Topic: Omega 3 Benefits

[Eric Kropp]

I was wondering, what exactly does Omega 3 do for you?

[Andy Animus Tran]

I asked htis a few months ago.  Here's the link:

http://www.americanparkour.com/smf/index.php/topic,1725.0.html

[Tsumaru]

Q: What's one supplement that every athlete, weekend warrior, and basically any active person should be taking daily?

A: Fish oil. I was first introduced to fish oil twelve years ago by my friend Mauro DiPasquale. I was over at his house and he had fish oil on the counter. I asked him what he used it for and he said, "Charles, this is the most important supplement ever."

He told me to go to Medline and punch in any disease known to man and the words "fish oil" beside it. He challenged me to find a study that didn't show how fish oil could benefit in the treatment of any disease. I gave up after 86 studies!

Why is it so beneficial? It's in our genes. Humans used to consume 300-400 grams of omega-3s per week. If we consume more than two grams a day now it's considered a lot.

There was a study published four years ago that showed that if the US government issued three grams of fish oil per day to American citizens, then the amount of cancer and heart disease would go down by 50% within one year. Most readers don't care about cancer and heart disease, but they may care about this: the biggest limiting factor in naturally training people to getting lean and adding muscle is the consumption (or lack thereof) of omega-3s.

Looking at the body structure of cavemen, they had a lot of muscle mass compared to modern man. They got their omega-3s through the meats they ate. Now, they often ate what the predators left. For example, a lion will eat an antelope from the gut on, so what's left is the skull and long bones. Primitive man would break the skull open and eat the brains. Brains are 60% fat, and 60% of that is DHA, the omega-3. What they've found is that the more brain-sucking was going in those populations, the faster the IQ went up.

Primitive man would also break the bones of the prey and suck the marrow, also rich in omega-3, DHA particularly. DHA is the omega-3 most responsible for brain development while EPA is most associated with reducing inflammation.

My athletes would often recognize each other when sitting around a table because those I'd be training would break out the fish oil during the meal. That's how I got the nickname "the fish oil guy" among athletes. But that's also how I get people so lean so fast.

Anyone who wants to put on muscle and lose fat should be on 30-45 grams of fish oil per day. That's just three tablespoons of fish oil. It would be a pain in the ass with capsules though because that's around 45 capsules per day, but it's easy with a straight oil.

Flameout is also a great product. I like the addition of CLA to the EPA and DHA because most of the population is deficient in CLA. When I travel abroad I bring four or five bottles of Flameout instead of my liquid fish oil and take four or five capsules a day.

For those of us interested in positively and optimally altering body composition and maximizing our training efforts, fish oils offer thirteen possible advantages:

1. Cell membrane health: EPA and DHA insure that cell membranes remain healthy. This means that the membranes are flexible and contain larger numbers of insulin receptors that are more receptive and responsive to circulating insulin. This results in decreased fat storage in the adipocytes (fat cells).

2. Fish oils turn on the lipolytic genes (fat burning genes).

3. Fish oils turn off the lipogenic genes (fat storage genes).

4. Fish oils diminish C-reactive proteins, a newly identified risk factor associated with various inflammatory diseases, including atherosclerosis, angina, coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure, and diabetes. The DHA fraction of the fish oil seems to be one most responsible for that protective effect. DHA also has the best ability to reduce blood pressure.

5. Increase utilization of fat stores from the adipocytes.

6. Preferential utilization for energy production once stored in the adipocytes.

7. Reduced inflammation from physical training.

8. Pain management from the reduced inflammation.

9. EPA regulates blood supply to the brain which is essential in maintaining focus in weight training sessions. DHA is important in brain membranes, memory, and cognitive function.

10. Fish oils increase serotonin levels (the happy neurotransmitter). Therefore, fish oils will decrease incidence of depression, anxiety, panic attack, and reduce carbohydrate cravings.

11. Fish oils will improve your cardiovascular risk profile by lowering VLDL, triglycerides, homocysteine, fibrinogen, and increasing HDL levels. Combining fish oils with plant sterols will improve lipid levels even more than either alone.

12. Fish oils can also decrease blood pressure by several mechanisms. These include increases in the vasodilatory compound, nitric oxide, reducing vascular inflammation, blocking the constrictive elements in the vascular wall such as the calcium channels reducing blood viscosity, and inhibiting a blood vessel constrictor (thromboxane). Lipoprotein (a) is another CVD predictor that can be lowered by fish oils (a 19% reduction was seen with natural, stable fish oils and just 4% with a highly purified fish oil).

13. Fish oils are a great stress fighter. Supplementation with n-3 fatty acids inhibits the adrenal activation of steroids, aldosterone, epinephrine, and norepinephrine (catecholamines) elicited by a mental stress, apparently through effects exerted at the level of the central nervous system. Therefore, for the same amount of stress, one will produce fewer stress hormones if consuming fish oils on a regular basis.

In short, fish oil is my number one supplement recommendation!

Taken from Testosterone Nation and an article by Charles Poliquin:
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1371812

[FreeStyleFox]

Some one should write and artical on this for the frount page.

[FreeStyleFox]

I just started to day.... when you burp it tasts like you ate a fish samwich from McD's.... yummy  yay fish. 

[Purple_Slurpie]

I looked up the costs....

At CVS

It's 10 bucks a bottle. And each bottle has 120 pills

And you have to take 3 pills a day...

so basically... it's a quarter a day. Not too bad.

[Nicolas Finn]

I think I'm gonna do that too

[mmuir]

is that like steriods? because it sound like it...i mean animal fluids that improve how you perform...and couldn't it be harmful...

[Purple_Slurpie]

I started yesterday...

I can't tell any difference yet....

And I haven't gotten Gas or had burps taste like Fish Sammaches yet.

[Steven Low]

is that like steriods? because it sound like it...i mean animal fluids that improve how you perform...and couldn't it be harmful...

No. Steroids are hormones which you shouldn't be taking unless they are doctor recommend.

Omega fatty acids are basically fats that are essential for your cells to function correctly. You NEED these in your diet along with other sources of fat, protein and carbs.

[whiteninja]

So, is this recommended or not?
It sounds great, but you can't expect to eat some fish guts and instantly bulk up like Popeye after some spinach.

so basically... it's a quarter a day. Not too bad.

Using Google and reading stuff...

Each 4-capsule serving of Natural Factor's oil contains:

DHA: 280 mg.
EPA: 320 mg.

You can get it from Whole Foods for a little over 20 bucks.

Now let's look at a 4-capsule serving of Biotest's Flameout:

DHA: 2200 mg.
EPA: 880 mg.

That means that each equivalent-sized serving of Biotest's Flameout contains about 8 times the DHA and about 2.5 times the EPA content of the fish oil.

And Biotest's Flameout also contains the following amounts of two CLA isomers:

CLA trans-10, cis-12: 212 mg.
CLA cis-9, trans-11: 180 mg.

And the cost?

Each 90-capsule bottle of Flameout sells for $24.99.

It sounds more expensive than that. Maybe I just found a ripoff site; I'll keep looking.

Edit: After more Google...
The aforementioned "Natural Factor's" is a ripoff, though the Flameout does not seem to be. CVS does sell fishoil at a low price, and even though it is not as potent as Flameout, I assume it would suffice.

[Skinny]

Fish oils are highly recommended because of all the benefits they have for you. I started taking some a bit ago and have been learning a little more about them recently. They pretty much are one of the best things you can give yourself. So you can look at the cost to find the best ones, but certainly don't skip on it if you think its too expensive. You can also look into the straight oils, not capsules, may have a different price.

[FreeStyleFox]

I have been taking them for a few weeks now off and on depending when I eat now mainly.  For the most part I notice a vast diffrence including in quality of sleep. 

[Andy Animus Tran]

I should probably start...  Especially for the whole sleep thng.

[Gearsighted]

They're super important, but you have to figure out the actual fatty-acid content of the fish oil you're taking. Obviously a better, more pure fish oil will yield more benefits but will be more costly. I use mid-grade fish oil, but I take 9-12 a day to get 3-4g of actual fatty acids (which you figure by the rates of EPA DHA listed on the label). There are a variety of decent fish oils, though, so a little research goes a long way. I would check out the message boards on Crossfit as well as the Performance Menu for tons of great info. As for a main-page article, there already was one, about 6 months ago...here's the link: http://www.americanparkour.com/content/view/210/224/

Short and to the point, with some other useful links. This is definitely something everybody should be taking, especially considering the improvements in inflammation (i.e. soreness, joint injuries, etc.)

[Andy Animus Tran]

How much should the average person, say 165lbs, be taking daily?

[Gearsighted]

There's still a bit of speculation, but the more that people consider higher-dose fish-oil, the better it seems to be. A common suggestion would be 3-5g of EFA's per-day, which works out to about 9-12g of actual fish-oil. The book "Omega Rx Zone" by Dr. Barry Sears suggests gradually increasing your intake of quality fish oil until you begin to notice a difference, most notably in mental clarity and reduction of painful inflammation. There will be a cieling where you will improve to a point, then level off. This is the optimal level for your individual body and metabolism.

[Donjman]

Also, keeping your omega 6:3 ratio as close to 2:1 or even 1:1 is essential.

Omega 6's are pro inflammatory, Omega 3's anti inflammatory, a good ratio prevents many bad things...

Our ancestors would have had a ratio of 2:1 or 1:1, lets try to keep it that way.

[naroz]

Hemp seeds are also a great source of Omega 3s and pretty much everything else...
http://www.ratical.org/renewables/hempseed1.html

Don't worry, no THC content, it's legal.

Better than popping copious amounts of fish oil pills.

[Zelroth7]

Hey a week or two ago I bought a bottle of Omega-3 pills from Whole Foods (great place by the way  ) It says it's 1000mg of Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and I'm wondering if I should try to find some actual fish oil or stick with these ( they're soft gels, I'm not sure if they're just fish oil in a pill or some kind of processed ) also, if I do stick with these, I've been taking one a day, and wondering if I should take more? ( I'm about 150 pounds, maybe less and trying to gain muscle )

Thanks for the help!