteins carrying cholesterol, the implications of the rabbit experiments now seem very different.


Another way of arguing for the use of fish oil or other omega-3 fats is to show a correlation between disease and a decreased amount of EPA, DHA, or arachidonic acid in the tissues, and to say "these oils are deficient, the disease is caused by a deficiency of essential fatty acids." Those oils are extremely susceptible to oxidation, so they tend to spontaneously disappear in response to tissue injury, cellular excitation, the increased energy demands of stress, exposure to toxins or ionizing radiation, or even exposure to light. That spontaneous oxidation is what made them useful as varnish or paint medium. But it is what makes them sensitize the tissues to injury. Their "deficiency" in the tissues frequently corresponds to the intensity of oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation; it is usually their presence, rather than their deficiency, that created the disposition for the disease.


One of the earliest harmful effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids, PUFA, to be observed was their acceleration of the formation of lipofuscin or ceroid, the "age pigment," during oxidative stress or vitamin E deficiency. Associated with the formation of lipofuscin, the PUFA were discovered to cause degeneration of the gonads and brain, and the fact that vitamin E could prevent some of their toxic effects led to the idea that vitamin E was essentially an antioxidant. Unfortunately, the protective effect of vitamin E against the PUFA is only partial (Allard, et al., 1997).


The degenerative diseases are all associated with disturbances involving fat metabolism and lipid peroxidation. Alzheimer's disease, alcoholic and nonalcoholic liver disease, retinal degeneration, epilepsy, AIDS, diabetes, and a variety of circulatory problems involve breakdown products of the PUFA. The products of PUFA decomposition include acrolein, malondialdehyde, hydroxynonenal, crotonaldehyde, ethane, pentane, and the neuroprostanes, which are prostaglandin-like molecules formed from DHA by free radical lipid peroxidation products, especially in the brain and at a higher level in Alzheimer's disease.


The reactions of three types of cell--vascular endothelium, nerve cells, and thymus cells--to the PUFA will illustrate some of the important processes involved in their toxicity.


When the body doesn't have enough glucose, free fatty acids are released from the tissues, and their oxidation blocks the oxidation of glucose even when it becomes available from the breakdown of protein caused by cortisol, which is released during glucose deprivation. Cells of the thymus are sensitive to glucose deprivation, and even in the presence of glucose, cortisol prevents them from using glucose, causing them to take up fatty acids. The thymic cells die easily when exposed either to excess cortisol, or deficient glucose. The polyunsaturated fatty acids linoleate, arachidonate, and eicosapentaenoic, are especially toxic to thymic cells by preventing their inactivation of cortisol, increasing its action. (Klein, et al., 1987, 1989, 1990). Lymphocytes from people with AIDS and leukemia are less able to metabolize cortisol. An extract of serum from AIDS patients caused lymphocytes exposed to cortisol to die 7 times faster than cells from healthy people. AIDS patients have high levels of both cortisol and free polyunsaturated fatty acids (Christeff, et al., 1988).
The cytotoxicity caused by EPA and its metabolites (15 mg. of EPA per liter killed over 90% of a certain type of macrophage) isn't inhibited by vitamin E (Fyfe and Abbey, 2000). Immunological activation tends to kill T cells that contain PUFA (Switzer, et al., 2003).


When animals are fed fish oil and then exposed to bacteria, their immunosuppressed thymic (T) cells cause them to succumb to the infection more easily than animals fed coconut oil or a fat free diet. Natural killer cells, which eliminate cancer cells and virus infected cells, are decreased after eating fish oil, and T suppressor cells are often increased. More subtle interference with immunity is produced by the actions of PUFA on the "immune synapse," a contact between cells that permits the transmission of immunological information. The immunosuppressive effect of fish oil is recognized as a useful aid in preventing the rejection of transplanted organs, but some studies are showing that survival a year after transplantation isn't improved.


Polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially those that can be turned into prostaglandins, are widely involved in causing inflammation and vascular leakiness. EPA and DHA don't form ordinary prostaglandins, though the isoprostanes and neuroprostanes they produce during lipid peroxidation behave in many ways like the more common prostaglandins, and their enzymically formed eicosanoids have some functions similar to those of the common prostaglandins. The brain contains a very high concentration of these unstable fatty acids, and they are released in synapses by ordinary excitatory process.


Chan, et al., 1983, found that polyunsaturated fats caused brain swelling and increased blood vessel permeability. In 1988, Chan's group found that DHA and other polyunsaturated fatty acids added to cultured cells from the cerebral cortex produced free radicals and stimulated production of malondialdehyde and lactate, and inhibited the uptake of glutamic acid, which suggests that they would contribute to prolonged excitation of the nerves (Yu, et al., 1986). In brain slices, the polyunsaturated fatty acids caused the production of free radicals and swelling of the tissue, and the saturated fatty acids didn't (Chan and Fishman, 1980). The PUFA inhibited the respiration of mitochondria in brain cells (Hillered and Chan, 1988), and at a higher concentration, caused them to swell (Hillered and Chan, 1989), but saturated fatty acids didn't produce edema. Free radical activity was shown to cause the liberation of free fatty acids from the cellular structure (Chan, et al., 1982, 1984). The activation of lipases by free radicals and lipid peroxides, with the loss of potassium from the cells, suggests that excitation can become a self-stimulating process, leading to cellular destruction.


DHA itself, rather than its decomposition products, facilitates excitatory (glutamate) nerve transmission (Nishikawa, et al., 1994), and that excitatory action causes the release of arachidonic acid (Pellerin and Wolfe, 1991).


Considering just one of the products of fish oil peroxidation, acrolein, and a few of its effects in cells, we can get an idea of the types of damage that could result from increasing the amount of omega-3 fats in our tissues.
The "barrier" between the brain and blood stream is one of the most effective vascular barriers in the body, but it is very permeable to oils, and lipid peroxidation disrupts it, damaging the ATPase that regulates sodium and potassium (Stanimirovic, et al., 1995). Apparently, anything that depletes the cell's energy, lowering ATP, allows an excess of calcium to enter cells, contributing to their death (Ray, et al., 1994). Increasing intracellular calcium activates phospholipases, releasing more polyunsaturated fats (Sweetman, et al., 1995) The acrolein which is released during lipid peroxidation inhibits mitochondrial function by poisoning the crucial respiratory enzyme, cytochrome oxidase, resulting in a decreased ability to produce energy (Picklo and Montine, 2001). (In the retina, the PUFA contribute to light-induced damage of the energy producing ability of the cells [King, 2004], by damaging the same crucial enzyme.) Besides inhibiting the ability of nerve cells to produce energy from the oxidation of glucose, acrolein inhibits the ability of cells to regulate the excitatory amino acid glutamate (Lovell, et al., 2000), contributing to the excitatory process. High levels of acrolein (and other products of PUFA degradation) are found in the brain in Alzheimer's disease (Lovell, et al., 2001).


The "prion" diseases, CJD and TSE/BSE (mad cow disease) have many features in common with Alzheimer's disease, and several studies have shown that the "prion" protein produces its damage by activating the lipases that release polyunsaturated fatty acids and produce lipid peroxides (Bate, et al., 2004, Stewart, et al., 2001).
Acrolein reacts with DNA, causing "genetic" damage, and also reacts with the lysine in proteins, for example contributing to the toxicity of oxidized low density lipoproteins (LDL), the proteins that carry cholesterol and that became famous because of their involvement in the development of atherosclerosis that was supposedly caused by eating saturated fats.


My newsletter on mad cow disease discussed the evidence incriminating the use of fish meal in animal feed, as a cause of the degenerative brain diseases, and earlier newsletters (glycemia, and glycation) discussed the reasons for thinking that inappropriate glycation of lysine groups in proteins, as a result of a lack of protective carbon dioxide/carbamino groups, produces the amyloid (or "prion") proteins that characterize the dementias. Acrolein, produced from the decomposing "fish oils" in the brain, is probably the most reactive product of lipid peroxidation in the brain, and so would be likely to cause the glycation of lysine in the plaque-forming proteins.
These toxic effects of acrolein in the brain are analogous to the multitude of toxic effects of the omega-3 fatty acids and their breakdown products in all of the other organs and tissues of the body. Cancer cells are unusual in their degree of resistance to the lethal actions of the lipid peroxides, but the inflammatory effects of the highly unsaturated fatty acids are now widely recognized to be essentially involved in the process of cancerization (my newsletters on cancer and leakiness discuss some of the ways the fats are involved in tumor development).
The fats that we synthesize from sugar, or coconut oil, or oleic acid, the omega-9 series, are protective against the inflammatory PUFA, in some cases more effective even than vitamin E.


In Woody Allen's 1973 movie, Sleeper, the protagonist woke up after being frozen for 200 years, to find that saturated fats were health foods. At the time the movie was made, that had already been established (e.g., Hartroft and Porta, 1968 edition of Present Knowledge in Nutrition, who showed that adequate saturated fat in the diet helped to protect against the formation of lipofuscin).

PS:
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says 2004 has been the most catastrophic breeding season on record for seabirds along UK coasts. It says industrial fishing to supply fish meal and oil is barely sustainable and imperils the whole marine food web.
"The UK has suffered serious seabird disasters this year already. In Shetland and Orkney, entire colonies of birds failed to produce any young because of severe food shortages. "On top of that, hundreds of seabirds have been washing ashore having perished at sea. Again, lack of food is thought to be one of the reasons." The report, Assessment Of The Sustainability Of Industrial Fisheries Producing Fish Meal And Fish Oil, was compiled for the RSPB by Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management Ltd and the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

_http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/fishoil.shtml

 

[Gaby]

Here is another update on this subject. Basically the concept is to have a diet high in saturated fat because it has a stabilizing effect on the omega 3s. Here is more info about it:

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,22916.msg276427.html#msg276427

Another important concept from "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living" (well, the whole book is really important!) is how we need less Omega 3s when we are having higher intakes of saturated fats:

[T]he type of fat eaten when most of your energy comes from fat is important. If you are a hunter getting 70-80% of your energy from fat, your dietary fat composition needs to be different from what you would consume if you were a subsistence farmer eating mostly carbohydrates with just 15% of your energy as fat. When fat is used for fuel, the body prefers that the majority of it be provided as mono-unsaturates and saturates. On a low carbohydrate diet appropriately rich in fat, even if only a small proportion of your fat is polyunsaturated, this small fraction times the total amount will still provide enough grams of the essential fatty acids. Because they function like vitamins rather than fuel, for the essential fatty acids, it's all about dose, not percent. And for the omega-6 fats in particular, more is not necessarily better.

[...]But perhaps equally (if not more) important is the dramatic change in how our bodies handle polyunsaturated fats when we cut back on carbohydrate intake. Polyunsaturates are obligate components of phospholipids, which in turn are needed to construct the membranes that enclose our cells and regulate cellular functions. Getting the right amount of polyunsaturated fats into membranes is critical for life-defining processes such as glucose transport (i.e., insulin sensitivity), controlling inflammation, salt excretion, blood pressure control, egg release from ovarian follicles, and sperm motility.

[...][Y]our body has a remarkable ability to select what it wants to keep while burning off the rest. It also means that you can selectively store specific fatty acids in specific places. Thus the mix of fats found in membrane phospholipids is dramatically different from that found in the triglycerides stored in adipose tissue. And even the mix of fatty acids in our adipose tissue triglycerides varies from site to site. For example, the fat composition in your legs is different from the mix found around your abdomen [67]. So the next time you hear someone argue a point by stating "you are what you eat", be sure to treat that person's opinion with a healthy dose of skepticism.[...]

The Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Response to Carbohydrate Restriction

Most serious scientists avoid the topic of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) metabolism like a plague. Why? Because it's a tangle of obscure names and symbols, parallel metabolic pathways, and positional isomers with conflicting functions. And besides, there are so many of them! In a single serum fraction, we typically identify about 20 different fatty acids with two or more double bonds (the definition of a polyunsaturate) belonging to 3 different metabolically distinct families (for details, see post-script below).

So again, it is fair to ask, what's the upside of opening this metabolic can of worms? The answer, simply, is that the dramatic changes in PUFA associated with adapting to a low carbohydrate diet can help explain the underlying physiology of its benefits.

First, we'll offer you an overview of why that might be. Then we'll tell you how we stumbled into this understanding over the last 20 years.

Point 1. Low carbohydrate diets cause the physiologically important end-products of essential fatty acid (EFA) metabolism in membranes to go up sharply[29, 41, 42]. EFA end-products in muscle membranes are positively correlated with insulin sensitivity[38]. Thus these membrane composition changes can explain the improved insulin sensitivity that occurs when an insulin resistant individual adopts a low carbohydrate diet.

Point 2. Increased EFA end-products in liver membranes shut down expression of the enzymes that drive lipogenesis [fat accumulation][72]. [...] In addition, this helps explain the dramatic reduction in serum triglycerides that we see in individuals with metabolic syndrome who go on a low carbohydrate diet.

Point 3. A simple explanation for increased EFA end-products might be that the body makes more of them on a low carb diet. But unfortunately it isn't that simple. All of the data (levels of metabolic intermediates and enzyme activities) point in the opposite direction — that production of EPA end-products goes down! So if they go up without more being made, this indicates that the body must be destroying them more slowly. And since the arch-enemy of PUFA is a group of molecules we call free-radicals (or more precisely, reactive oxygen species — ROS), perhaps the rate of ROS generation is reduced when dietary carbohydrates are restricted. The mainstream consensus still regards this as an 'outside the box' (or should we say "radical") fantasy, but it is also consistent with our multiple observations that a host of biomarkers of inflammation (known inducers of ROS generation) go down when a low carb diet is adopted [29].

So there you have it. It's really kind of elegant. Inflammation driven by the forced metabolism of carbohydrate drives up the production of ROS in mitochondria. ROS damage membrane EFA end-products, which at some point can't be replaced fast enough. The resultant reduction in membrane EFA end-products unleashes the genes (e.g. fatty acid synthase) that control liver lipogenesis, and at the same time the loss of membrane HUFA [highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA; e.g., arachidonate and docosahexaenoate [DHA])] causes increased insulin resistance in muscles. Insulin resistant muscles take up less glucose, resulting in more of it being diverted to the liver for lipogenesis. Take away the high levels of ROS and membranes suffer less damage, their content of EFA end-products rises, and both dyslipidemia and insulin resistance improve. The trigger for this set of metabolic dominos — the switch that controls this process — is dietary carbohydrate.

Summary

Clearly there is much more to dietary fats and health than is contained in simplistic edicts like "saturated fats are bad for you". We have shown you that our bodies respond to saturated fats very differently when we are keto-adapted, such that they are rapidly burned for fuel rather than being stored. By contrast, people eating higher levels of dietary carbohydrates, even when they are not over-eating total calories, have higher blood levels of saturated fats. [...]

The other new and important insight into the fatty acid response to carbohydrate restriction comes from examining the changes in EFA end-products in phospholipids. Keto-adaptation results in marked changes in how our bodies are able to construct and maintain optimum membrane composition, and this appears to be due to less production of ROS and inflammatory mediators. There is much more for us to learn about this process, but at the very least, this observation helps explain the improvement in insulin sensitivity that occurs when you become keto-adapted.

[...] Polyunsaturated oils rich in essential fats are important dietary constituents when one is eating a low fat diet. However if one is eating lots of fat, to get the same absolute amount of essential fats, a much smaller proportion of polyunsaturated fats (both omega-6 and omega-3) will suffice. Second, we have demonstrated in both human and animal studies that a low carb diet is associated with increased levels of essential fatty acid products (i.e., arachidonate and DHA) in blood phospholipids and tissue membranes. This occurs without signs of an increase in production, suggesting that their rate of degradation goes down when dietary carbs are limited. Thus the human requirement for essential fatty acid products may actually be somewhat reduced on an aboriginal hunting diet.

 

[Gaby]

Nora Gedgaudas expands a little bit on the same concept of saturated fat having a stabilizing effect on omega 3s in Primal Body, Primal Mind. She basically says that all inflammatory omega 6s and trans fats (all hydrogenated and vegetable oils) compete for a chemical pathway with the end result being that omega 3s don't get a chance of being produced from their parent essential fatty acid. Saturated fat doesn't compete against omega 3s:

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,22916.msg283221.html#msg283221

It is quite good! The way she puts it make it very clear why we all should supplement ourselves with omega 3s:

Deep within the cellular structure (chloroplasts) of plankton, green and leafy plants such as grass, and other sources such as walnuts and flaxseeds lies ALA [alpha-Linolenic acid], the "parent" form of a class of essential fatty acids known as omega-3 fatty acids. The term essential here means that something cannot be manufactured by the body and must be supplied by the diet. When a grass-eating animal or plankton-eating fish comes along and consumes this substance in plant foods, a series of enzymatic and metabolic conversions take place to transform the ALA into its derivative forms: EPA [eicosapentaenoic acid] and DHA [docosahexaenoic acid]. Herbivores make these conversions quite readily, though they are able to make only limited amounts of DHA. Humans make these conversions much less efficiently, and numerous factors may complicate this process.

To initiate this important metabolic conversion, a critical enzyme, known as delta-6 desaturase, must be present. It is essential to the process of elongation and desaturation into the active derivative forms of omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) from ALA. Once the body has either consumed or manufactured EPA, it can manufacture from this a series of eicosanoids such as series-3 prostaglandins, thromboxanes, and leukotrienes. All are essential to the functioning of the human body as complex hormones that work on the tissue or cellular level.

DHA, another derivative, makes up the highest percentage of the fatty acids in the human brain, facilitating visual and cognitive function, forming neuroreceptors for neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, and serving as a storage molecule that the body can reconvert to EPA if needed later on. Omega-3 fatty acids also make up a significant portion of all cellular membranes, giving them fluidity and helping facilitate all metabolic and bioerectrical processes. No one can function optimally without them.

[...]If We Used to Get So Much Omega-3 Fatty Acid, Where Did It All Go?

Traditional and primitive sources of EPA and DHA in the diet have included such things as the meat and organs of wild game and other exclu¬sively grass-fed meats and wild-caught cold-water seafood. At one time in our evolution, these essential fats were so prevalent in our diet that it is hypothesized that they alone were responsible for the threefold increase in the size of the human brain (Aiello et al. 1995). As much as 10 percent of human brain size has been lost in just the last century alone, likely due to the decreased amounts of available dietary EPA and DHA and the increased consumption of processed foods (Leonard et al. 2003).

Increased consumption of grains and legumes—as well as nuts, particularly, seeds, and, more recently, vegetable oils—added excessive levels bf another essential fatty acid: omega-6. Although omega-6 fatty acids are needed in balanced quantity with omega-3 fatty acids for optimal health, recent trends in agriculture, food processing, and animal husbandry practices have resulted in dangerous dietary imbalances. Because delta-6 and delta-5 desaturase enzymes are also needed for metabolism of omega-6 fatty acids, the resulting competition more often than not squeezes omega-3 fatty acids out of the picture. The result is that omega-6 fatty acids, along with trans fats and others, dominate the composition of membrane phospholipids and of fatty acids found in the brain and nervous system in the absence of the much needed omega-3 fatty acids. Excess omega-6 fatty acids—particularly in the presence of insulin—also results in excess production of series-2 Prostaglandins, many of which promote or exacerbate inflammatory processes.

In today's world, however, excess omega-6 fatty acids are not the only culprit interfering with delta-6 desaturase activity and the use of omega-3 fatty acids. Among the most insidious sources of interference with this vital nutrient are the man-made trans fats, found, in margarine, vegetable shortening, most commercial baked goods, nearly all fast foods, most pro-cessed foods, and commercial salad dressings and vegetable oils, includ¬ing all commercial canola and soybean oils. They may appear on labels as "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" substances.

Labeling laws do not require full disclosure of processing methods, however, due to certain loopholes in them, and the presence of trans fats in most commercial vegetable oils remains largely hidden. Once they are consumed, it can take at least two full years for the body to get rid of dietary trans fats, causing untold metabolic chaos in the meantime (Enig 2001). [...]

Deficiencies of biotin, vitamin E, protein, zinc, magnesium, and vitamins B12 and B6 all interfere with the action of delta-6 desaturase and other enzymes involved in healthy prostaglandin production. Consumption of sugar and starch also interferes with the desaturating enzymes, and the concomitant production of excess insulin can readily divert omega-6 fatty acid elongation toward proinflammatory prostaglandin pathways (Enig 2001). As if all this weren't dismal enough, diabetes, poor pituitary function, and low thyroid function are also synonymous with altered and inhibited delta-6 desaturase function.

Individuals of northern European, coastal Irish, Scandinavian, Inuit, and Native American descent may not produce this enzyme at all and may actually have an increased requirement for EPA and DHA due to genetic adaptation to the abundance of these substances in their ancestral diets. Deficiencies of omega-3 fatty acids and insulin resistance (metabolic disorders) are exceedingly common among these populations. [...]

Regardless of whether one makes these healthy dietary changes, it is likely that, for a time, some period of additional supplementa¬tion of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA from either fish oil or Antarctic krill oil may be necessary for remediation of deficiency states.

Supplements of flaxseed and hemp oils are commonly promoted as rich sources of vegetarian omega-3 fatty acids. Although this is true, flaxseed and hemp oils contain omega-3 fatty acid exclusively in its parent form, ALA, and they contain zero EPA or DHA. ALA requires the action of delta-6 desaturase and highly involved metabolic processes in order to be fully elongated and used by the body and brain in its most abundantly needed forms.

These conversions occur very inefficiently, if at all. Under optimal conditions and with certain individuals, one might expect a maximum of about 6 percent of the ALA in flaxseed oil to convert to EPA and about 4 percent to DHA—assuming none of the aforementioned limitations is present. Should excess omega-6 fatty acid or dietary trans fats be present, this reduces to an average of only about 2.7 percent proper conversion overall, at best (Enig 2001).

Clearly, flaxseed oil is not the most preferable source of omega-3 fatty acids—particularly in a deficient individual—though there may be other benefits to flaxseed oil supplementation, and small amounts are okay. Walnuts also contain some ALA. Cod-liver oil is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, rich in the EPA and DHA forms (also containing a little ALA, as well), but it is mainly a supplement for vitamin A and—to a lesser extent—vitamin D.

Regular fish oil or Antarctic krill oil supplements for omega-3 fatty acids, combined with small amounts of cod-liver oil, are far and away the best supplemental sources. Many companies molecularly distill their fish oil to remove any impurities or contaminants. Keep in mind that mercury t is generally concentrated in protein and not very fat soluble, so it's usually not considered a significant contaminant risk where fish oil is concerned. Also, sufficient tissue zinc and dietary selenium levels can help mitigate the potential for mercury toxicity and retention.

[...]

Other Important Essential Fatty Acid Considerations

Given the difficulty in relying on the activity—even the very presence—of the delta-6-desaturase enzyme in the metabolic conversions of parent and vegetable forms of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids to their active derivative forms, it is important to consider the plight of certain forms of omega-6 fatty acid as well. Delta-6-desaturase is also responsible for the conversion of alpha-linoleic acid (ALA, the parent form of omega-6 fatty acid) to gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), an important precursor to dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA), which is naturally abundant in liver and other organ meats. In turn, DGLA gives rise to series-1 prostaglandins, which are necessary for certain anti-inflammatory actions as well as mood regulation, cognitive function, hormonal balance, and prevention and treatment of skin disorders, and they may be conditionally essential.

It is probably advisable for most people to consider supplementation with small amounts (the recommended dosages on labels are probably sufficient for most people) of either black currant seed oil or evening primrose oil to cover this base and prevent imbalances from occurring. Borage seed oil, although arguably the richest natural source of GLA, contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids that are known to be hepatotoxic. I'd avoid making this my sole source of GLA. Also, be certain these delicate seed oils are labeled as hexane and solvent-free.

There are essentially three classes of prostaglandins. Prostaglandins are hormonelike substances made from essential fatty acids that operate on a cellular level to mitigate inflammation and various bodily processes.

Series-1 prostaglandins arise from GLA, a unique form of omega-6 fatty acid found in evening primrose oil, borage seed oil, and blackcurrant seed oil, and from DGLA, which is found in organ meats. Both have an anti-inflammatory effect.

Series-2 prostaglandins are manufactured from arachidonic acid (AA), also an omega-6 fatty acid, which is commonly found in organ meats, animal fat (especially pork), eggs, butter, and seaweed, They are typically associated with proinflammatory processes (though this is a little overly simplistic). Both inflammatory and anti-inflammatory com- pounds can result from AA, and this is partly mitigated by the presence of insulin.

Series-3 prostaglandins are manufactured from omega-3 fatty acids, more specifically EPA, and are found abundantly in exclusively grass-fed meats, wild-caught cold-water fish (such as salmon and sar¬dines), fish oil, and krill oil supplements.

Worthy of comment here is the widespread controversy and vilification of arachidonic acid (AA), an important form of omega-6 fatty acids, by the popular writer Barry Sears, author of The Zone Diet, who insists that this omega-6 fatty acid is to be avoided at all costs due to its proinflammatory properties.

Commonly found in liver, butter, and eggs, AA comprises 11 per¬cent of the fatty acids found in the brain, and it is absolutely required for healthy cognitive functioning as well as being necessary for healthy inflammatory response following injury. There is also more recent evi¬dence that the interaction of AA with vitamins A and D is absolutely essential for healthy neurotransmitter functioning. It is additionally the precursor to what are known as series-2 prostaglandins, some of which are inflammatory and some of which are anti-inflammatory.

[The rest can be found here: http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,22916.msg282453.html#msg282453

 

[monksgirl]

After reading this thread I find I am confused, and seek some guidance. The earlier quoted material says consumption of fish oil is bad, due to oxidative cascade it incurs, and is implicated in serious neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's. This last quoted material says it contains essential nutrients. So is fish oil bad or good? Or does it depend on your genes? Or should we just eat land mammals for saturated fats and only eat the fish itself occasionally?

 

[Gaby]

An interesting update:

_http://doctormurray.com/another-study-shows-the-importance-of-fish-oils-to-brain-health/

Another Study Shows the Importance of Fish Oils to Brain Health

Introduction

The long-chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA found in fish and fish oil supplements are absolutely critical to optimal brain function. A new study from the prestigious Oxford University in the UK found that the levels of EPA+DHA “significantly predicted” the ability of children between the ages of seven and nine to concentrate and learn.

Background Data:
The importance of EPA+DHA to brain function relates to their role in the composition of nerve cell membranes. A relative deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids in cellular membranes substantially impairs brain cell function.

Studies have shown that the EPA+DHA content in cell membranes in the brain directly influences neurotransmitter synthesis, signal transmission, uptake of serotonin and other neurotransmitters, neurotransmitter binding, and the activity of key enzymes that break down neurotransmitters like serotonin, epinephrine, dopamine, and norepinephrine.

Suffice it to say a lack of EPA+DHA leads to impaired brain function and plays a major role in attention deficit disorder, depression, and other psychological disturbances. EPA+DHA supplementation has been shown to improve these very same conditions.

New Data:
Researchers from Oxford University took blood samples from nearly 500 children between the ages of seven and nine to determine their omega-3 fatty acid status. The study found that higher levels of omega-3, particularly DHA, were associated with better reading and memory and fewer behavioral problems among the children examined. Lower levels were once again associated with more ADHD symptoms.

The blood samples of the British schoolchildren showed that the level of EPA+DHA reflected intakes well below the minimum recommended intake of these brain-critical fats: on average, the total levels of omega-3 fatty acids averaged 2.45%. The optimal level of omega-3 fatty acids recommended to prevent heart disease is 8%.

Dietary surveys collected from the parents showed that nine out of ten children in the study ate fish less than twice a week, and nearly one in ten never ate fish at all. Recommended weekly intake is a minimum of two fish portions a week. But, even then supplementation is advised by many health experts given the importance of EPA+DHA in children (and adults) – and not just for brain health, but also the health of the immune system, heart and vascular system, and every other body tissue.

Comment:
Once again here is a study highlighting how critical it is to supplement the diet with a high quality fish oil. For general health the recommend dosage of EPA+DHA is 1,000 mg per day. When there is greater need or in the treatment of health conditions shown to respond to fish oil supplementation the recommended level is 3,000 mg per day. These dosage levels apply to children as well.

Special Offer:
What if I told you there was a simple blood test that carries with it more significance than cholesterol measurements in determining your risk of having a heart attack or stroke? And, what if I also told you that this test also can predict your risk of Alzheimer’s disease, many forms of cancer, and many other chronic degenerative diseases? This valuable test also provides critical information in monitoring and dealing with such health conditions as autism, attention deficit disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and over 60 other serious illnesses.

The test that I am referring to a complete assessment of the levels of the various important fatty acids in our blood known as the Omega Blood Test. In addition to determining the actual percentages of all of the individual fatty acids in our blood, this test also provides a critical assessment of the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids.

The Omega Blood Test is a very simple test being marketed directly to consumers. Your test kit contains everything you need in collecting a small amount of blood from a simple skin prick of a finger that is placed on a special filter paper and sent to the lab. Your complete results are available online as well as being sent directly to you. The results come complete with an interpretation and recommendations.
[...]

Reference:
Montgomery P, Burton JR, Sewell RP, Spreckelsen TF, Richardson AJ. Low Blood Long Chain Omega-3 Fatty Acids in UK Children Are Associated with Poor Cognitive Performance and Behavior: A Cross-Sectional Analysis from the DOLAB Study. PLoS ONE 2013;8(6): e66697. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066697

 

[lainey]

This is an interesting article which helped me to decide whether to take fish oil or cod liver oil as a supplement:

Home > Health > Fermented Cod Liver Oil vs. Fish Oil

Fermented Cod Liver Oil is one of the very few things that I take daily and give to my kids (starting at a few months old). I get quite a few emails asking why I take this particular one and if regular fish oil would work just as well. I’m not a doctor and I’m not trying to play one on the internet, so I’m just sharing the reasons that my family takes Fermented Cod Liver Oil:

Why Fermented?

Fermented cod liver oil is made when cod livers are fermented. This allows the fat soluble vitamins and beneficial oils to separate from the rest of the liver without damaging the fat soluble vitamins (unlike in some methods like heat processing where the vitamins are damaged). This cool temperature fermentation process allows the cod liver oil to maintain its Omega-3, Vitamin D and Vitamin A content. This also makes the nutrients more absorbable to the body as Diane of Balanced Bites explains:

“In our bodies, digestive breakdown is the mechanism by which we do this internally – by means of not only the physical churning in our stomach, but also by means of stomach acid, bile, and, perhaps most notably digestive enzymes. There are several ways in which the reduction of nutrients may occur: heat, synthetic chemical processing, and digestion (or fermentation, which is an exogenous means of pre-digesting nutrients). Heat is damaging to delicate nutrients, especially when they are isolated from their whole-food source. Synthetic chemical breakdown of nutrients is damaging as well.

Digestion or fermentation (enzymatic breakdown) is by far the safest and most effective way to reduce the molecular structures in foods to their end usable constituents. (If you are an organic chemistry-buff, perhaps you’ll know a lot more about what the following information means than I do) When reduction is initiated by digestion (digestive enzymes) or fermentation, 100% of molecules break “to the right” – which is how our body uses them best. When the reduction is initiated by either heat or synthetic chemicals, 50% of the molecules break to the left (which may be toxic or unhealthful at the very least) and 50% to the right.”

Vitamins in FCLO:

Many healthcare professionals recommend taking Omega-3s in some form, and after researching the processing and Omega-3 levels in Fermented Cod Liver Oil, I decided that it was the best option for our family for several reasons:

Unlike many Omega-3 supplements, Fermented Cod Liver Oil is cold processed through fermentation so it retains high levels of fat soluble vitamins and Omega-3s and these are not damaged by high temperatures. Additionally, Fermented Cod Liver Oil contains about 25% DHA and EPA, which are highly recommended forms of Omega-3s.
Fermented Cod Liver oil Contains Vitamins A and D, which are both necessary for many aspects of health. While we can get Vitamin D from sunlight, Vitamin A can be harder to consume or absorb and FCLO is an excellent source. Vitamins A and D need each other for proper absorption as the Weston A. Price Foundation explains:”At least 2,000 genes, or nearly 10 percent of your genes, have been identified that are directly influenced by vitamin D, which in turn impact a wide variety of health issues, from preventing the common cold and flu to inhibiting at least sixteen different types of cancer. There’s even evidence linking vitamin D to the process of brain detoxification of heavy metals such as mercury. Widespread vitamin D deficiency has also been strongly linked to the childhood epidemics of autism, asthma, and diabetes, both type 1 and 2. Vitamin A, which is essential for your immune system just like vitamin D, is also a precursor to active hormones that regulate the expression of your genes, and they work in tandem. For example, there is evidence that without vitamin D, vitamin A can be ineffective or even toxic. But if you’re deficient in vitamin A, vitamin D cannot function properly either.”
Vitamin A (found abundantly in Fermented Cod Liver Oil) is a vital nutrient for our bodies, but it can be difficult to obtain. From The Healthy Baby Code: “Beta-carotene is the precursor (inactive form) of retinol, the active form of vitamin A. While beta-carotene is converted into vitamin A in humans, only 3% gets converted in a healthy adult. And that’s assuming you’re not one of the 45% of adults that don’t convert any beta-carotene into vitamin A at all.This means that – contrary to popular wisdom – vegetables like carrots and red peppers are not adequate food sources of vitamin A.Vitamin A is found in significant amounts only in animal products like liver and grass-fed dairy. You’d have to eat a huge amount of beta-carotene from plants to meet vitamin A requirements during pregnancy. For example, 3 ounces of beef liver contains 27,000 IU of vitamin A. As the chart below illustrates, to get the same amount of vitamin A from plants (assuming a 3% conversion of beta-carotene to vitamin A), you’d have to eat 4.4 pounds of cooked carrots, 40 pounds of raw carrots, and 50 cups of cooked kale!”
The Studies:

According to the Weston A Price Foundation, recent studies have shown that Fermented Cod Liver Oil can be beneficial to those with certain conditions including:

“PAIN IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: Cod liver oil supplements were better than controls in relieving pain and can be used as NSAID-sparing agents in rheumatoic arthritis patients (Rheumatology (Oxford). 2008 May;47(5):665-9).
VITAMIN D STATUS AND BONE LOSS: Inclusion of cod liver oil in the diet appears to attenuate the seasonal variation of vitamin D status in early postmenopausal women at northerly latitudes where quality of sunlight for production of vitamin D is diminished. Cod liver oil can thus protect against greater bone turnover, bone loss and obesity (Bone. 2008 May;42(5):996-1003).
DIABETES-RELATED CARDIOVASCULAR DISORDERS: Cod liver oil treatment in diabetic rats completely prevented endothelial deficiency and partly corrected several biochemical markers for cardiovascular disorders (J Pharm Pharmacol. 2007 Dec;59(12):1629-41).
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS: In Arctic climates, supplemental cod-liver oil during childhood may be protective against multiple sclerosis later in life (J Neurol. 2007 Apr;254(4):471-7).
BREAST CANCER: Reduced breast cancer risks were associated with increasing sun exposure and cod liver oil use from ages ten to nineteen. “We found strong evidence to support the hypothesis that vitamin D could help prevent breast cancer. However, our results suggest that exposure earlier in life, particularly during breast development, maybe most relevant” (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2007 Mar;16(3):422-9).
DEPRESSION: Regular use of cod liver oil is negatively associated with high levels of depressive symptoms in the general population (J Affect Disord. 2007 Aug;101(1-3):245-9).
WOUND HEALING: The combination of zinc oxide and cod liver oil was found to be superior to the formulations containing only one active ingredient. This combination was also found to be most efficient in accelerating wound healing when it is retarded by repeated dexamethasone treatment (Dtsch Tierarztl Wochenschr. 2006 Sep;113(9):331-4).
BREAST MILK: Women using cod liver oil had a significantly higher levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in their breast milk. “As this may have an impact on the health and development of breast-fed infants in later life, regular maternal cod liver oil intake could be relevant for the infant as well as for the nutritional adequacy of the maternal diet” (Ann Nutr Metab. 2006;50(3):270-6).
PAIN AND JOINT STIFFNESS: Cod liver oil application allows reduction of the dose of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and improves chief clinical symptoms, reducing pain and morning joint stiffness (Klin Med Mosk2005;83(10):51-7).
HIP FRACTURE: Multivitamin or cod liver oil supplementation was associated with a significantly lower risk of any fracture. “We found no evidence to support any skeletal harm associated with increased serum indices of retinol exposure or modest retinol supplementation in this population” (J Bone Miner Res. 2005 Jun;20(6):913-20).
HIGHER BIRTH WEIGHT: Women who used liquid cod liver oil in early pregnancy gave birth to heavier babies, even after adjusting for the length of gestation and other confounding factors. “Higher birth weight has been associated with a lower risk of diseases later in life and maternal cod liver oil intake might be one of the means for achieving higher birthweight” (BJOG. 2005 Apr;112(4):424-9).
UPPER RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTIONS IN CHILDREN: Children supplemented with cod liver oil had a decrease in upper respiratory tract infections and pediatric visits over time (Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2004 Nov;113(11):891-901).
VITAMIN D STATUS: In Norway, three mølje meals (consisting of cod liver and fresh cod-liver oil) provided an amount of vitamin D equal to 54 times the recommended daily dose. Subjects with food consumption habits that included frequent mølje meals during the winter sustained satisfactory vitamin D levels in their blood, in spite of the long “vitamin D winter” (Public Health Nutr. 2004 Sep;7(6):783-9).
DIABETES: Use of cod liver oil in the first year of life was associated with a significantly lower risk of type 1 diabetes. Use of other vitamin D supplements during the first year of life and maternal use of cod liver oil or other vitamin D supplements during pregnancy were not associated with lower risk of type 1 diabete (Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Dec;78(6):1128-34).
INTELLIGENCE IN CHILDREN: Children who were born to mothers who had taken cod liver oil during pregnancy and lactation scored higher on intelligence tests at age four compared with children whose mothers had taken corn oil (Pediatrics. 2003 Jan;111(1):e39-44).
RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: Use of cod liver oil decreased occurrence of morning stiffness, swollen joints and pain intensity in patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (Adv Ther. 2002 Mar-Apr;19(2):101-7).
EAR ACHES IN CHILDREN: Children prone to ear aches (otitis media) receiving cod liver oil plus selenium needed lower amounts of antibiotics during supplementation compared to before supplementation (Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2002 Jul;111(7 Pt 1):642-52).
DIABETIC NEUROPATHY: Use of cod liver oil in mice played an important role in the prevention of diabetic nephropathy (Lipids. 2002 Apr;37(4):359-66).
FAT-SOLUBLE VITAMINS IN BREAST MILK: Maternal use of cod liver oil resulted in higher levels of fat-soluble vitamins in breast milk, especially vitamins E and A. (Ann Nutr Metab. 2001;45(6):265-72).” (source)
What We Take:

My family takes Fermented Cod Liver Oil daily. I’ve only found one brand that is manufactured with the cold process fermentation (in the US) and this is Green Pastures (we order ours here). There are several options for Fermented Cod Liver Oil and we typically take the Fermented Cod Liver Oil/High Vitamin Butter Oil Blend. The High Vitamin Butter Oil has Vitamin K2, another fat soluble vitamin which Dr. Price called “Activator X” and which has been shown to help improve heart, bone, immune, brain and other aspects of health (source). For our family personally, this is what we take daily (ask your doctor before taking any new supplements!):

My husband and I take 1 teaspoon of the Fermented Cod Liver Oil Butter Blend everyday
Kids 2 and under (up to 30 lbs) get 1/4 tsp per day
Kids 3 and up (over 30 lbs) get 1/2 tsp per day
Kids 6 and up (over 50 lbs) get 2/3-3/4 tsp per day
I take up to two teaspoons if pregnant/nursing or trying to remineralize teeth
We use the Green Pastures brand of Fermented Cod Liver Oil (usually with High Vitamin Butter Oil added) which I get from here.