Fish Oil

Fetuses and infants simply must get enough omega-3 oils for ideal brain development. In a research study of premature babies, those who were fed breast milk had eight points higher IQ at age eight than those fed a standard bay formula. This suggests that the higher amounts of DHA in breast milk can attribute to increased intelligence.

Physicians also advise expectant mothers to add omega-3’s into their diet particularly during the last trimester where most critical brain growth happens. Studies also show that boys with lower levels of omega-3 fat have greater tendencies of behavioral problems like hyperactivity, anxiousness or temper tantrums.

Brain cells simply need DHA to function at their highest levels. If our diets are low in omega-3 fatty acids and the brain cells do not get enough, our brains will suffer and inevitably, we will also. But when it is supplied with what it needs, the brain can function much better. The brain
is kind of like a relay race. Thought travels thru electrical signals through the brain, getting passed like a baton from one neuron to another. For a signal to enter a neuron, the signal needs to pass through the walls of the neuron, called cell membranes. These walls consist exlusively of fats and twenty percent of these are essential fatty acids like omega-3’s.

Omega-3’s are claimed to strengthen our synapses, making it easier for signals to cross the space between the brain cells.
Since omega-3’s are essential fats,the question becomes: Where can we get this vital material?

Although long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids can be found in somewhat small quantities in foods like walnuts, flaxseed and a few others, the most beneficial form of Omega-3’s, the fatty acids DHA and EPA, can only be found in fish like salmon, tuna, herring, anchovies, mackerel, sablefish and bluefish, etc.

Oddly, omega-6 oils like those found in corn and sunflower seed oils as well as the majority of margarines often neutralize the benefits of omega-3’s, so one is well advised to take olive oil and canola oil in their place. Sadly, most Americans consume a dangerously inadequate supply of omega-3’s and an excess of omega-6 fatty acids.

Let us just say that the ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 should be around 1 to 1, but the average American ratio ranges from 20 to 1 to 50 to 1.

In addition, fish oil in the form of daily supplements has proven to be a superb replacement, particularly for those that do not eat fish at all or very often, those who simply do not like fish, those pregnant and nursing who should be avoiding mercury or those that are allergic. Speaking of mercury, this issue should be taken into serious consideration, as fish of all types from all waters are now demonstrating hazardous levels of tasteless but toxic mercury. Some physicians are beginning to inform their patients about this metal which is taking up residence inside the bodies of fish because of our polluted environment. There is some salmon which that you can buy for an enormous price which has been lab tested for mercury and other toxins.

Although there is no established RDA for Omega-3 Fatty Acids (EPA and DHA), much of the medical research on the benefits of these nutrients is conducted using amounts of one thousand mg and more.

For instance, according to GISSI-Prevenzione Investigators: “Dietary supplementation with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E after myocardial infarction: Results of the GISSI-Prevenzione trial.” Lancet 354:447-455 (1999). This study was conducted using approximately one thousand milligrams of Omega-3 fatty acids. For more data about fish oil and omega-3 fatty acids, visit Pharmaceutical Grade Fish Oil and find out more.

Ryan Joseph is a write/researcher. For more information visit http://www.theultimatefishoil.com

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Inflammation has been in the news a lot lately. Not just inflammation
but silent inflammation. It’s been the topic in countless newspaper
articles and TV news reports. So what’s all the fuss about silent
inflammation?

According to Dr. Barry Sears author of The Anti Inflammation Zone,
Silent inflammation is inflammation that you can’t feel and what’s more
average Americans are leading a lifestyle that causes chronic silent
inflammation. He also states that silent inflammation is the first sign
that your body is out of balance and you are no longer well. You can’t
feel it but its grinding down your heart, your brain, and your immune
system. It’s insidious and is the greatest threat to your wellness.

When over produced by the body, three hormones - Cortisol, Insulin and
Pro-Inflammatory Eicosanoids - contribute to silent inflammation and
set the stage for disease.

Dr. Sears states that wellness is ultimately dependent on the levels of
cellular inflammation and especially silent inflammation found in your
body. If you have what he calls screaming pain or an existing chronic
disease then you know your aren’t well. However silent inflammation is
different because it’s ongoing inflammation that is under the pain
threshold, it’s difficult to detect and you can’t determine it by sight
alone.

Your first line of defense against silent inflammation is the Zone
Diet. The Zone Diet was designed to reverse silent inflammation. The key
to keeping silent inflammation under control lies in keeping your
glycemic load high enough to avoid ketosis and low enough to avoid excess
insulin secretion. You also need to balance that with the proper amount
of protein and fat. It’s really not that hard. You can learn all
about the Zone Diet by reading either of Dr. Sears’ books, The
Anti-Inflammation Zone or The OmegaRx Zone.

The other single most important thing that you can do to control silent
inflammation is to take a daily supplement of high-dose, ultra-refined
fish oil. It’s not the cod liver oil your grandmother used to take.
It’s the new generation of fish oils - the ultra-refined, ultra-pure
fish oils. These fish oils have less than 10 parts per billion (ppb) of
Mercury, less than 45 (ppb) of PCBs, less than 1 part per trillion (ppt)
of Dioxins and less than 13 meq/L Total Oxidation. These fish oils are
not the fish oils found in health food stores or supermarkets. It
takes 100 gallons of a health food store grade fish oil to make one gallon
of the new ultra refined fish oil recommended by Dr. Barry Sears in his
book, The Anti-Inflammation Zone.

On the cover of his book, The OmegaRx Zone - The Miracle of the New
High Dose Fish Oil, he states that high-dose pharmaceutical grade fish oil
is as close to a medical miracle as we will see in the 21st century.
In fact, he states that it is his most important Zone discovery ever!

Get into the Zone today and take your fish oil!

More information about pharmaceutical grade fish oil, omega-3 fatty acids and Silent Inflammation is available at

Fish Oil, Pharmaceutical Grade

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According to the renowned research scientist and inventor of the Z one Diet Plan Dr. Barry Sears, studies are increasingly focusing on high dose fish oil. Actually, fish oil has been studied for some time. However, it has been looked at with more intensity ever since the Greenland Eskimos were analyzed by Danish and other European doctors in the 1970’s. They wanted to know why the greenlanders suffered very little in the way of heart disease-even though they had a lot of fat in their diets.

Fish oil effects a specific set of hormones. The more fish oil that is consumed, broadly speaking, the more “good” and the less “bad” eicosanoids (a certain type of hormone) an individual will have in their body. A key for 21st century medicine will be to balance these hormones as much as possible.

High dose pharmaceutical grade fish oil may be the top source of omega-3 fatty acids since purification methods have become so advanced in recent years, particularly with molecular distillation. And quite unlike traditional cod liver oil, newer methods have mostly eliminated impurities such as mercury and pcb’s from high-grade fish oil. Fish oil has EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), which are both long chain omega-3 fatty acids.

Essential fatty acids(EFA’s) are grouped into two distinct families, omega-6 EFAs and the omega-3 EFAs. Broadly
speaking, omega 6 fatty acids promote the production of the
“bad”eicosanoids, responsible for cellular inflammation within the very cells of
the body, while long chain omega 3 fatty acids do just the opposite.

The US National Institutes of Health has recognized the benefits of DHA and EPA and has published Recommended Daily Intakes of these important fatty acids. They recommend a daily intake of 650 mg of DHA and EPA, and 4.44 g/day of linoleic acid.

Dr. Sears has said that the purity of the fish oil is the single most important factor to think of when taking it as a supplement. To manufacture ultra refined or pharmaceutical grade fish oil requires a lot of purification. It takes some 100 gallons of health-food grade fish oil to make a single gallon of ultra refined or pharmaceutical grade fish oil! Dr Sears has 13 U.S. patents in this field of medicine, and is the author of the 1995 New York Times bestseller ‘The Zone’ and several other books.

If you intend to supplement your diet with fish oil, it may be a good idea to take pharmaceutical grade fish oil as you do not have the same concerns about mercury and pcb’s as you may have with an inferior fish oil product.

A.M Wilmont is a writer and researcher. For more information go to http://www.fishoil-omega3.com/ or http://www.omega3fishoil.org/

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