Fats - Fish Oil: New Facts
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.
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