The most life changing thing I have done decades after a spinal cord chemical injury (errant radiopaque injection for milogram xray) was change away from Omega Six (and most seed oils). The second most life changing- not only improving but significantly lowering pain, clearing mind, increasing alertness, better memory, better ambition, was eating Omega 3 rich Atlantic Salmon (from Costco). Decades were consumed in misery, now decades of improvement, quickly lost if I stray from avoiding seed oils and worse still, neglecting regular fish intake (Atlantic Salmon). 1) American diet has very few sources remaining for Omega 3, even cows eating grass are depleted 2) I DO agree based on about 2 decades improvement, a BALANCE (1-1 or less) between O3 and 06 is needed, very difficult to do better than that in the USA food supply. 3) Over last decade, I tried Krill Oil, Fish Oil, instead of fish and I cannot say it ever helped, but it takes (me) over a month of eating right (Fish) to notice a real improvement WITH a vast decrease in all the bad stuff we see all through our grocery stores. My point: This gentleman MAY be right, but (IMO) Americans are MALNOURISHED as so little Omega 3 remains in food supply. Eat More Salmon. Eat less Seed oils and soy, CANOLA. It will take a MONTH to see the improvement but it is distinct. Finally: Remember, oxidants may be bad, but the strongest OXidant is OXYGEN. FWIW.
"High blood omega-3 levels are associated with lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The work is based on data from the UK Biobank database and has made it possible to analyze information from more than 260,000 people"
@@AskCurtis ok, tnx. While that mechanism might make sense, the studies on outcomes seem to tell a conflicting story where Omega-3 either has no effect or can have protective affects against brain aging. If Omega-3 as a net would be causing Alzheimers, hard to see how the levels of Omega-3 would be inversely correlated with the prevalence of the disease in large groups of people. Perhaps in theory you could speculate people that consume Omega-3 also do something positive that counters the negative effects of the Omega-3, but seems like that is reaching. Would need some actual outcome study that shows the harm before it would be convincing. Typically people eating lots of fish (pescaterians) are one of the healthiest and longest living groups and also fish is large part in other healthy diets like the Mediterranean. People with higher levels of Omega-3 also have lower levels of heart disease and heart attacks, (maybe because it functions like blood thinners) so that would also contradict the idea of it causing harm through extra inflamation.
When you state that omega 3 can cause harmful effects like alzheimer's, what was the dose taken and for how long? For instance, could it be safer to take just one pill of fish oil versus 3 a day?
I respect your reasoning and it appears sound. I saw a travel show years ago, the host was shown the "secret" of mediterranean health- Omega 3 was seen with a magnifying glass slathered over any grasses their animals ate- it was all over the place. In the USA, we focus on volume and sanitation not nutrition in foods, so it may well be the biggest thing we could do for ourselves is cultivate animal, human, foods that are thick with Omega 3 fatty acids. Aside: It was not a tiny spot on the stalks of O-3. It was all along the stalk, roughly making up ten percent of the grass the O-3 was stuck to, naturally occurring. The local showed the tourist guy this as if it were some big open secret in his (Mediterranean) region. My understanding: Humans uptake O-3 from meats and fish much better than plant.
@@MindFusion-ij1xl strange travel show. I'm pretty sure they made up this Omega-3 story. ;-) Eat a fatty fish 2 times per week and you're good. The fish must be fresh or frozen. Avoid cans because the bpa from the cans love to go into the oil from the fish.
@@windar2390 Thanks for the reply, I took your thought as a challenge to find the travel show. It was called Rick Steves on PBS, but after lots of effort, cannot find which of dozens of episodes along the Mediterranean is the one I saw and left such an impression. Guess I have a good reason to travel outside CONUS for once, go check for myself!
Dr. Alexander, is it true that fluvoxamine increases the concentration and half-life of fish oil when both are taken together? (I read that on ePocrates.)
Thank you always for talking about research and studies. For the first time in several years I began taking cod liver oil again because I was just diagnosed with psoriasis. I read that cod liver oil can help with autoimmune and skin issues. After hearing what you said it seems that it wouldn't be a good thing to take.
Thanks Rose Ann. I use to think the same thing but just haven’t seen good evidence to support taking it. Seems like everyone out there just says the same thing without looking at the evidence
@@roseann5562 "High blood omega-3 levels are associated with lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The work is based on data from the UK Biobank database and has made it possible to analyze information from more than 260,000 people"
