Welcome to the first installment of Planet Nutrition's monthly education column. The focus of each article is intended to help clear up any questions and/or concerns pertaining to today's popular products. One of the main issues regarding the supplement industry, as well as the health community in general, relates to the amount of quackery or miss-information in the field today. If one should consider the sheer amount of new miracle products emerging daily and the ability for companies to reach each consumer via a myriad of marketing avenues, there is no question why this industry can be so confusing. Each monthly article will cover background information on the topic discussed, list the possible benefits of the products, provide cited medical journal entries to verify that the information provided is sound, and also guidelines on how to properly take the product.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids (Fish Oil)

Our early ancestors were eating a ratio of 1:1 between omega-6 fatty acids and omega-3 fatty acids, whereas, today the typical western diets ratio falls closer to 15:1. ¹ Since we are genetically accustomed to a consumption of a balanced ratio between the two, one would expect certain issues to surface. The increased ratio of omega-6's to omega-3's are believed to encourage the development of various diseases including: cardiovascular disease, cancer, and many inflammatory diseases. ¹ An increased ratio between omega-3's to omega-6's however have shown many benefits in reference to many of the previously mentioned ailments. These effects include, but are not limited to; lowered rectal cell proliferation in colorectal cancer patients ^1, suppressed inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis patients ^1,3, decreased risk of breast cancer among women ^1, an increase in cardiovascular function ,² a beneficial effect on patients with asthma ,¹ alleviated symptoms in patients with cystic fibrosis ,⁴ and Crohn's disease .⁵ Newer studies even suggest that diets high in fish oil help with depression, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes. ⁶

The active ingredients in fish oil consist of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), both of which can also be derived from flax seed as well. But it is imperative to point out that the omega-3 in fish oil is superior to that of flax oil because of the conversion of ALA (alpha linolenic acid) in flax to EPA and DHA, is severely limited in humans.⁹ This does not mean that certain benefits cannot be achieved using flax, but with fish oil, the effects are more pronounced. Fish oil also has been shown to help individuals with weight loss. Weight loss with fish oil consumption occurs via many pathways, these include; prevention of adolescent adipocytes (fat cells) to adult adipocytes ⁷, and by up-regulating beta-oxidation of fat inside fat cells. ⁸

The importance of the first study is that when a fat cell matures, you keep it for the rest of your life. When you lose or gain weight, that fat cell either shrinks or expands but it never goes away. So by taking fish oil, in conjunction with a sound nutrition and exercise program, you should be able to control your weight more efficiently. In the second study, up-regulating beta-oxidation in fat cells means that fish oil increases the activation of certain enzymes in fat cells that help you burn fat. It is important to note that these effects are dose-dependent, meaning the more you take, the more pronounced the effects. ^7,8 So, sans the weight loss benefits, do you notice the one connection between most of the listed diseases and ailments? The common theme is inflammation. Simply by taking fish oil and thereby reducing inflammation, these problems can be minimized and perhaps avoided. Unfortunately, the American diet is practically void of omega 3's and thus needs to be remedied by the consumption of either foods high in omega 3's, and/or through supplementation.

Fish oil comes in two forms, capsules or liquid. Most people, myself included, prefer to take the capsules for the convenience and the fact that the liquid version needs to be refrigerated. The recommended dosage by the American Heart Association calls for consuming foods high in omega-3's at least twice a week. The information provided by most of the studies recommends to take at least two to six capsules a day, which averages out to be between two to six grams. The FDA recommends an intake of three grams of EPA/DHA per day and most fish oil products contain around 360mg of EPA and 240mg of DHA per serving. When selecting a fish oil to take, make sure the product has vitamin E added to it to prevent any oxidative damage. The product should also be molecularly distilled, which is a process the product goes through that helps insure any harmful contaminants have been removed such as heavy metals, mercury, etc.

This concludes my first article on omega-3 fish oil. Since the amount of information on fish oil is so immense, another article will follow that will discuss the benefits fish oil has on diabetes, brain health, and supplementation for children Thank you for reading my first article. I hope that it was informative and enjoyable to read. If you have any more questions feel free to send me an email at matt@planetnutritiononline.com.

Works Cited

1 Simopoulos AP, The importance of the ratio of omega-6/omega-3 essential fatty acids. Biomed Pharmacother. 2002 Oct; 56(8): 365-79 [medline}

2 GISSI, 1999 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 (1999), pp. 447-455.

3 Kremer et al, 1995 Kremer JM, Lawrence DA, Robinson DR, Bigaoette J, Effects of high-

Dose fish oil on rheumatoid arthritis after stopping nonsteriodal anti-inflammatory drugs. Clinical

And immune correlates, Arthritis and Rheumatism 38 (1995) pp. 1107-1114.

4 Lawrence and Sorrell, 1993 Lawrence R and Sorrel T, Eicosapentaenoic acid in cystic fibrosis evidence of a pathogenic role of leukotriene. B4. Lancet 342 (1993), pp. 465-469.

5 Billuzzi, 1996 A. Billuzzi, Effect of a enteric coated fish oil preparation on relapses in crohn's disease. New England Journal of Medicine 334 (1996) pp. 1552-1560.

6 Patch et al, 2005 Patch CS, Tapsell GC, Williams PG, Overweight consumers salent beliefs

On omega 3 enriched functional foods in Australia's Illawanna Region, Journal of Nutritional Educationb Behavior 37 (2005). Pp. 83-89.

7 Smith P, Sun GY, Donahue OM, Thomas TR, Exercise plus n-3 fatty acids: additive effect on postprandial lipemia, Metabolism 2004; 53; 1365-1371.

8 Flachs P, Horakova O, Brauner P, Rossmeisl M, Pecina P, Fransses-van Hal N, et al. Polyunsaturated fatty acids of marine origin upregulate mitochondrial biogenesis and induce beta- oxidation in white fat. Diabetologia 2005; 48: 2365-2375.

9 Morris DH. Methodologic challenges in designing clinical studies to measure differences in the bioequivalence of n-3 fatty acids. Mol Cell Biochem. 2003 Apr;246(1-2):83-90. [medline]