Increased dietary fish oil could save many lives

[Celebration]

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-09-13T182548Z_01_HAR366333_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-INCREASED-DEATHS-DC.XML

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Fish oil could potentially save more lives than cardiac defibrillators, devices used to revive individuals whose hearts have stopped beating and to prevent and treat life-threatening heart arrhythmias, researchers estimate in a new report.

Past research has linked the omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish to a lower risk of fatal heart rhythm disturbances. This latest study tried to estimate the potential public health impact of raising adults' omega-3 levels with fish oil supplements.

...........snip..........

This amounts to a 6.4-percent total death reduction -- mostly by preventing sudden cardiac death in apparently healthy people, according to the study authors, led by Dr. Thomas E. Kottke of the Heart Center at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota.


Conversely, the researchers estimate that far fewer lives would be saved by defibrillators, devices that deliver a "shock" to restart the heart or to resolve ventricular fibrillation, an otherwise fatal heartbeat irregularity in which the heart quivers instead of contracting normally.

............snip...

Kottke's team estimates that implantable defibrillators would lower the cardiac death rate by 3.3 percent, still not as much as the 6.6-percent lower death rate achieved by increasing the use of fish oil supplements.

[jilln]

1. Is this any different from omega-3 from walnuts and flax?

And does the fish oil still contain all the mercury, pesticides and other pollutants in fish these days?

[hvn_nbr_2]

3. I think the relevant compounds are the same

EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) are the commonly cited relevant substances and are listed on non-fish-based omega-3 supplements. I don't know if they occur in the same concentrations in walnuts and flax though.

Some fish oil supplements are processed to remove at least mercury although I don't know how common that is or how to tell which are and aren't. You'd think the ones who do it would advertise it, but I don't seem to see that much.

From what I understand, the cold water oily fish such as wild Alaska salmon, sardines, and a couple others that I forget are still relatively low in mercury etc. I don't think you can get away from those things completely (unless you stop breathing) but avoiding large fish that are high on the food chain and live in the most polluted waters helps.

[TalkingDog]

4. Most fish oils use small fish: anchovies, sardines, etc.

Which don't collect as much of the toxic gunk as the larger fish like tuna.

And just as an aside, why rabbits are good, fairly clean meat. They grow quickly and by the time they are ready for "harvest", you don't have time to shoot them full of hormones, antibiotics and other junk.

As for all omega 3s being equal, I have looked and asked, but haven't gotten a good answer for that question. Most likely there are synergistic effects that increase the efficacy for some symptoms but not others depending on the source of the oil, but as I said, I'm just guessing because I can't find a site willing to own up one way or the other.

I take fish oil for rheumatoid pain and the subsequent (mild) depression and it helps a lot.

[jilln]

6. Um, animals are not "harvested"

They are slaughtered by people with not enough imagination to eat other things.

[mzteris]

5. Here're some info

about the subject:

http://www.andrews.edu/NUFS/essentialfat.htm

http://www.vegetarian-dha-epa.co.uk/


Also, there are supplements made from "sea vegetables" - either the plant or also some oil based versions of this by a different maker. Essentially you're getting what the fish get from the plants they eat - or the other plankton/fish they eat that eat the plants :-) . (My son's think the the one we've been using - plant based - "tastes bad", however. )

I haven't used this, but here's a link to something like I was talking about: http://www.detoxyourworld.com/acatalog/omega_zen.html

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. BUY QUALITY, check out Carlson's for one. n/t

[davsand]

11. You do need to be careful with fish oil.

Yep, the PBA & Mercury can be in fish oil, and it can make you sick over time or at high doses. You can avoid that if you take Krill Oil (also called Neptune Krill Oil by some) because Krill are a small plankton that lives above where the metals have not settled out.

Fish oil (actually Omega Three Oil) is something that there's been some research done on that would support the idea that it can have a pretty positive impact on health (circulatory health and inflammatory disease especially.) I do know that nuts and flax seed do contain Omega Three oils and their precursors, and there are other plants that do as well.

Be careful with plant supplements as well, however, because I think I remember seeing some articles linking prostate cancer to Flax Seed oil in men. Double check that, don't take it as gospel, but I think I remember reading that in more than one place.

There is a doc here in Illinois that does a regular health column/newsletter that deals with health, and I would suggest you check his archives for more info:

http://www.google.com/custom?domains=Mercola.com

Warning, he does sell products and that does make me take him with a grain of salt. What saves him, IMO, is he links to other articles to support his opinions.

Similarly, there is Dr Barry Sears, and he has actually written a few books about fish oil and why it is important to our health. Again, he sells stuff (especially the Zone Diet,) but I can't help but like the guy--he seems sincere.

We take fish oil every day. Kev started on it after his heart attack, and his Cardiac Doc says it he encourages it for any of his patients who are interested in nutritional supplements.

Regards!


Laura

[bananas]

2. There is concentrated fish oil available by prescription

and apparently covered by many insurance plans.

http://www.peoplespharmacy.org/archives/radio_shows/602_fish_oil_for_health.asp

602 Fish Oil for Health
Radio Shows September 09, 2006

Listen http://www.peoplespharmacy.org/archives/excerpt/602_fish_oil_for_health.asp

Fish oil has become extremely popular. There’s even a prescription version available. Is it as helpful as its proponents claim, or is it just a fad?

Guests: Joseph Maroon, MD, Vice Chairman and Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is also the team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steeler football team. He is co-author, with Jeffrey Bost, of Fish Oil: The Natural Anti-Inflammatory.

Jennifer Dianto, Seafood Watch Program Manager at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The Website is: http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp

Richard Deckelbaum, MD, the Robert R. Williams Professor of Nutrition and Director of the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University. Dr. Deckelbaum wrote an editorial on fish oil in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/84/1/1 Kathleen Wyne, MD, F.A.C.E., an endocrinologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. She consults for Reliant Pharmaceuticals, the company that makes the prescription product Omacor.

[grasswire]

8. you take the fish oil in capsules, right?

And does it have a fishy aftertaste? Pardon my ignorance. I don't know what quantities of fish oil they consider effective.

[MichellesBFF]

9. Fish Oil

Pharmaceutical grade fish oil is what you want. I take RxOmega-3 Factors, average
dosage is 4 pills which provides you with 1600 mg EPA, and 800 mg of DHA.
(Source is anchovy, sardine, and mackerel.)

Been good for my depression, and ADD. Fabulous stuff in high doses.

[feminazi]

10. some can have an aftertaste

I read once that keeping them in the fridge can prevent that. I've been doing that for a while and haven't had any problems.

[BuddhaGirl]

12. taking your fish oil in the middle of a meal

can cut down on the repeating...and it's best taken with food anyway.