Omega-3’s: What the Research Reveals

By Holly Robinson
Contributor

According to research conducted at Harvard University, omega-3 fatty acid deficiency is officially one of the top 10 causes of death in America, claiming the lives of up to 96,000 people each year.¹  The biggest cause of omega-3 deficiency is the overconsumption of foods high in omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-6 comes from things like fried foods, fast foods and boxed foods that contain vegetables oils like soybean oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, cottonseed oil and corn oil. When you consume too much omega-6, it can decrease your body’s ability to metabolize healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

It is recommended to eat two meals, or up to 12 ounces a week, of a variety of fish and shellfish containing lower amounts of mercury such as canned light tuna, catfish, pollock, salmon, especially wild salmon, and shrimp.³  The two key omega-3 fatty acids are docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, and sardines are rich in these omega-3s, while some plants are rich in another type of omega-3 fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid, which the body can convert to DHA and EPA. Good sources of these are flaxseeds, chia seeds, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds.²

Mainstream research has shown that omega-3 fatty acids help reduce risk of heart disease and stroke and aid in decreasing the symptoms associated with arthritis, depression, attention deficit disorder and hypertension.   “When blood is too ‘sticky,’ it promotes clot formation, and this can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke,” says nutritionist Lona Sandon, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. But once you add omega-3s to the mix, the risk of heart problems goes down.  The latest research shows that the most promising health effects of essential fatty acids are achieved through a proper balance between omega-3s and omega-6s. The ratio to shoot for, experts say, is roughly 4 parts omega-3s to 1 part omega-6s.  The typical American diet has a ratio of around 20 to 1 — 20 omega-6’s to 1 omega-3 — and that spells trouble,” says Sandon, an assistant professor of nutrition at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.  To improve the health of your heart, brain, skin, hair, body and much, much more, consider adding fish oil to your daily supplement regime or consume wild-caught fish daily. If you’re adverse to fish oil pills, make sure to get at least two servings of fatty fish each week to fulfill your omega-3 needs and provide your body with fish oil benefits. This is a recommendation also encouraged by the American Heart Association.⁴

The National Center for Complimentary and integrative Health (NCCIH), a division of the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have differing points of reference, and subsequent findings, on the benefits of fish oil supplementation to human health.  Their findings suggest that the side effects of omega-3 supplements are usually mild and include unpleasant taste, bad breath, bad-smelling sweat, headache, and gastrointestinal symptoms such as heartburn, nausea, and diarrhea.  Though several large studies have linked higher blood levels of long-chain omega-3s with higher risks of prostate cancer, other research has shown that men who frequently eat seafood have lower prostate cancer death rates and that dietary intakes of long-chain omega-3s aren’t associated with prostate cancer risk. The reason for these apparently conflicting findings is unclear.⁵

Omega-3 supplements may interact with drugs that affect blood clotting and it is uncertain whether people with seafood allergies can safely take fish oil supplements (check with your doctor).  While the research indicates that omega-3 supplements don’t reduce the risk of heart disease, people who eat seafood one to four times a week are less likely to die of heart disease. Further, while high doses of omega-3s can reduce levels of triglycerides and may help relieve symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, no evidence suggests it helps to slow age-related macular degeneration. For most other conditions for which omega-3 supplements have been studied, the evidence is inconclusive or doesn’t indicate that omega-3s are beneficial.⁵

With the differing research and recommendations for what is the best approach with regard to omega -3 supplementation it is important to have reliable resources from which to gather your own best information. The office of dietary supplementation (ODS) seeks to strengthen knowledge and understanding of dietary supplements by evaluating scientific information, supporting research, sharing research results, and educating the public. Its resources include publications (such as Dietary Supplements: What You Need to Know)⁶, fact sheets on a variety of specific supplement ingredients and products (such as vitamin D and multivitamin/mineral supplements), and the PubMed Dietary Supplement Subset.⁶

Not all fish oils are created equal. Most fish oils are highly processed and can oxidize easily because omega-3 fats are polyunsaturated, have a low heat threshold and can easily go rancid. For that reason, you want to buy a fish oil in triglyceride form that also contains antioxidants to preserve them like astaxanthin or essential oils. Dietary supplementation is a multi-billion dollar a year industry which is as yet unregulated by any governing bodies or public interest groups.  The claims made by the various manufacturers, as well as the plant and production processes in which they are developed, are largely unknown.  It is therefore wise to know and trust your nutritional supplement manufacturing brand and advisable to only choose those which are evaluated by third party entities, who have regular onsite visits, and who independently test products, such as Consumer Lab. ⁵

References

1. Danaei, G., Ding, E. L., Mozaffarian, D., Taylor, B., Rehm, J., Murray, C. J., & Ezzati, M. (2009). The preventable causes of death in the United States: comparative risk assessment of dietary, lifestyle, and metabolic risk factors. PLoS medicine, 6(4), e1000058.
2. LeWIne, H. (2013). Fish oil: Friend or foe? Harvard Health Blog. Retrieved from: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/fish-oil-friend-or-foe-201307126467
3. (2018). What to know about omega-3’s and fish. Retrieved from: https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/what-to-know-about-omega-3s-and-fish#4
4. American Heart Association, 2019. Fish and omega-3 fatty acids. Retrieved from: https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/fats/fish-and-omega-3-fatty-acids#.WAo07JMrJmA
5. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, 2019. Omega 3 supplements: In depth. Retrieved from: https://nccih.nih.gov/health/omega3/introduction.htm
6. National Institutes of Health: Office of Dietary Supplements, 2019. Strengthening knowledge and understanding of dietary supplements. Retrieved from: https://ods.od.nih.gov/HealthInformation/DS_WhatYouNeedToKnow.aspx