Omega 3 fatty acids are essential polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) required
for digestion, muscle activity, blood clotting, visual acuity, memory, proper
cell division and function, cardiovascular health, cancer prevention, etc. They are essential meaning your body cannot
manufacture them so they must be consumed as part of your diet or as a
supplement.
Another class of essential fatty acids are Omega 6 fatty acids which also
perform a wide range of essential functions.
However, it is very easy to get enough Omega 6 fatty acids and in fact
the ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fatty acids has become completely unbalanced as
part of the modern lifestyle, and this is having direct and severe health
consequences!
Omega 3 Fatty acids come from either plant or animal sources including:
Many fish
Krill
Canola Oil
Flaxseed
Walnuts
Animal based sources of Omega 3 contain (fatty fish, fish oil and krill oil) primarily
contain docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a long-chained PUFA consisting of 22
carbons and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which has 20 carbons.
Plant based Omega 3 fatty acids shorter-chained PUFA consisting of 18 carbons. They are completely
devoid of DHA and EPA.
Functions of Essential
Fatty Acids
Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s) are integrated into cell membranes and
produce a broad class of extremely powerful chemicals called “Eicosanoids” and
among these specifically Prostaglandins.
These chemicals produce a myriad of effects but long story short Omega 6
fatty acids produce inflammatory chemicals while Omega 3 Fatty Acids produce
anti-inflammatory chemicals. Both are
necessary for good health, but because of modern diets and an Omega 6 to Omega
3 ratio that is way out of balance virtually everyone needs to find ways to
decrease the intake of Omega 6 fatty acids and increase Omega 3 fatty acids.
As the chart below shows not all Omega 3 fatty acids are the same.
ALA requires three steps to be converted to EPA or DHA which are the
direct precursors to the Anti-Inflammatory Biochemicals that produce key
benefits throughout the body. These
steps are controlled by three enzymes and when a person is deficient in any of
these three enzymes this conversion does NOT take place. Unfortunately, the majority of people have
deficiency of Delta-5 Desaturase. So
plant sources of Omega 3 fatty acids are not effective.
Typically, less than 1
percent of the ALA is converted to EPA. Some studies have found the conversion
rate to be as 0.1 to 0.5 percent. Conversion is also dependent on having
adequate levels of other vitamins and minerals. So, while a tiny amount of the ALA you
consume can be converted by your body into long-chain omega-3, it's a highly
inefficient strategy and nowhere near as helpful as supplying
"straight" DHA and EPA from marine sources.
It is important to know
that you should NEVER take flax oil or use ground flax seed unless it is
freshly ground because the highly perishable ALA will be oxidized. If you have
any throw it away immediately.
Effects of Plant Based Omega 3 vs Marine Based Omega 3
After eating a meal of
salmon or taking krill or fish oil (marine sources of Omega 3 fatty acids), the
fatty acid level in your plasma (blood) will remain elevated for more than
three days afterward. These fats are
not typically used as food for energy
ALA from plants is
rapidly absorbed, peaking a couple of hours after ingestion. Within 10 hours,
they're gone. These fats tend to be used as fuel!
So, Omega 3 fatty acids from plants are simply a source of energy — while the long-chain fatty acids, those with 20
and more carbons, especially EPA and DHA, are structural elements that actually
make up your cells. This is a MAJOR difference between plant- and animal-based sources.
EPA and DHA have many
biological effects, most notably anti-inflammatory activity and communication
within the cell and between cells.
Another tell-tale sign
suggesting the importance of EPA and DHA is their half-life, which may be as
long as 60 days for DHA. Your body tends to accumulate and hold on to it and
not want to let it go.
EPA is used up much
faster, in part because it's a smaller molecule, but also because it behaves
differently from DHA.
EPA and DHA are Essential for Good Health
DHA is especially
important, as it is a component of every cell in your body, and it's
particularly crucial for your brain. More than 90 percent of the omega-3 fat
found in brain tissue is DHA, and the development of a normal brain in a fetus
is dependent on the availability of DHA. All other omega-3 fats are found only
in trace amounts in your brain, including ALA, regardless of how much ALA you
consume.
There are specific transporters
for long-chained omega-3s in your blood-brain barrier, the placenta of pregnant
women, which transport these molecules in a very precise way into the cell
membranes where they belong. No such transporters exist for ALA from Flax or
other sources.
Therefore, the key is
obtaining your Omega 3 fatty acids from animal sources NOT plant sources!
Two Key Sources of Animal-Based Omega 3 Fatty Acids
There are two primary
animal sources of Omega 3 Fatty Acids: fish oil and krill oil. Krill are plankton that feed on algae and
concentrate Omega 3 from this source.
Both fish and krill oil
contain EPA and DHA. However, there are important differences between these two
marine sources. One of the most important differences is the fact that krill
oil is bound to phospholipids.
Fatty acids are water
soluble, but they cannot be transported in their free form in your blood — they
require a lipoprotein carrier. Most fatty acids are bound to esters, which do
not travel efficiently in your bloodstream. Krill oil is an exception in this
regard.
• Fish oil is bound
to triglycerides and methyl esters: which must be broken down into DHA and
EPA. About 80 to 85 percent is simply eliminated in your intestine.
• Krill oil is bound
to phospholipids: which allows the omega-3 fats to travel efficiently into
your body resulting in a much higher level of bioavailability meaning you
absorb more of it. Studies have shown that Krill Oil is up to 48 times more
potent than fish oil. This means you
need far less of it than fish oil.
• Krill oil also has
natural astaxanthin: Since
omega-3 fats in marine oils are polyunsaturated they are highly vulnerable to
oxidation and going rancid. Astaxanthin is a potent antioxidant that protects high
perishable Omega 3 Fatty Acids and is not found in fish oil. Tests reveal that krill oil remains undamaged
after long exposures to oxygen for many hours. Fish oil goes rancid
after a single hour. Krill oil is almost 200 times more resistant to oxidative
damage than fish oil.
• Krill contains
phosphatidylcholine: when you consume fish oil, your liver has to
attach it to phosphatidylcholine in order for it to be utilized by your body.
Krill oil already contains phosphatidylcholine, which is one more reason for
its superior bioavailability. Phosphatidylcholine is composed partly of
choline, the precursor for the vital neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
Choline is important to
brain development, learning and memory. In fact, choline plays a vital role in
fetal and infant brain development and is particularly important if you are
pregnant or nursing.
• Superior metabolic
influence: Krill oil is superior
to fish oil when it comes to having a beneficial influence on your genetic expression
and metabolism. Genes have "switches" that can be flipped on and off,
which control virtually every biochemical process in your body, and nutrients
like omega-3 fats control these switches.
Essential Fatty Acids
help to direct metabolic processes such as glucose production, lipid synthesis,
cellular energy, oxidation and more. Krill oil:
◦ Enhances glucose
metabolism in your liver, whereas fish oil does not
◦ Promotes lipid
metabolism; fish oil does not
◦ Helps regulate the
mitochondrial respiratory chain; fish oil does not
◦ Decreases cholesterol
synthesis, whereas fish oil increases it
So, krill oil can help
lower your triglyceride and cholesterol levels and increase your energy
production, whereas fish oil does neither.
• Contaminant-free: Unfortunately, most fish are full of mercury
and other heavy metal contamination, courtesy of widespread pollution.
Antarctic krill is not contaminated. Krill is harvested from cleaner Antarctic waters.
In addition, because krill are extremely small and feed on phytoplankton they
have virtually zero levels of harmful mercury and heavy metals.
Balancing
Omega 3 to Omega 6 Fatty Acids
As you increase your
intake of animal-based omega-3 fats, the EPA and DHA content in your red blood
cells increase. As your omega-3 ratio increases in the cell, it displaces omega-6
at a ratio of about 1 to 1. While you need some omega-6 fats, we tend to get
FAR too much of it these days. One big culprit is soybean oil. Soybean oil is
highly prevalent in western diets – it is cheap and full of toxins! Our intake of soybean oil rose 1,000-fold
between 1900 and 2000.
Dosage Recommendations for Omega 3 Fatty Acids
One of the best ways to
get your Omega 3 Fatty Acids is eating cold water fish such as Alaskan Salmon
aka “wild caught salmon”. If it does
not say this, then it is farm-raised and has low levels of Omega 3’s and is chock
full of contaminants!
For supplementation
Antarctic Krill Oil is the preferred form but look for brands that do NOT use
hexane for extraction! 500mg per day is
a good starting dose and adjust based on your response. Contraindications
include being on any kind of blood thinning drug!
Omega 3 Levels and Carbohydrate Intake
Another factor that
dramatically influences Omega 3 Fatty Acid levels in cell membranes is the
amount of sugar and starch you eat regularly.
Remember at the end of the day it is all about the content of Omega 3
fatty acids that get incorporated into your cell membranes! Part of this is determined by the type and
amounts of Omega 3 you take in along with how much Omega 6 Fatty Acids you take
in, but that is not the whole story by a long shot!
One of the biggest
factors controlling fatty acid metabolism and levels of fatty acids in cell
membranes is the amount of sugar/starch in the diet. Low carbohydrate diets with less than 20% of
daily calories from sugar and starch can result in increased Essential Fatty
Acids in cell membranes. Specifically,
with a sufficient reduction in sugar and starch intake levels of Omega 3 fatty
acids go up in tissues! This occurs
through a complex series of metabolic switches that result in a slowdown in the
destruction of Essential Fatty Acids!
Bringing it all together!
So, to optimize the
health benefits of Omega 3 Fatty Acids increase your intake of Wild/Alaskan
Salmon and/or take a high-quality Krill Oil Supplement. And to really reap the benefits consider
dramatically limit your intake of sugars and starches.
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