A Quick Word About Fish Oil

Omega 3's are the new black, and for good reason. However, it seems the reason is often lost on both the public and the supplement manufacturers. Allow me to clarify. And I promise not to get too technical...

To put it as simply as I can: the types of fats you eat eventually become a part of the cell membranes of all your cells. Those fats are then used as raw materials for the cell when it needs to make things, especially mediators of inflammation. What that means is you really are what you eat, and you can eat excess inflammation. Excess inflammation will eventually cause your genes to express sensitivity to pain, and if left unchecked, they'll also express most of the diseases of the west.

Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease are all, at least in part, inflammatory conditions that have taken ten steps too many. What disease you as an individual end up getting is contingent on your particular genetic influences. If heart disease runs in your family, then excess inflammation is very likely to show up as heart disease in you. As a matter of fact, the blood test for C reactive protein has historically been used to test for likelihood for a cardiovascular accident. The reality though, is that it tests for a marker of systemic inflammation, and when people have high levels of that marker they are likely to have heart troubles AND/OR a bunch of the other pathologies we'd all like to avoid.

Omega 3 fatty acids, such as those found in fish oil, are used by your cells to make anti-inflammatory chemicals that cause tissue healing. This is good. The specific omega 3's in fish oil are EPA and DHA (eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, respectively). Flax oil, by the way, contains omega 3's, too, but not EPA or DHA, which are the fats that make it into your actual cell membranes. Flax seed oils go through a biochemical process that eventually yields EPA and DHA, but it takes on average about 11 times the flax to get the same amount of EPA/DHA into your cells as straight up fish oil. If you're a vegetarian, flax is the way to go, but if you're not, go straight for the fish.

Omega 6 fatty acids, on the other hand, produce inflammatory chemicals when plucked from the cell membrane and converted. You need some of those fats and they're not all evil or anything, but at the same time you need to limit intake. In a perfect world we would consume a fairly equal ratio of 6's and 3's. 4 to 1 is acceptable. The rub is that most of the foods we eat in America are chock full of omega 6's. Basically any grain product or food that ate a grain product like your grocery store beef are high omega 6. Same thing goes for vegetable oils.

The reason to take fish oil is to simply get some balance between the two. For this reason you should avoid products calling themselves EFA's, which stands for "essential fatty acids." They almost always have an equal ratio of 3's, 6's, and sometimes 9's (what you find in avocado oil). We eat too many 6's already, so you certainly don't need to take more.

Fruits and vegetables have a 3 favoring ratio, as do cold water oily fish like salmon and mackerel. Grass fed beef, which is getting easier to find these days (especially in Texas) has a good ratio, too. And it's not as expensive as you think. If you aren't ready to get that committed, then at least tilt the balance your way by avoiding grains and fried foods (at least foods fried in vegetable oil), and take some fish oil. Read my previous post about supplement quality, and know that we're here for your health at Green Chiropractic.

One more thing: if you have a group that would be interested in hearing more of this kind of thing, drop us a line at the web site. I'd love to make arrangements to spread the dietary love.