Omega-3 deficiency hurts!

[Chemisse]

By Susan Allport

Research from the world's top universities shows that these fats do much more than regulate our brains: They can also lower risk of heart disease, arthritis, and cancer. They even help fight wrinkles and may block fat-cell formation.

While researching a book on omega-3s, I realized that the essential fats — the omega-3s and their close cousins, the omega-6s — change with the seasons. It might sound like a small idea, but it may soon fundamentally change the way you think about food.

First, let's start with omega-3s, what I'll call the spring fats. These are likely the most abundant fats in the world, but they don't originate in fish, as many believe. Rather, they are found in the green leaves of plants. Fish are full of omega-3s because they eat phytoplankton (the microscopic green plants of the ocean) and seaweed. In plants, these special fatty acids help turn sunlight into sugars, the basis of life on Earth. The spring fats speed up metabolism. They are fats that animals (humans included) use to get ready for times of activity, like the mating season. They're found in the highest concentrations in all the most active tissues: brains, eyes, hearts, the tails of sperm — the flight muscles of hummingbirds. Because fish have so many of these fats in their diets, they can be active in cold, dark waters. These fats protect our brains from neurological disorders and enable our hearts to beat billions of times without incident. But they are vanishing from our diet, and you'll soon understand why.

Next up are the omega-6s, what I'll call the fall fats. They originate in plants as well, but in the seeds of plants rather than the leaves. The fall fats are simply storage fats for plants. Animals require both — omega-3s and omega-6s — in their diets and their tissues. But omega-6s are slower and stiffer than omega-3s. Plus, they promote blood clotting and inflammation, the underlying causes of many diseases, including heart disease and arthritis. Omega-3s, on the other hand, promote blood flow and very little inflammation, which may prevent things like heart disease. The proper mix of these two fats helps create tissue with the right amount of blood flow and inflammation. But because they're in constant competition to enter our cells, if your diet consists of too many omega-6s, your body will be deficient in omega-3s. And that is what's been happening to us as we've been eating more and more seed fats in the form of soybean, corn, and other vegetable oils.


Much more at the link. It's a long - and I think - really interesting article.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32957460/ns/health-heart_health/page/2/

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Hmm... I take an omega 3 and 6 combo. Maybe I should just go with 3?

[Schema Thing]

2. I have the same question.

[Chemisse]

3. Yeah if you click in and read the whole article

It does suggest that.

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Yes.

It's nearly impossible to get too much W-3 (Omega-3). Various agricultural and animal husbandry practices have radically altered the W-3/W-6 balance in the last 50 years. Several authors have written about it, and the whole metabolic system is also well-explained in several websites.

Plant-based all-W-3 supplements don't exist; flax oil comes closest, but it has a lot of W-6. In a few years, though, there should be a robust industry producing krill oil from krill raised in vats. Krill are the microorganisms that synthesize the W-3 that eventually ends up in fish.

I take 8 grams of fish oil a day. My cholesterol come down 90 points in two years, and my triglycerides fell from 1000 to the low 200s -- I was unable to tolerate statins and two types of anti-TG meds, so it was basically down to fish oil for me. It's worked well.

Of course, it's S.O.P. to work with your physician on any medical issue.

--d!

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Yeah I take a fish oil/flaxseed mixture at the moment.

[grasswire]

8. what kind of fish oil are you taking?

I hate the idea of statins.

[Dogmudgeon]

9. The Generic stuff

In spite of the advertising from the high-end brands, most fish oil supplements are made by a group of three or four companies.

Also take niacin, even flush-free (inositol nicotinate). This is a standard medical therapy. You REALLY want your physician in on this if you're using it for lipid normalization.

Exercise is also important. Even an hour's total of walking per week will do a lot of good. Adding a little weight exercising is also quite helpful. I started by filling 2-liter soda bottles with water, putting them in plastic shopping bags, and lifting them. (Be sure to double - or even triple - bag!)

I'm a 51-year old man. My "regimen" is 8g of fish oil, 1g of niacin, and a multivitamin each day. I also recently started intermittent fasting to both accelerate weight loss and for its beneficial effects. I exercise, too, but have not done much in the past 3 months due to health issues, and I didn't suffer any return to worse lipid numbers.

It may also bear mentioning that I used to have diabetes, but now have completely normal glucose response, possibly from a combination of low-carb eating and exercise. (I no longer eat low-carb style, except for short periods when I start to crave sugar.) Reversal of diabetes is a RARE result, and I consider myself exceedingly lucky to have done so. But it's always worth aiming for, if you're diabetic.

I just had a cardiac stress test. Absolutely NO disease, and no clinically detectable plaques, after being on watch for pulmonary hypertension for several years.

I do still take blood-pressure control meds, a beta blocker and an ACE inhibitor. (I can't take Ca-channel blockers.) I'm still fat, but slowly losing (though I tend to "yo-yo"). I ain't done, yet!

Yes, this all took work, and reliance on physicians, which some folks around here don't like. And, sorry, I can't guarantee anything, and your response will probably be somewhat different than mine. But, that said, it's worth a try. MOST people do succeed to a splendid degree with a nutrition-and-lifestyle treatment plan, if they are willing to put some dedication into it.

But DON'T take my word for it, see your physician as soon as you can!

And as always, call your doctor if you have an erection lasting 4 hours or more.

:evilgrin:

Good luck!

--d!

[grasswire]

10. congratulations

You've done very well. My experience that my physicians want to shove pills, with no discussion of lifestyle options, and do expensive testing that I fear is just the moneymaker du jour. I have zero symptoms of sleep apnea. Why should I have a sleep test? I have no symptoms of a carotid bruit. Why should I have the ultrasound? (I did not have the sleep test. I did have the ultrasound, which turns up negative.) I suspect that part of my diagnostic treatment was ordered to pay for a brand new fancy building. One specialist refers to another, who refers to another. Mmm-hmm. That's how it goes. No thanks.

[Dogmudgeon]

11. What success with medicine depends on

1. Your symptoms may have led to the recommendations of an ultrasound and a PSG (sleep test). If you have a lot of fatigue, a PSG is certainly a good idea. But I used to do PSGs, so I am a little biased. That said, they can be miraculous. You can also often get a home mini-sleep-test as a pre-evaluation; you sleep with an oximeter pickup on your finger one night. If your oxygen falls during sleep, a PSG is an excellent idea.

2. You really have to take the role of the "Boss" in dealing with physicians. For one thing, I refuse to call them "doctors" -- I call them "physicians" -- though I will use the title individually ("Dr. Jones") out of courtesy. But if you read up on your "complaints" and become a little medically literate, they will become MUCH more responsive to YOUR orders. It really IS a partnership.

3. The referral chain is compelled 20% by scientific evidence of who-does-what-best, and 80% by ... "the Suits" (the business interests and the insurance industry). If we can break them to the bit, we will have something resembling "normal" medical care again. But keep in mind, too, that most patients are rather child-like and unwilling to adhere to a lifestyle treatment plan. "Pill pushing" keeps these people alive and relatively healthy, even if a healthy lifestyle is far superior.

In some ways, the current medical crisis is forcing people to take action, personally and politically. On the other hand, I'm a poster boy for a case where insurance company antics nearly led to my death. So I got educated, got on SSDI (it only took 5 years), and began kicking some ass. My health is, as you can see, improving steadily. (And my sincere thanks go out to the fine taxpayers of America, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania -- may I soon rejoin your numbers.)

So, be the Boss, and brook no nonsense from glorified clerks playing at practicing medicine with a stack of forms.

And I guess I don't have to exhort you to keep the pressure on for a good health insurance regime -- Public Option Today, Single-Payer Tomorrow!

--d!

[grasswire]

12. you are wrong

...(and more than a little patronizing)

You wrote: "But if you read up on your "complaints" and become a little medically literate, they will become MUCH more responsive to YOUR orders. It really IS a partnership "

It is my experience that physicians do not like patients who are medically literate. I am medically literate, with nearly a dozen years in hospital and medical office positions of responsibility. I am well-read on my "complaints." It is my experience that physicans these days are not interested in spending the time required on a patient who resists the boiler plate pharma protocol.

YMMV. Or perhaps women are treated differently from men.

[mopinko]

16. apnea symptoms

are not that obvious. i was dx'ed with it for fatigue, and i was flat out shocked. but as medical troubles go, if you have it, the fix is not that expensive, and can change your life.

[BonnieJW]

17. You can also take plant sterols which are

plant based statins. I take those.

[glowing]

14. My husband is the same way.. Fish oil for him too. The cholesterol meds

he seemed to be allergic to.

[Dorian Gray]

13. Omega 6

is really high in our diet... I think it's found in most meats (other than fish) and Americans generally don't need to supplement. But your diet, especially if you were a vegetarian or ate little meat, might be deficient in them. I'd talk to a health specialist about your food lifestyle and see if further supplementation is necessary for the Omega 6. (I take Omega 3 supplements as part of my prenatal supplements. They were recommended to me by two separate doctors who know I've been trying to become pregnant for a long time. They were also suggested to my husband for cholesterol reasons... and for the further benefit of aiding in depression.)

[BrklynLiberal]

6. Thank you for this. I am sending it to my sister and my son.

[grasswire]

7. that was FASCINATING

Wow.

Lots to think about regarding omegas.

[kaylynwright]

15. proportion of omega-6 and omega-3

We were talking about this Thursday in one of my psych classes. My professor said that the proportion of omega-6 to omega-3 should ideally be 2:1 or even better, 1:1. He said the average American's proportion is closer to 16 or 20: 1. EEK! That's way too much omega-6.

He also said that by eating 2 servings of fish each day, you can get the amount of omega-3 that you need in a day.