THE OMEGA-3S: The very pood fats Part 1

If doctors truly believe in ‘evidence-based medicine’, they obli-gate themselves to put into practice what scientific evidence has determined to be beneficial. As a descriptive word, ‘beneficial doesn’t do justice to the incredible therapeutic action of omega- 3 oils. Our two supplemental sources are fish oils and flaxseed oil. Although both are high in omega-3 fatty acids, they often can’t be used interchangeably, so it’s best for us to consider them separately. Let’s start with fish oils, which I consider the most important nutritional prescription we have for preventing heart disease.

NOTHING FISHY ABOUT IT

Because of a diet that consists almost exclusively of seal meat and blubber, the Eskimo people of Greenland are ‘probably the most exquisitely carnivorous people on Earth’, according to no less an authority than physiologist August Krogh, MD, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on preventing heart disease. At the same time, Eskimos have one of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world. Their LDL cholesterol is low, and their HDL readings are high. One very likely reason is that they eat no refined sugars or carbohydrates. The other reason, also supported by scientific evidence: their diet is high in fish fat and fish oil, both rich sources of two essential fatty acids – EPA eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).

Since the early surveys of the Greenlanders, countless scientific efforts, including a Dutch study conducted for twenty years, shown that by increasing our consumption of cold-water с fand fish oils, we can dramatically reduce the risk of heart disease.

Another major study calculated a 50 per cent reduction in fatal heart attacks for people who consume more salmon and other cold-water fish. Supplements are similarly effective, according to a group of scientists who compared fish and fish oil supplements. The overall reduction in mortality for the fish oil group was extraordinary. The number of total deaths dropped by 29 per cent. The results were so amazing that the study was stopped so that the good news could be spread.

If you are a heart patient, I must ask you this: Why hasn’t your doctor prescribed fish oil to you? Perhaps you should demand that your cardiologist read two recent review articles, one coauthored by Jorn Dyerberg, MD, the Danish researcher who broke the Greenland Eskimo story a generation ago. The articles bibliographies provide all the medical justification any doctor could ever need.

How FISH OILS WORK

How do these fish oils do it? In a variety of ways. EPA and DHA help keep blood platelets from clumping, thereby preventing the formation of clots that could cause a heart attack. Their effect on platelets makes them the number one alternative therapy to warfarin (Coumadin) anticoagulation and provides a far safer (although less well documented) option than the extremely toxic drugs in general use. Even in high concentration there is no increase in abnormal bleeding. EPA and GLA also lower blood pressure and appear to protect arteries from a buildup of plaque. In short, they do many of the things that prescription heart drugs do, and without any of the side effects so commonly caused by pharmaceuticals, particularly the lipid- lowering medications. For these reasons, fish oil, with its two omega-3 fats, stands as the single most important nutrient for the prevention of Heart disease.