Disclaimer:
Information of the supplement below is not intended to cure any diseases or illnesses. Although supplement has positive impact towards health and performance it is not for everyone and it is advised to consult with professionals before utilizing. It is also important to know that supplement is not designed to replace daily habits. You will still need to eat whole food, sleep 7-8 hours, drink water, and daily exercises. While you are considering supplement use, it is also important to improve your overall lifestyle.
Saturated and Unsaturated Fat
Term saturated or unsaturated is depending on saturation of these chains with hydrogen. With saturated fat, it is single bonded carbon chain saturated with hydrogen atom. Unsaturated fat is double bonded carbon chain and are not saturated with hydrogen atom.
Majority of natural food sources does contain both saturated and unsaturated fat, however, animal products such as beef and cheese tend to have more saturated fat and fish and plants have more of unsaturated fat.
What is Omega 3?
Omega 3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fat and can be found in fish, nuts and seeds.
In standard American diet, Americans consume more of omega 6 fatty acids (ex: vegetable oils) which is also a polyunsaturated fat, however, they are more proinflammatory, meaning may cause inflammation to our body with higher consumption.
When looking at studies on omega 3 that claims it is ineffective, the testing is giving fewer grams (1-2g) of omega 3 or fish oil supplement to those consuming 20-30 times more of omega-6. Studies showing omega 3 being effective that has been done in Japan and Italy, consumption of omega 6 by their participants are less than 6g with same amount of omega 3 was given.
Standard American diet has omega-6 to omega 3 ratio of 30 to 1. Which tells us that ratio between omega 3 and omega 6 are important factor to understand before we start consuming omega 3 supplements.
Why Take Omega 3?
Omega 3 has subcategories. Famous ones are EPA and DHA which they have benefits in brain and heart health. EPA and DHA also activates fat burning mechanism called Beta-Oxidation, which can make our body more efficient in fat burning. When you are consuming 3-4g of omega 3 per day (food + supplement) we can be 20% more efficient in fat burning at rest and 30% more efficient in fat burning while exercising. As mentioned earlier, it is the ratio so even if you are consuming 3-4g of omega-3, if the omega 6 intake is remaining at 30g per day then you may not see the benefit.
Many studies are showing health benefits with consuming high dose of omega-3 (6g+) such as reducing risk of cancer, brain aging, cardiovascular diseases, inflammation, asthma and diabetes to name the few.
What Are Sources For Omega 3?
Food sources that are high in omega 3 are fish, nuts and seed. If you are vegan you may want to focus on consuming more of walnuts, chia seed and so on.
Supplementing is recommended for omega 3 because of availability and quality of seafood. Sources can be fish, krill, and seed. If you are allergic to shellfish you may want to avoid fish based omega 3.
Little tip. If you have purchased omega 3 supplements, keep in mind that they are fat. To keep the quality of the supplement, keep them in the fridge. Light and heat even with sealed containers can lower the quality of omega 3. This is same for cooking oils. It is better to store the oils in cool and dark area.
How much omega 3 should you take?
Health benefit with omega 3 are correlated with balance between omega 6. Provided that you are lowering your omega 6 to a single digits, you can start with higher amount of omega 3 between 4-6g per day. This is not only from supplements but also from food sources as well. After a month, you can taper down to 3-4g per day but there hasn't been any side effect with high omega 3 dose unless the person already have kidney or liver issues. If not certain, you may want to discuss with professionals for what works the best for you.
To minimize omega 6 to increase the benefit of omega 3, choose healthier fat. Healthier fat, for example, are olive oil, avocado oil, nuts, pastured egg, pastured butter and so on. Commercial oil, such as vegetable oil, canola, sunflower oil, can already be oxidized or spoiled for how they are processed and duration they are on the shelves with direct light. These oil should be avoided as much as possible.
Not All Omega 6 are Bad
Not all omega 6 are bad. One of the reason omega 6 can get inflammatory is because it is easier to get oxidized or get spoiled. Some omega 6, such as GLA and DGLA are very important omega 6s for vasodilating and lowering heartrate during physical activity. One way to keep the omega 6 to get bad is not consuming enough vitamin c, calcium and other minerals, which many of the populations are lacking do to poor daily habits.
With said that, if you have been consuming high amount omega 6 already you can only reduce it by higher consumption of omega 3, minimize omega 6 intake, and managing your other daily habits including sleep and exercise.
Kota Shimada
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