Articles
Why OmegaVia is High in EPA Omega-3: Healthy Inflammation Response*
Why OmegaVia has so much more EPA than DHA. And why that's important for your health. How much EPA or DHA your fish oil has matters. But it depends on what your age and health goals are - if you're 25 and pregnant or 60 and achy. You need a high-DHA formula if you're: pregnant nursing child recovering from concussion I recommend OmegaVia DHA 600 you fall in the above categories. However, the rest of us need more EPA than DHA. If you are trying to: Support healthy inflammation response* Maintain mood health* In this post, I will explain why EPA is the right natural choice for managing healthy inflammation response*. EPA Omega-3 is Key to Managing healthy inflammation response* Bear with me on the science for just a bit. EPA inhibits the Omega-6 Arachidonic Acid (AA). Whoa, Skippy, you lost me at EPA! OK, this goes back to why I rant about Omega-6 at every chance I get. Your body breaks down Omega-3 into health-promoting substances. And on the flip side, Omega-6 breaks down into substances that are opposing to Omega-3. If you eat a regular American diet, you have an artificially high need for EPA. If you eat a strictly 'paleo' diet with only leaves, tubers, wild caught fish and game (yes that includes liver and brain,) your Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio will be hunky dory. Then, you won't need much supplemental EPA. Or supplemental anything. But if you eat even an occasional french fry or a peanut, you've paved the path for an artificial need for EPA. The reality is that our diets contain 10 to 20 times more Omega-6 than they should. The OmegaVia Formula: when we were formulating OmegaVia, we could have just as easily made a high-DHA formula. But we didn't. After surveying the American nutritional landscape, it was clear and obvious that what Americans needed was a high-EPA product. So we made one that we could take ourselves. Back to how EPA Omega-3 acts as a 'inhibitor' to the Omega-6, Arachidonic Acid (AA) We care about this because AA is a source of several cytokines. Easy with the big words, Jack! It just so happens that EPA and AA compete for the same enzyme in your body - it's called delta-5-desaturase. The more EPA you have the less enzyme you have for producing AA. So more EPA means the more you inhibit or suppress the production of AA. And and that keeps your body in balance. EPA nips it in the bud, so to speak. I've called it musical chairs before. If EPA gets the chair, AA loses. Wouldn't DHA work just as well? No. DHA does not inhibit AA. Why? Because DHA is a larger molecule and its structure simply won't allow it. All this has to do with what's called the Eicosanoid pathway. See nifty diagram below. And Omega-3 and Omega-6 can affect these same enzymes. Click here to see a larger (more nifty?) version of this diagram. (This stuff is mind-bogglingly complicated and even with my chemistry background, it makes me cross-eyed.) But wait! There's more! If you read this now, I'll tell you about TWO ways EPA helps for the price of one! AA is typically stored in cell membranes. To release it from storage, you need a different enzyme called phospholipase A2 (PLA2). Once again, there is competition between EPA and AA for this enzyme. Having high levels of EPA reduces the chance of AA being released and converted to pro-inflammatory substances. So, once again, EPA reduces supports healthy inflammation response by keeping a little more AA locked up in the cell membrane. Most doctors don't spend much time thinking about the eicosanoid pathway, delta-5-desaturase or phospholipase A2 and how EPA can help. May be that's one reason why Dr. Oz is always pushing DHA supplements. His across-the-board recommendation of 600 mg of DHA per day is misguided and ignores the facts above. But I applaud the intent and the focus he's brought to Omega-3. Taking Mega Doses of EPA is Cheating Taking high doses of EPA works. But it's cheating and somewhat unnatural. If you're OK with that sorta thing... The right thing to do is eat less Omega-6. How? Stop cooking with vegetable oils. Stop eating out - restaurants cook with Omega-6-rich soybean oil. Yes, even fancy ones. Stop eating processed foods - they are also cooked with soybean oil or corn oil. There is a damn good chance that anything fried outside your house is dripping with Omega-6. But soybean is a vegetable and has no cholesterol, Jack! Once you get your Omega-6 intake under control - this may take several months - you will be less inflamed. Then you will be able to achieve balance without mega-doses of EPA Omega-3. What do I mean by mega-doses? You can actually get your AA to EPA ratio measured. Not many labs offer this service, but some do. More on that in another blog. The balance of AA to EPA in your blood determines the level of eicosanoid imbalance that you have. AA/EPA ratios vary depending on diet. Fish-eating older Japanese have very favorable AA/EPA ratios and also good heart health. The two facts could be connected. An American would have to eat 5 to 7 grams of Omega-3 to match the Japanese in their AA/EPA levels. More here. If you're wondering, that's between 4 to 6 OmegaVia capsules per day. That's more than we recommend.* I am not comfortable recommending more than 3 OmegaVia pills per day. If you need more, for whatever reason, that tells me that a drastic diet makeover is in order - starting with cutting back Omega-6 and sugar. No supplement can outrun a bad diet. Jack! Bottom-line: Unless you're pregnant, nursing, or a child, it's time to start taking more EPA (and less Omega-6.). Regardless of what Dr. Oz tells you. In part 2, we'll discuss more reasons why you may need more EPA than DHA. Including a study that revealed the shockingly low levels of DHA that an adult human brain absorbs every day. *Individual results may vary. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Clinical research suggests the omega-3 dosage needed to help maintain healthy triglycerides is 2000-3000 mg per day when used as part of healthy diet and exercise.
Brenda Watson, Omega-3 and Vitamin D
I recently got five calls within a few hours, all with the same questions: Does your fish oil have 1000 mg Omega-3? Yes. Is your fish oil enteric coated? Yes. Is your fish oil tested by IFOS? Yes. Does your formula have Vitamin D? No, and it shouldn't! I knew something was up. That something was Brenda Watson's TV show, Heart of Perfect Health airing PBS during fund-raising drive. Ms. Watson gives very specific advice on how to use Omega-3, enzymes, detoxes and probiotics to improve heart health' I'll get to the Vitamin D part in a second... 4 Things to Look for in a Fish Oil Supplement In the segment on Omega-3, she gives 4 key things to look for in a good Omega-3 product. Explains the phone calls. I don't know Brenda personally, but I've seen her every year at trade shows. She's an excellent educator and has done a great job of focusing the viewer's attention on gut health. A possible eye-opener is how clearly and simply she connects poor diet and heart health to the gut. Gut health is a lot more than just being regular! Having an opinion on all things nutrition and health, here's my take on the 4 fish oil requirements mentioned in her show: 1. 'Fish Oil Supplements Must Have at Least 1000 mg Omega-3 Per Pill' Not 1000 mg of fish oil! That's very different from 1000 mg of Omega-3. Difference explained here by Kathy Mankofsky. Brenda Watson is absolutely right. If you're serious about your health, you need a serious Omega-3 product, preferably one with a high EPA level. Her suggested daily dosage is 3000 mg of Omega-3 per day. With a pill that contains at least 1000 mg Omega-3, that'd be just 3 pills. Or as she puts it, '10 of the regular fish oils or 30 of the red stuff,' referring to krill oil. 'Krill Oil Shocker' Most of the callers whom I spoke to were ex-krill oil users and expressed disbelief that krill oil had so little Omega-3. I am not surprised. Marketers have spent countless millions advertising krill oil. Before that kinda money is spent, you need 'rationale.' Enter focus groups. I can almost hear fat cats in meetings saying, 'Let's focus group what people hate about fish oil and address those issues with a product.' People hate fish oil because: the pills are big you need to take more than one they sometimes smell How do I know? I used to run these focus groups on fish oil. I've literally talked to thousands of people about fish oil. Now look at the Krill oil marketing message: tiny pill just one per day no fishy odor Coincidence? You tell me. Krill oil marketers found out what people hated about fish oil and turned it on its head. Krill oil is marketed as the anti-fish-oil. Heck, the TV ads almost makes me want to switch to krill oil! Almost. So when Brenda Watson told her PBS audience that it takes '30 of the red stuff,' I wanted to stand up and clap. Frankly, you probably only need 15 or 20 of the red stuff because the krill oil is better absorbed than fish oil. Only 15 pills a day? Yes. Only. Still, 20 krill oil pills costs about $15 per day. And people have no problem paying up. May be that's why the largest krill oil player was just sold for $1.4 billion. 2. 'Fish Oil Supplements Must be Enteric Coated' This was Brenda Watson's second Omega-3 requirement. Enteric coating prevents odor and burping after you swallow the pill. I agree. Fishy burping is the #1 reason why people stop taking Omega-3 supplements. That's why OmegaVia is enteric coated. But I think the 1000 mg Omega-3 per pill requirement is way more important. And there is some evidence that shows enteric coated fish oil pills may provide benefits, especially to those suffering from digestive issues.* 3. 'Fish Oil Supplements Must be IFOS Tested' Again, I agree. IFOS (International Fish Oil Standards) is a third-party testing lab in Canada. They test fish oils and publish results for everyone to see. Unlike ConsumerLab.com, you don't have to pay to access IFOS test results. All products tested by IFOS are posted publicly for you to see. OmegaVia is IFOS tested and you can see the results here. Virtually none of the products on store shelves are tested by IFOS. There are some exceptions like Nordic Naturals and Brenda Watson's own RenewLife brand. That's why you'll find me regularly recommending these two brands on this blog. If you buy a fish oil supplement from Walmart or heck, Whole Foods Market, there is virtually no way to know how pure, potent or fresh the pills are. It's a leap of faith. I don't think you need to take that leap of faith. With the internet, it is a piece of cake for companies to post their certificate of analyses on their website for all to see. But it never happens. Why are third-party test results of purity not easily available? It costs time and money. It makes it easy for consumers to compare. It will raise questions. It may force the company to buy better oil. It exposes the company to risk. You get the idea. All of these reasons are valid. But there are several companies, including Brenda's and ours, who think the openness is worth the effort. 4. 'Fish Oil Supplements Should Contain Vitamin D' Here, I disagree. Not because I don't think you need Vitamin D. Oh, you need it! Lots of if. Unless you're a shirtless lifeguard on Miami Beach, you're not getting enough Vitamin D. It's not a matter of cost. Vitamin D is dirt cheap. Adding Vitamin D to fish oil adds less than a fraction of a penny to the cost of each pill. The problem with adding Vitamin D to fish oil is that you'd either get too little or too much. Most people need between 3000 IU and 5000 IU per day. How much Vitamin D you need depends on many variables: Your current Vitamin D status How much sunlight you get The time of the year and the angle of the sun's rays How much Vitamin D you get from food The color of your skin (dark skin = greater sun requirement) Blindly supplementing without testing is foolish. Vitamin D tests are cheap. Talk to your doctor and figure out your D level before you supplement. Example: If we randomly put 2000 IU of Vitamin D into each pill, you won't get enough if your daily fish oil dosage is 1 pill per day. And if you're taking 3 pills of OmegaVia, you'd be getting too much in the summer time. You need to be in charge and in control of how much Vitamin D you are taking. More on Vitamin D here. Bottom-line Overall, Brenda Watson's message on Omega-3 (and gut health) is solid. I'd much rather you listen to her than Dr. Oz. If you have not seen Brenda Watson's PBS special, I strongly suggest you do. Not because of the Omega-3 bit - watch it because the show will open your eyes about how important gut health is. And your gut's connection to your heart health. As I write this, it is still on air. Google it. *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Is Fish Oil a Waste of Money?
Every couple of months, TV news trashes fish oil. Usually after a negative study is published. It happened again in Sep 2012 after this study said fish oil was virtually useless. "Fish oil doesn't work!" "Fish oil is a waste of money!" "Fish oil doesn't prevent heart attacks!" The general message about fish oil was: folks, you've been had. Never mind that there are 22,000 POSITIVE studies about fish oil benefits. The news media chose to focus on one negative study. Bad news is juicier and gets more eyeballs. This study was very poorly designed. Let me explain why it was certain to provide no insight right from the get go. But first, a little self awareness: I get it. I work for OmegaVia. We sell fish oil. Self-interest. Biased. Not a third-party. All true. Like I said, I get it. But...what if TV news got it wrong? And what I'm about to say is even partially right? I'll explain in everyday English what TV left out and why you should ignore this study. This is not an original study. This was a review of other published studies, many of which were very positive about using fish oil for heart health. These review studies are called 'meta-analyses.' Meta-analyses are only as good as the studies that were included in them. Lumping flawed studies give you flawed results. It's garbage-in, garbage-out. It is also apples-n-oranges in, apples-n-oranges out. Studies included in a meta-analysis need to be similar. This study didn't just include apples and oranges. It had pears, pineapples and a few kiwis thrown in for good measure and guaranteed confusion. There was a study of patients with leg muscle pain caused by blood flow problem. And two studies where patients were given little else besides dietary counseling. These are not 'fish oil studies.' "The studies didn't have enough power to conclude that the Omega-3s had no effect. They could only have the ability to conclude that they couldn't detect an effect. That's not the same thing, but that subtlety is lost on most folks, including many doctors." - Dr. William Harris, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, commenting on this publication in NutraIngredients. As designed, this study, at best, could have only produced inconclusive results. Not positive, not negative but inconclusive. But inconclusive is boring. So the authors slanted it negative and the media ran with it for maximum impact. (I should point out that this was the lead author's first ever publication on Omega-3.) Low dosage. Half the studies used in this meta-analysis used less than 1 gram (1000 mg) of Omega-3 per day. That's less than one OmegaVia pill per day! The average dose of Omega-3 in these studies was a mere 1.5 grams. Not enough, folks. Not even close! You can't give tiny amounts of fish oil to your patients and then claim that fish oil does nothing. Little bits of Omega-3 after a lifetime of donuts will not make a difference. Dosage makes a difference. A big difference. This is a HUGE problem with comparing drugs and supplements. Drugs are taken at the right dosage. Supplements are, well, not. No one points this out. Certainly not the expert doctor, Dr. Richard Besser that Dianne Sawyer was talking to. See TV clip below. Dr. Besser's take on this study essentially was 'See! I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times - supplements don't work. Unless your doctor diagnoses you with severe Omega-3 deficiency, fish oil is a waste of money.' Easily satisfied, Diane replied something to the effect of 'Oh Doc, you're so wise for continually steering us away from supplements. Thank you so much!' If I were Diane, I would have asked: Hey Doc, how much Omega-3 are people getting? (Answer: about 150 mg) Hey Doc, how much do we really need? (A: at least 1000 mg. *) How many of us are really deficient? (A: well, it causes 84,000 deaths every year.) Do doctors measure Omega-3 deficiency? (A: no) Is there a standard test for this deficiency? (A: no) Diane, these questions are called 'follow-ups' in your news business. It's basic journalism. Look into it. Anyway, in all the confusion and negativity, it's the supplement that gets taken out back and shot. Whether they work or not. Drug cocktails and modern preventive procedures. Patients in some of the included studies were taking other drugs, in addition to fish oil, to prevent heart attacks. Some of these drugs are quite effective and may mask or dilute fish oil's ability to prevent repeat heart attacks - at least on paper, from a statistics perspective. Also, doctors nowadays use invasive procedures on heart attack patients (like inserting catheters to open up clogged arteries) that are highly effective at preventing a repeat attack. Similarly, angioplasty may also wash out the additional potential benefit of fish oil.* Fish oil is not a drug. Nor is it a physical procedure. It is merely a nutrient. If fish oil is one of several combined therapies, then fish oil's benefit alone is unlikely to be detected by statistics as head-and-shoulders above the rest. Especially when all therapies are combined. When you mix all therapies and throw it at the wall...and it sticks, then it's hard to pinpoint which therapy made it stick. This x-factor is called a confounding factor. There are plenty of them in this publication. Confounding factors mask and wash out benefits. "We know from the studies that have shown a benefit that future research in this area should only analyze studies that do not include confounding medications, are longer than two years in duration, and use dosages greater than 1-2 grams of Omega-3s per day. Very few of the studies included in this meta-analysis met these criteria." - Dr. Harry Rice, Vice President Regulatory & Scientific Affairs, Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3 Fuzzy math. OK I said I'd keep this to plain English. The following point is not plain English. Please cut me some slack. This is mostly for fellow geeks like me. The P-value used to gauge statistical significance was 0.06. Very unusual for a meta-analysis with liberal inclusion criteria and a well-tolerated intervention with very low risk. This highly conservative statistical hurdle becomes even more result-neutralizing given the low dosage explained above. When facts get in the way of a good story If I wrote the study's conclusion...I'd have said something to the effect of: 'If you're about 70, have had a heart attack or two or cruisin' for a bruisin', and are taking a cocktail of cardio drugs, adding just a dab of Omega-3 to your routine may or may not make much difference.' Because that's what the facts show. Instead the authors confidently concluded, "Our findings do not justify the use of Omega-3 in clinical practice." Tsk, tsk. That's not what the data showed. We live in a bumper sticker world where TV news takeaways must fit neatly on a bumper sticker. Nuance does not play well on TV. If a producer has to make a call, it will get slanted towards the sensational. Your health pays the price. Again. *Individual results may vary. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Clinical research suggests the omega-3 dosage needed to help maintain healthy triglycerides is 2000-3000 mg per day when used as part of healthy diet and exercise.
Top 10 Supplements for Mood Health*
In the last few blogs, we focused on Omega-3 and its potential effects on your mood.* Especially, EPA Omega-3. While mood health may be influenced by several non-nutritive factors like trauma or illness, what's at the tip of your fork can affect the way you feel. But even if you are diligent about avoiding sugar and processed grains/foods, it may be difficult to get optimal levels of all nutrients if you eat a standard american or western diet. This is when supplements can help. And no, a multivitamin does not count as a mood-booster. Also, they may not give you the right kind and quantity of nutrients you need. EPA Omega-3 It's EPA, not DHA, that helps with mood.* Take 1000 mg of 'unopposed EPA' per day.* The mg of EPA minus the mg of DHA is the unopposed EPA in your fish oil pill.* *Individual results will vary. Nutritional therapy may only help support positive mood if poor nutrition (and associated deficiencies) was a preexisting condition. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Research suggests that improving omega-3 fat intake from a concentrated source may help support a healthy mood. Some, but not all studies, indicate that 2,000 mg of omega-3 fats daily with a higher concentration of EPA may offer benefit. The best Omega-3 supplements for mood support:* BRAND mg UNOPPOSED EPA COST PER PILL OmegaVia EPA 500 500 mg $0.24/pill Minami MorEPA Platinum 528 mg $0.53/pill RenewLife EPA 1000 1000 mg $1.11/pill Nordic Naturals EPA Elite 800 mg $0.64/pill OmegaVia EPA 500 is an EPA-only supplement designed to provide just EPA. Two little pills get you 1000 mg of unopposed EPA. And more is not necessarily better! OmegaBrite is good too but it only has 300 mg of unopposed EPA Omega-3 per pill. Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega has 100 mg of unopposed EPA Omega-3. Nordic's EPA Xtra has 393 mg unopposed EPA. I shouldn't have to say this, but eating cold-water fatty fish 3 to 4 times a week is better than any Omega-3 supplement. Probiotics (and healing your gut) Probiotics?! Yes, probiotics. The bugs in your gut talk to your brain through the vagus nerve. (We finally have an explanation for the 'voices!') In your case, think 'gut feeling,' 'nervous butt,' etc. (This should really be at the top of this list because a lot of your neurotransmitters ('happy chemicals') are made in the gut. If there is an imbalance of some sort in your gut, you're probably in trouble. Gluten, dairy, sugar, stress, tylenol, etc. can all interfere with healthy gut function. Simply assume you have gut issues and start to fix it.) Recent studies have confirmed this head-gut connection and its relevance for mood and behavior. This new approach is called psychobiotics. Psychiatrists are all abuzz. You'll hear more about this in the years to come. Bifidobacterium longum was shown to help modulate behavior in mice. Another mouse study on Lactobacillus rhamnosus recently suggested that probiotics have the potential to affect brain chemistry. A more recent human study done at UCLA proved that probiotics may influence emotion and sensation. The bugs in your bowels also affect the metabolism of mood-regulating minerals like zinc and magnesium. We're just starting to understand how the bugs in our gut affect our feelings. We have a long way to go. Here is a probiotic supplement that may help with mood. Response to mood-influencing probiotics can vary widely from person to person, depending on severity of gut microbiome disturbance, consistency of product use, availability of fiber in diet, and most importantly - whether the root cause of the mood issue was in the gut. For now, start with healing your gut - eliminate wheat and fructose from your diet. Eat more fermented foods, vegetables, and only take antibiotics if you doctor feels you must. Obsessive hand-washing and cleaning with anti-bacterial soap is probably not helping. Healing your gut requires more than just taking probiotic supplements. Probiotics (and all the other supplements listed here) are only a small part of the puzzle. It requires some food elimination (see above), stress reduction (exercise/sleep/meditation/yoga etc.) in addition to taking probiotics and prebiotic fermentable fibers. It may also require treatment for infections. Useful info on leaky gut here, but don't wing it. Work with a professional. Vitamin D3 There is quite a bit of evidence linking low Vitamin D levels to poor mood. More studies on Vitamin D and mood here, and here. Vitamin D3 stimulates production of serotonin, so this is not surprising. How much should you take? Well, I feel pretty comfortable telling people to take 10,000 IU of D3 per day for a couple of days. But I don't recommend staying at that high dose for more than a week or so. Your ideal maintenance dose is impossible to guess without actually measuring it - so don't guess. Talk to your doctor and get it measured. It's relatively cheap to measure and even cheaper to supplement. Get it to around 50 ng/ml. For most people, ideal dosage to correct deficiency is somewhere between 1000 IU and 5000 IU per day depending on where you live and how much sun you get. Vitamin D is slow-acting. If your 'tank was on empty' for a while, it may take a few months before levels reach acceptable levels. So don't expect to feel remarkable one day later. Vitamin D is not exactly a 'vitamin.' It is a steroid-like substance. So more isn't always better. In some people, too much D can increase calcium levels in the blood. So, again, work with your doctor on this. More about Vitamin D3 at the Vitamin D Council's page and Dr. Michael Holick's page. Favorite brands? None. Most Vitamin D3 supplements are comparable. The raw material ingredient (cholecalciferol) is very inexpensive and you should be able to get a year's supply for under $20. However, taking large doses of Vitamin D without Vitamin K2, A and E is not a good idea - these fat-soluble vitamins work together. Oh, here is a brilliant, cheaper (and much better) idea: go outside in the summer, and get 10-15 minutes of upper body and leg exposure to midday sun. No sunscreen - it blocks D3 production. No shades - the bright light will help reset your circadian rhythms and can have a positive effect on mood. Go ahead - expose yourself shamelessly. Make it awkward for the neighbors! Unlike supplements, your skin makes D3 Sulfate, which is a superior form of Vitamin D and has benefits that extend far beyond mood. Vit D supplements are poor substitutes for sunshine. This year I got most of my D from the sun. I take a few Vit D pills in the winter. And finally, this study says combing Prozac with Vitamin D is better than Prozac alone. Magnesium Magnesium is often called the original chill pill. Geek speak: magnesium does a lot of things but it does its best work between brain synapses, where it keeps calcium and glutamate from 'exciting' the NMDA receptors too much. Overexcited neurons = tension. Magnesium keeps a lid on this. Not enough magnesium and the neurons will eventually die. Neurons and synapses going kablooey in the brain doesn't help you stay cheery. Oh, and remember St. John's Wort from the 1990s? Everyone thought it was a natural alternative to Prozac. Turns out St. John's Wort was simply good at protecting cells from the dangers of magnesium deficiency. Too much calcium (yes, even from bone health supplements) and stress can wipe out magnesium. Food and water is where we used to get most of our magnesium. But processed foods have virtually no magnesium. And they remove magnesium from the tap water to keep pipes clean. Dandy. All that calcium and very little magnesium can make you pret-tee tense. Leafy green veggies and nuts are good sources of magnesium. Googling 'magnesium rich foods' will turn up beans and whole grains. Ack! Pass on the whole grains - they will spike your glucose, goose your triglycerides, the gluten with mess up our gut and your brain and the phytates will remove valuable nutrients from your body. There is NOTHING present in whole grains that you can't get from veggies. Nothing. But I digress. Unlike Vitamin D3, if you decide to supplement with magnesium, it is very easy to buy the wrong product. Most drug-store magnesium pills are made of magnesium oxide. Even reputable brands like NatureMade use magnesium oxide. Magnesium oxide is not easily absorbed. You might as well swallow a pebble. Stay away from these products. Favorite Brands You can find lots of Magnesium citrate products online. They're fine if taken in small doses. I occasionally take Natural Calm powdered magnesium citrate dissolved in a cup of water and/or InnovixLabs Advanced Magnesium. Jigsaw Health makes a good-but-pricey magnesium product as well. Their pills are small and time-released. Well-absorbed magnesium salts are not dense - they are fluffy and cannot be compressed into one small pill. You need to take 4 InnovixLabs magnesium pills to get 100% of your daily requirement of magnesium. Unless you eat a LOT of leafy green vegetables, you probably need to take a magnesium supplement. Even if you don't have concerns about your mood. B-Vitamins There are lots of studies that link B-vitamin deficiencies to mood imbalance. Examples here, here, here, and here. Getting enough Vitamin B12 is a real problem for some people, especially vegetarians. Unless you eat clams, oysters and liver regularly, you may want to think about supplementing. People used to eat liver. Now they think it is gross. It isn't. Avoid it at your own risk. Here's a recipe. Folate, B6 and B12 help create happy chemicals - dopamine and serotonin. SAM-e is also important here - see more on that below. As far as supplement recommendations, well, I think these are OK. I'm open to suggestions. Share your thoughts in the comments section below if you know a good brand. I take an occasional chewable B12 but depend mostly on my diet for B-vitamins - egg yolks and grass-fed beef liver. Watch out for the wrong type of B-vitamin! Most multivitamins and drug-store variety B-complex contain small amounts of the cheap form of B12 called cyanocobalamin. Not good. Look for the better methylcobalamin form instead. Same goes for Folic Acid and Folate. Folic acid is cheap, synthetic stuff and found in most multivitamins. You can overdose in Folic acid. You are much better off choosing Folate. Look for Metfolin or Quatrefolic brand Folate. Jigsaw Health and Jarrow B-Right provide the right type of B-vitamins in their formula. Someone at at these companies has done their homework. SAM-e SAM-e levels are low in individuals with mood concerns. And several studies show that it can have a positive effect. SAM-e (say Sammy) is made by our bodies...but to produce it, you need B-vitamins and methionine. Methionine is an amino acid found in meat. Vegans take note. Which brand to buy? The recommended dosage is 400 to 800 mg taken twice a day. This can get very expensive. Most brands of SAM-e are fine. There are only a couple of factories in the world that make this stuff and most brands sell the same raw material - usually Italian made. The Chinese may be getting into the game, in which case, forget what I said! Drugstores and Walmart type stores value cost competitiveness, so the likelihood of finding Chinese ingredients there is high. Costco has a good deal on NatureMade SAM-e. SAM-e is generally pretty safe, but taking a lot of it without taking a B-complex or a good multivitamin is not a good idea (long story) but just to be safe, take it with a multi. Creatine Creatine also works in a similar way to SAM-e. But I'm not aware of any comparisons between the two when it comes to efficacy. In a recent study, people given creatine showed positive mood health. And creatine has the advantage of being a lot cheaper than SAMe. Iodine Every thyroid molecule in your body has iodine attached to it. And iodine can only come from your diet. Mostly wild seafood, seaweed and dairy. A little bit comes from iodized salt. But since so many people are cutting back on salt and so many more eat at restaurants where they don't use iodized salt, iodine deficiency is coming back. A lot of vegetarians and almost all vegans are deficient in iodine. Notice a trend? Without enough iodine, you're likely to have an under active thyroid. And an under active thyroid can make you feel tired and depressed. My kids and some of my vegan friends like to snack on dried seaweed - the stuff is loaded with iodine. I tried it. Ptoooey! So now I take LifeExtension's Sea Iodine. Glycine This is a nutrient that your grandparents probably got enough of. Glycine is an amino acid (building blocks of proteins) that's been shown to reduce tension and help with sleep. Glycine is abundant in parts of animals that we no longer eat. American grocery stores have begun selling mostly muscle meats that are low in glycine. Glycine is found in cartilage and skin - think pork rind, feet, hock, ox-tail, bone broth and chicken feet. Ugh, right? Butchers don't sell things people are disgusted by. Pork feet - 'twas what's for dinner But our ancestors weren't disgusted by all this. They ate nose to tail. They scraped stuff off the slaughterhouse floor, put it into intestines and called it haggis. Bad enough that they walked backwards from school in the snow, they got fed pigs feet when they got home! But I bet you they slept better than we do on our memory-tempur-sleep-number-foam things. Something to think about before you dismiss Paleo diets as fads. You can talk to your doctor about Glysom, a glycine supplement that's available through doctors. I have a lot of bone broth at home - I'll assume that's out for you. Another option is high quality powdered gelatin like Great Lakes unflavored gelatin from Amazon.com. A couple of tablespoons a day of this tasteless and odorless powder into any beverage will also do the trick. Zinc If you eat oysters and beef regularly, you can skip this one. But zinc deficiency will make you feel low among other things. Actually, your zinc levels can be a pretty good indicator of your mood. Zinc deficiency in the presence of excess copper can be a strong indicator of behavior. If you've given up meat and have fallen for the 'healthy whole grains and beans are better for you' notion, you may have zinc issues. Grains, corn, and legumes have something called phytates that block zinc absorption. Your body has no way of storing zinc like it can Vitamin D, so you have to eat zinc-rich foods or take a supplement regularly. If you choose the supplement option, do it a couple of times a week, not every day. Choose a gluconate or an amino acid chelate form. In case you were wondering... Why didn't I talk about 5-HTP, Tryptophan, GABA, Theanine or St. John's Wort? Well, these are band-aids. They don't address the root cause of the problem - poor nutrition and chronic inflammation. Other than SAM-e, all the other supplements recommended here are actual nutrients that you need on a daily basis. Once you've provided your body's needs for these nutrients either through your diet or with supplements, then you can start looking at other non-nutritional cause of mood issues with your doctor. *Individual results will vary. Nutritional therapy may only help support healthy mood if poor nutrition (and associated deficiencies) was a preexisting condition. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Research suggests that improving omega-3 fat intake from a concentrated source may help support a healthy mood. Some, but not all studies, indicate that 2,000 mg of omega-3 fats daily with a higher concentration of EPA may offer benefit.
Fish Oil and Your Mood - Connecting Forks to Feelings
What is poor mood health is a food-borne illness? No, not like Salmonella or E. coli. But a love affair with junk food and fast food could be a culprit. Tyler Graham and Dr. Drew Ramsey make a strong case for this in their book 'The Happiness Diet.' This is not a book review, but I wish they'd tossed the buns from the cover photo. Eat what's in between. Most wheat flour-based foods are highly processed carbohydrates, often with high fructose corn syrup worked into the recipe. Wheat is NOT a mind-friendly food...but I digress. Still, the message of the book is to avoid sugar, processed foods, refined carbohydrates and industrial vegetable oils (corn, soy, sunflower, safflower, peanut, canola oils.) If you read this blog regularly, this advice must sound very familiar. Every successful diet tells you to avoid these things, even superficially contradictory ones like Atkins and Ornish. Kicking fat-phobia to the curb Fat-phobia and poor mood health go hand-in-hand - mostly because fatty foods like eggs are chock full of brain-friendly nutrients. The authors spend quite a few pages discussing the importance of Omega-3 and other healthy fats for mood. They urge you to choose whole foods: Wild salmon Kale Broccoli Butter Grass-fed meats Yogurt Full-fat milk Bacon Eggs I'd add grass-fed beef liver to the list. Not your cup o' tea? May be you're a vegetarian? Or the Grand Poobah of nutritional pecking order - gasp! - a vegan! It's dang near impossible to get enough B-vitamins, especially B12, from plant sources. And B12 is key to a happy noggin. I spend a lot of time on the phone talking to people about health - I know how hard it is to change diet and eating habits. One parent's struggle... This is not about mood, but it applies. I was recently speaking to a woman whose 14-year old son had severe ADHD. She has to hold his arm tightly while walking along streets. Otherwise, he'd run out in front of cars. She was sure that one of these days he'd break loose from her grip and run into an intersection. She desperately wanted help. Of course, I told her to get him looked at by a doctor and get him on meds. She'd already done that and it wasn't helping. She was calling me to find out which supplements to take. Instead of talking about supplements, I talked to her at length about about diet - several elimination diets have shown to reduce ADHD symptoms. More here and here. She was rather quiet. I felt I hadn't gotten through. So a few weeks later, I followed up to find out if she was noticing any behavior changes. She hesitated and simply said 'diet changes are too hard.' But harder than what? Harder than having to grip a teenage boy's hand to keep him from jumping in front of a car every time he is in public? She just wanted a pill. Change is difficult and uncomfortable. I know folks with diabetes who openly say they'd rather live shorter lives than give up sugar. Supplements, the wobbly crutch No supplement cocktail can outrun bad diets and lifestyles. And supplements by themselves may not be effective at supporting mood health*. After all that, you might be fooled into thinking that Omega-3 deficiency is the root of all evil. It isn't. Poor mood could be triggered by many factors: Genetics Conflict Substance abuse Stress Loss Some medications Chronic pain Lack of sleep Nutritional deficiency Food intolerance/allergies trauma (physical and/or emotional) No amount of Omega-3 or other supplements will help you if the root cause of your condition was not nutrition related. But if your mood is nutrition related, then shifting to a healthy diet may 'move the needle' enough to tell you that you need to focus on diet.* Ruling out nutritional deficiencies first (before getting out the prescription stuff) is the smart safe thing to do. And it's relatively easy with a healthy diet and supplements. In addition to Omega-3, mood is also linked to deficiencies in other nutrients including:* Vitamin D B-vitamins Magnesium SAM-e Creatine We'll get into each of these in detail in the next blog. *Individual results will vary. Nutritional therapy may only help support positive mood if poor nutrition (and associated deficiencies) was a preexisting condition. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Research suggests that improving omega-3 fat intake from a concentrated source may help support a healthy mood. Some, but not all studies, indicate that 2,000 mg of omega-3 fats daily with a higher concentration of EPA may offer benefit.
Fish Oil and Mood - The Role of Diet
Eating fish is strongly correlated to improved mood. * Our current understanding of the science suggests EPA Omega-3 found in fish oil appears to help with mood* DHA Omega-3 does not* Roughly 1000 - 2000 mg of EPA was found to be a beneficial dose* But what about your diet? Can diet have an impact on your mood? Absolutely! In the last few decades, we have dramatically changed our diet. See graph below. Seed Oil Consumption (lbs/year) - Last 100 Years Source: National Institute of Health We now guzzle down refined seed oils like corn oil and soybean oil. These oils are convenient modern inventions. They are low-cost industrial by-products that did not exist a century ago. These oils are chock full of an Omega-6 fat called Linoleic Acid. So what, you say. Omega-6 and Omega-3 compete for enzymes and placement into cell walls. Our bodies can only store limited amounts of these fats. So an excess of one tends to knock the other one out. Unpleasant things happen when we shift from eating roughly equal parts Omega-3 and Omega-6, to the modern American diet which has 20 times more Omega-6 than Omega-3. In an nutshell, this shift in diet produces more hormone-like molecules (called eicosanoids) that increase damaging components and imbalance. Runaway 'silent' imbalance caused by too much Omega-6 (Linoleic acid) has been linked to several health conditions. Omega-6 linoleic acid actually inhibits EPA Omega-3 from being incorporated into your body. At the risk of getting too scientific, it's not the Omega-6-rich seed oil itself that causes the problem. It's what your body does with the linoleic acid (LA) that matters. LA can get converted to Arachidonic Acid (AA) and THAT'S the problem. AA and its byproduts are potentially harmful. More on this later. Read these bullet points and look again at the red line in the graph above: Soybean oil is about 60% Omega-6 Soybean oil contributes almost 10% of our calories Our soybean oil consumption has gone up 56,000% in the last century Omega-6 is associated with poor inflammation response* Poor inflammation response is associated with mood* Are the dots close enough to connect? Do you think this change in diet is helping our mental health? Dr. Emily Deans is one of my favorite bloggers. Her column in Psychology Today explains this beautifully. (She teaches at Harvard and is a very charming public speaker.) The science behind Omega-6 and mood imbalance is not yet lock-down-conclusive. But it's starting to connect the dots for us. Here are a few key papers: The Science Behind Mood & Omega-6 This study found that diets high in Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio enhance the risk of poor mood health.* Another study found a significant correlation between the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 and the severity of poor mood health.* Yet another study showed a high Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio is associated with poor mood health. It also showed that high blood levels of Omega-6 and low levels of Omega-3 were associated with poorer mood health*. Full paper here. This Dutch study also found that people with poor mood health not only have differences in the Omega-3 to 6 ratio but also in other fats. This graph captures the relationship between three different markers, Omega-6/Omega-3 ratio and mood health. As if it wasn't bad enough. This study confirms that mood and heart health are connected. * They suggest Omega-3 and homocysteine levels as the connecting factors between the two. Now what? Now, you hunt down and get rid of sources of Omega-6 in your diet. That's what! Simply taking 1000 mg of EPA Omega-3 is not be enough. You may need to combine your increased Omega-3 with decreased Omega-6 (a part of healthy diet) and daily exercise to make a significant improvement in mood health.* How our diet got so full of Omega-6 Around the middle of the last century, there was a glut of soybean oil. It was a waste product of defatted soybean meal produced to feed animals. The oil cost pennies per gallon...if that. It was bottled and marketed as a healthy alternative to lard and put in every housewife's pantry. Our positive association with vegetables make vegetable oils appear healthy. Careful about making that leap of logic! Also, government subsidies for corn and soy crops, combined with clever marketing ('Cholesterol-free') have kept vegetable seed oils staples of most kitchens. Food processors (any packaged food company), restaurants and service industry love soybean oil. They will continue to lavishly use soybean oil because it's so cheap, stores well and has a good 'smoke point.' But mostly because it's cheap. Check out the ingredients on any processed foods (baked goods, margarine, cookies etc.): you're certain to see oils of corn, soy, canola, sunflower, safflower or peanut. The public, for the most part, has no understanding or fear of Omega-6. It's just too complex. But I don't eat junk food or fast food, you say. The perils of going 'healthy' May be you decided to go 'healthy' and started a salad-for-lunch habit. Guess what? That salad dressing is probably made with soybean oil. They may blend in a drop of olive oil for label-appeal, but don't fall for that. Oh, what if you've been inspired by Dr. Oz and 'Biggest Loser' on TV...and you decide to replace your breakfast of eggs with 12-grain, organic, stone-ground whole wheat toast. Wheat can goose your blood sugar and insulin levels like few other things on earth. So what, I have poor mood health, not diabetes, you say. Remember earlier when we discussed Omega-6 linoleic acid (LA) getting converted to potentially harmful arachidonic acid (AA)? The Omega-6 you eat will find itself at a fork in the road. It can get converted to less healthy molecules. Or, when you have high insulin levels, Omega-6 is nudged towards the direction of pro-inflammatory chemicals. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. How much insulin you have in your body affects which fork in the road is taken. Insulin is released by your pancreas when you eat sugar and starch. Your bread could be white as snow or brown and whole. Doesn't matter. Insulin will be released. Think donut: lots of refined flour, deep-fried in soybean oil and coated with sugar. It's as though some evil genius designed it specifically to make you more depressed! Tips for cutting out Omega-6 from your diet: Prepare your own meals at home with oils that are low in Omega-6 - olive oil, coconut oil and pastured butter. Pastured butter is made from cows that ate grass on a pasture. And no, butter and coconut oil are not dangerous. Make your own salad dressing with olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice (get creative) Reduce or completely cut out eating at fast food places Reduce or completely cut out eating restaurant-cooked fried foods Eliminate processed/packaged foods Eat oily, wild-caught seafood regularly Eat only grass-fed meats (they contain a lot more Omega-3 and less Omega-6) Reduce nut consumption, especially peanuts. Macadamias are OK. Other diet tips? Eat whole, unprocessed fresh foods. Eat eggs from pasture-raised chickens Eat fresh vegetables Eat fresh whole fruits (not juice) Once your depression is under control, you can have nuts in moderation Cook with olive oil, coconut oil and pastured butter (these are all low in Omega-6 - coconut is the lowest) Avoid: Refined vegetable oils Processed foods Flour and grains Sugar and sweetened beverages Some people call it a Paleo diet. I call it eating what your body was meant to eat. Most of what we eat is delicious, food-like substances. Snickers. Cheetos. Hotdogs. Cinnabon. Mmm...cinnabon! Ahem. These are not real foods. Start eating real foods and you may find a drastic reduction in your need for prescription drugs. All this DOES NOT mean that too much Omega-6 is the reason for all clinical depression! It isn't. It should be pointed out that if poor mood health may be caused by several factors other than Omega-3 deficiency or diet. These are several factors that can contribute to poor health. My point? Rule out dietary issues first. Increase your Omega-3 levels, decrease your Omega-6 levels, rule out other nutritional deficiencies through a healthy diet and supplements. Next up: we'll look at a few dietary supplements that could help with mood. And some lifestyle changes if I'm in the mood. (Dammit, Jim, I'm a nutritionist, not Dr. Phil!) Images: Michael Lorenzo and Diego Medrano. *Individual results will vary. Nutritional therapy may only help support positive mood if poor nutrition (and associated deficiencies) was a preexisting condition. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Research suggests that improving omega-3 fat intake from a concentrated source may help support a healthy mood. Some, but not all studies, indicate that 2,000 mg of omega-3 fats daily with a higher concentration of EPA may offer benefit.