A few weeks ago, I started a series on toxic fat that reviews the information in Barry Sears Latest book, while here is a continuation with the role fish oil can play:
High-dose fish oil can be used to reduce endocannabinoids (the hormones in the brain that cause hunger) and reduce the silent inflammation in fat cells.
How much do you need?
- No chronic disease-2.5grams EPA and DHA per day
- Overweight, obese, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, before starting weight loss program-5 grams EPA and DHA per day
- Chronic Pain-7.5 grams EPA and DHA per day
- Neurological disorders-10grams EPA&DHA per day
The easiest way to tell whether your fish oil is reasonably free from these contaminants is through smell and taste. A very fishy taste or smell of fish oil is highly indicative of oil that has not been sufficiently reined. Much of that taste and smell comes from the presence of breakdown products of the fatty acids known as alderhydes. These are chemicals that are known to cause damage to DNA. If you want more quantification, then go to www.ifosporgram.com which is a free site run by the university of Guelph in Ontario. The IFOS (International Fish Oil Standards) program uses the most sophisticated instrumentation to determine the purity of fish oils. Look for those oils with a five-star rating, indicating they are pure, potent and ready for action.
If you are planning to use liquid fish oil, always keep it in the freezer to prevent oxidation and to improve the taste. If is really good stuff, it wont freeze. Of course, if does become solid in the freezer, that’s a good indication that it may have lots of impurities that have not been removed.
Sears recommendations for EPA and DHA require taking a lot of fish oil. And here’s t he problem with natural products: they can work very effectively, but you have to take a lot to see a therapeutic benefit. If you take a small dose, then you get little, if any, positive effects. The second thing you should notice is my recommendations are based on the grams of EPA and DHA, not the amount of fishoil itself. People often don’t realize that most of the fatty acids in a typical fish oil supplement are not EPA and DHA. If fact, in most fish oil products, the levels of EPA and DHA constitute only a small proportion of the total fat content.
