I have an arguement going on right now, on a different board by a so-called expert.I directed him to this roundtable and he completely disagreed with the one about fishoils, I think it was the cyclist.He had stated that he was trying to eliminate 6 from his diet. My question is this, Is there any evidence to support this theory he has, or is it solely his.Is this an unhealthy thing to do? I was basicly told this guy was full of shit and that really pissed me off, I would like to prove that this experts opinion was way out of line.
I always hate to start wars about who is right and who is wrong regarding scientific theory or even data since in 5 years all we know now could be demonstrated to be “wrong” or at least lacking. With that said, Eric, one of the contributors that you refer to is my lab mate. He is a very bright PhD student (he will be finishing up really soon) who is doing his dissertation work on…you guessed it…fish oils. We are looking at fat oxidation, glucose and insulin sensitivity, exercise performance, and health profiles in response to EFA (fish oil) supplementation (yep, we collect all this data right next to my desk - where I type up my articles). I think that might qualify him as a true expert. With this said, I think the fat roundtable was designed to illustrate that since most of the fat in the western diet is a combo of saturates and omega 6’s, most of this can be eliminated if other EFA’s are used instead. Since omega 6’s will never be completely eliminated in a mixed whole food diet, a conscious attempt should be made to avoid EXTRA sources of omega 6’s and to replace these potential extras with omega 3’s. We are currently erring on the conservative side by saying that a good balance between 3’s and 6’s should be achieved and that we shouldnt eliminate ALL 6’s from the diet, but there is some evidence that you could probably eliminate most if not all of the 6’s (in favor of more 3’s) without any negative consequences. But that data is still too new to make recommendations. I’ll keep you posted as more data is generated in our lab.
Thanks John, please keep me posted, I am really interested in this certain subject. This person I referred to claims that excessive amounts of fishoils will cause major havoc in our systems. He was claiming this was research done by some guy who writes the nutrition stuff for the government. Of course we all know they could never be wrong about anything( Of course unless there is some proof by a major study he will not beleive me.anyway, thanks much for the reply, and Merry Christmas.
Musicman: What do you consider to be an “excessive” amount? Read the following abstract from a well-known study and then tell me what you think:
The New England Journal of Medicine (1997; 336:1046-1053) This study found a 12% reduction in cholesterol and a 40% reduction of triglycerides with a 5% rise in HDL on 20 capsules of MaxEPA per day. MaxEPA is a commercial preparation of marine lipids containing 180 mg of EPA and 120 mg of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) per capsule. Such a high dose may not be required for a long-term protective effect, since in epidemiological studies the ingestion of fish a few days per week seems to protect against heart attacks. Salmon oil is high in EPA.
Were you thinking of more than 20 caps a day? If not I would say that you are alright.
I was more in the line of cutting the 6 and replacing it with 3’s. Read the fat roundtable article, about omega3 oils. I feel our dieta are way to reliant on the 6 and not enough on the 3. But anyway this is an arguement that I have with this guy. I beleive the article and anything t-mag says is the WORD to me. So when someone else tells me someone is wrong, when I beleive that person, it pisses me off and I have to prove the difference.