Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Definitive Guide to Fish Oils


Okay. Everyone – even peddlers of Conventional Wisdom, low-fat proponents like Dean Ornish, and certain vegetarians – agrees that getting enough fish-based omega-3 fatty acids in our diets is good for us. In fact, the importance of dietary fish oil just might be the only point where I don’t butt heads with, well, almost everyone else. Still, though recommending a fish oil supplement is generally safe for anyone, it’s important to understand why fish oil is so beneficial.

It all comes down to Omega-6/3 balance. You can’t talk about fish oil without getting into Omega-3 fatty acids, and discussing Omega-3 fatty acids is useless without understanding their relation to the Omega-6s. We’ve mentioned this relationship multiple times before, but I’ll reiterate: a 1:1 Omega-6::Omega-3 dietary ratio helps keep dangerous inflammation in check. Seeing as how most Omega-6 fatty acids can be found in “vegetable” oils (soybean, corn, peanut, sunflower – to only name a few), fake butter products, grain-fed animal fat, and other modern contrivances, it is understood that Grok rarely encountered them – especially not in the excessive levels most people see today. He was munching on nuts and seeds, sure,  and those have moderate amounts of Omega-6s, but he certainly wasn’t setting up processing plants to press wild maize for the Omega-6 rich oil. Simply put, Grok would have gotten plenty of Omega-3 fatty acids from seafood, wild game, and wild vegetation, with minimal amounts of Omega-6s, enough to give him a 1:1 ratio. On the other hand, the Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio of the Standard American Diet, replete with fake fats, processed vegetable oils, and grain-fed meat, is said to approach 30:1!

Click on the title link to read on.....

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