The reason I didn’t include fish oil in my supplementation post is because I don’t see it as supplementary to your diet, I see it as essential!

We have long known that an improper balance of the omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio is a key factor in many illnesses and ailments that plague millions of people who are hooked on a Westernized diet. in fact, a study from The Center for Genetics, Nutrition and Health has shown that human beings evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFA) of approximately 1 whereas in Western diets the ratio is 15/1-17/1. A prime reason for this deficiency in our omega-3 levels is due to our lowered consumption of cold-water fish.

The pile of research papers being published showing the benefits of taking about 2-15g (depending on body size) of high quality fish oil per day grows at an almost exponential rate, as well as the list of “itis’s” that seem to be prevented by taking a fish oil supplement and maintaining a healthy omega fatty-acid balance.

Still not convinced? Here are 7 proven omega 3 benefits you should know about:

1. Less Pain and Inflammation. Omega 3 fatty acids, particularly EPA, have a very positive effect on your inflammatory response. Through several mechanisms, they regulate your body’s inflammation cycle, which prevents and relieves painful conditions like arthritis, prostatitis, cystitis and anything else ending in “itis.”

2. Cardiovascular Health. Omega 3 fatty acids have also been proven to work wonders for your heart and the miles and miles of arteries and veins that make up your cardiovascular system. They help to lower cholesterol, tryglicerides, LDLs and blood pressure, while at the same time increasing good HDL cholesterol. This adds years to your life expectancy.

3. Protection from Stroke and Heart Attack. When plaque builds up on arterial walls and then breaks loose, it causes what’s known as a thrombosis, which is a fancy way of saying clot. If a clot gets stuck in the brain, it causes a stroke and when it plugs an artery, it causes a heart attack. Research shows omega 3 fatty acids break up clots before they can cause any damage.

4. Better Brain Function and Higher Intelligence. Pregnant and nursing mothers can have a great impact on the intelligence and happiness of their babies by supplementing with fish oil. For adults, omega 3 improves memory, recall, reasoning and focus. You’ll swear you’re getting younger and smarter.

5. Less Depression and Psychosis. Making you smarter is not all omega 3 does for your brain. Psychiatry department researchers at the University of Sheffield, along with many other research studies, found that omega 3 fish oil supplements “alleviate” the symptoms of depression, bipolar and psychosis (Journal of Affective Disorder Vol. 48(2-3);149-55).

6. Lower Incidence of Childhood Disorders. Just to show how fish oil fatty acids leave nobody out, studies show that children (and adults) with ADD and ADHD experience a greatly improved quality of life. And those with dyslexia, dyspraxia and compulsive disorders have gotten a new lease on life thanks to omega 3 oils.

7. Reduction of Breast, Colon and Prostate Cancer. And finally, omega 3 fish oil has been shown to help prevent three of the most common forms of cancer – breast, colon and prostate. Science tells us that omega 3s accomplish this in three ways. They stop the alteration from a normal healthy cell to a cancerous mass, inhibiting unwanted cellular growth and causing apoptosis, or cellular death, of cancer cells.

* The above list was taken from work by nutrition and physical therapy expert, Michael Byrd. Byrd writes about his pursuit of wellness, the extraordinary healing power of natural whole foods and many of fish oil’s benefits at this omega 3 web site.

Some other benefits that Byrd doesn’t mention are the effects that supplementing with fish oil can have on body composition. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that taking a daily intake of fish oil and regular exercise both reduce body fat and improve cardiovascular and metabolic health. The reason being that fish oil lowered triacylglycerols, increased HDL cholesterol, and improved endothelium-dependent arterial vasodilation, or, in understandable terms, lowered fat stores, increased good cholesterol levels, and improved blood flow.

Some things to look for when choosing a fish oil supplement:

Pharmaceutical Grade

• Check that your bottle of pharmaceutical grade fish oil has a Lot Number that has been posted on an official IFOS (International Fish Oil Standards) consumer report site such as IFOS.
• Check to ensure that you are buying a TG (natural) PGFO and not an EE (synthetic) PGFO.
• Check the ingredient label to ensure that the pharmaceutical grade fish oil has a 60% Omega-3 concentration and complies with the CRN and WHO standards.
• Ask your supplier for a Certificate of Analysis and look for its 5 star rating to confirm that the pharmaceutical grade fish oil has exceeded these international standards.

Oil Source

You want your fish oil to come from a source that is as close to the bottom of the food chain as possible. Heavy metals (such as mercury) that accumulate in the body’s of fish get amplified as they move up the food chain. Many commercially sold fish oil’s use wild salmon as their oil source however, as salmon is a predatory fish, it tends to have high trace levels of heavy metals.

Search for fish oils that are sourced from smaller fish species, like sardines and anchovies, that have eaten the omega rich algae directly.

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)

There are two main types of Omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oil, DHA and EPA. DHA plays a most vital role in promoting good health. More than half of our brain’s mass is made up of fats, and of these fats, DHA accounts for over half. This is one of the most reveling factors that show why DHA is so important to us.

It has been proven that numerous mental conditions such as depression, anxiety, mood swings, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), among others, are caused due to a DHA deficiency. DHA is also the more important omega 3 in reducing tryglycerides (blood fats closely related to cholesterol) and in helping to reduce or prevent heart rhythm abnormalities, one of the major causes of heart disease deaths. Heart disease is accompanied by cardiovascular inflammation, and DHA has the most potent anti-inflammatory effect of the omega 3 oils. Memory and focus have also been proven to improve with consistent use of fish oil supplements. Therefore, if you want to benefit from fish oil supplements, make sure you are using one that has high DHA levels.

Related Topics

• Supplementation. Macronutrients vs. Micronutrients.
• Gary Taubes Defends Eating Fat.
• Milk. Part 1

Supplementation implies that you have a void in your basic diet that needs to be filled. It is a solution to a symptom, and not a cause.

Nutrition is at the foundation of health and well being, and every culture in the world already knows the secret to good health: You are what you eat!There is little room for argument surrounding the fact that your body can only repair and fuel your body with the food that you are feeding it. If you are feeding yourself refined, modified, denatured, and otherwise chemically altered variations of food, then how do you expect your body to perform? To use an analogy, would you pour dirty gas into your car and expect it to perform at an optimal level? Probably not.

To restate what I have said in earlier posts, food should not be broken down into micronutrients. There is a popular trend in the media right now to tout the latest magic bullet pill, vitamin, or antioxidant as the cure to X health risk. The problem with this approach is that our place in nature is a part of a larger system. Our genome didn’t evolve to eat the extracted vitamin C from citrus fruits, or isolate whey protein from milk, or iron pills, we evolved to eat the WHOLE FRUIT, and drink WHOLE MILK, and eat WHOLE VEGETABLES… seeing a trend here?

The three macronutrients of protein, carbohydrate, and fat are the building blocks of human life. Keeping your food in the rawest form you can before digestion ensures that you are getting as much nutrition as you can from the food you eat. Excessive heating, processing, and nutrient isolation removes much of the digestive enzymes from food that helps your body process and break down these foods into useful compounds. Without these enzymes, many foods get treated by the digestive system as a threat and trigger a stress response.

Supplements often lack many of the chemical components that allow the body to use them properly. To compensate for this, most supplements increase the amount of raw product you have you ingest to absorb a significant amount of whatever nutrient you are supplementing for. This practice can often lead to allergies caused by repetitive exposure to compounds that agitate the digestive system.

If you feel that you need to supplement your diet with a protein source, or vitamin, you should probably step back and take a look at where your real food diet is failing. A paleo based diet of meat, vegetable, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar, combined with proper proportions for your body type, should be providing all of the macronutrients, and consequently all of the micronutrients that you need to thrive.

Related Topics

• Milk. Part 1
• The Paleolithic Diet
• Milk. Part 2

I will answer this question by posing my own question: Why not just eat the original source?

The short answer is AVOID WHENEVER POSSIBLE!

Most protein powder on the market is a highly processed, isolate form of either soy, whey, casein, or egg white protein. The source food is removed of it’s other components usually through a high-temperature process that leaves only the remaining protein molecule. This isolate protein however has now been denatured to such an extent that it is virtually useless to the body, not to mention they also contain nitrates and other carcinogens.

Our body has evolved to process meat. We are omnivores by design, and we should not be fighting biology when choosing our food sources. Meat, eggs, and some plants are excellent protein sources because they also contain OTHER components, many of which our body needs to process the protein (more on this in future posts). This was all the Paleolithic man had to survive on, and the ever resourceful human digestion system has evolved to handle the consumption of the entire protein source, fats and fiber (to name a few) included.

That being said, modern life can leave you stretched for time, and the convenience of these protein powders does make them much less time consuming on a time invested vs time to ingest scale. So if your lifestyle demands that you use protein powder, please use care when choosing your brands.

Hemp protein should be your first choice if eating whole meats or eggs is too inconvenient. Hemp is one of the least processed protein options on the market, and unlike many other plant based proteins, it is fully balanced and contains all 9 essential amino acids (it also contains some other good nutrients).

Some people have trouble processing hemp however. If you all into this category, try and choose a protein powder that has been Cold-Filtered. The Cold-Filtration process separates the proteins by micro-filtering the mass in a chilled environment. The mass is then spray dried in a non-heat environment to preserve the protein structure.

Kelly Frankson, CrossFit trainer and Olympic Weightlifter recommends True Protein’s Cold-Filtration Protein Powder.

Related Topics

• Supplementation. Macronutrients vs. Micronutrients.
• Paleo Diet in a Nutshell.
• Milk. Part 1