Benefits of Fish Oil and Flaxseed oil

raven56706

Searched but couldnt find the answers


looking to get more vitamins and was searching for fish oil and flaxseed oil. What are the pros and cons? how will it help with weight loss or cardio/weight training?

Pangui

If you are looking to maximize vitamins and nutrients, then you may wish to skip the oils and focus on vegetables.

Here are some of the best veggies to fight cancer,

http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/1-anticancer-vegetable/

asyouseefit

Fish oil contains essential fatty acids (omega-3). Those have been all the rage for the past few years because of their (supposed?) health benefits. They don't help with weight loss but with general health (lower risks of cardiovascular diseases...).

ScarletFyre

BUMP

raven56706

bump... not alot of responses... looking for some advice

RainbowDream83

I know B vitamins will give ya energy, and good for ya. But that's all I know Wish I could help more. Best of luck to you and your weight loss journey

tangal88

Fish Oil - things it helps, type of data, and reliability of studies, and dose and side effect:

http://www.vitacost.com/health-library/assets/nutritional-supplement/fish-oil-and-cod-liver-oil-epa-and-dha/~default


Flax seed oil:

http://www.vitacost.com/health-library/assets/nutritional-supplement/flaxseed-and-flaxseed-oil/~default


Evidence bubble "chart" for various supplements, based on current available accurate data:

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/play/snake-oil-supplements/


Info on Fish oil, DHA and EPA, and why flax may not be the best source of DHA, if you prefer a higher therapeutic level)
(the body needs to convert the DHA from Flax, And the conversion process can be inefficient. Fish oil already has DHA available in a usable form) Many things can effect conversion, age, health, genetics. Some genetic groups cannot convert at all - others do it very efficiently.

The body most convert ALA to DHA from flax - Estimates of the rate of conversion range from 5% to 25%. In order to make sufficient amounts of EPA and DHA, one needs to consume 5 or 6 times more ALA , than if one relies on fish oil alone.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/uncategorized/fish-oil-versus-flaxseed-oil/

From protein power link, on why Fishoil is preferred, according to this source:

"......with out recommendations for fish oil instead of flaxseed oil simply because a) it makes more sense biochemically, and b) our patients seemed to do better on fish oil.

A recent paper from the British cardiology journal Atherosclerosis bears us out.

Subjects who had fish oil added to their high omega-6 diet had much higher levels of EPA and DHA in their cell membranes after a few weeks of supplementation than did those who had added flaxseed oil. "

There are some studies that indicate, that consuming large amount of fish oil daily (1-4 grams a day) can assist with fat loss, preserving more lean muscle, while (or after) losing weight . So far only a few studies show this, and they are from small group studies, and there are other studies that may contradict them. So not yet enough reliable info to "prove" anything in ether direction there. Pub Med will likely provide the studies if you want to look it up there.

I have read them, but no longer have them bookmarked.



My husband and I both take liquid fish oil daily, which comes upto about 3 grams fish oil daily. (not counting food sources). We are taking a treatment or therapeutic level, not a standard maintenance dose.

Our results have shown improved lab work in all areas, drop in triglycerides and bad LDL cholesterol levels for husband and higher good cholesterol levels. (HDL) (he had an issue here, I did not)

Lowering of borderline blood pressure for me. Less joint pain and mood issues. Better skin.

Doctor has been very pleased.

I have not noticed improved fat loss, lean mass retention, with or without fish oil. But have been taking it at high levels for a few years, for other reasons. So was not really tracking that specifically.


Side Effects:

High levels of fish oil can slightly thin the blood, not usually an issue, but a concern if you take a blood thinner.


Those with heart disease and diabetes have often been reported to benefit from supplementation with fish oil,but both groups should check with their doctor before taking more than 3 grams of fish oil per day for several months. Elevations in blood sugar and cholesterol levels may occur in some people who take fish oil.

The increase in blood sugar appears to be related in part to the amount of fish oil used.The impairment of sugar metabolism sometimes caused by supplementation with fish oil has been prevented by the addition of half an hour of moderate exercise three times a week.

While supplementation with fish oil consistently lowers triglycerides, the effect of fish oil on LDL (“bad”) cholesterol varies, and in some people, fish oil supplementation has been reported to increase LDL levels.

JoshGouvisis

Not sure how true, but ive also heard taking fish oil (daily reccommended dose) before bed, will aide in braking down old fat cells.
I havent paid attention, or observed it for myself, but i heard that a while ago from a personal weight trainer. His reccommeded dose was 1000mg, which is standard intake.

hsk1019

I was told once that fish oil can help to lower your triglycerides (type of cholesterol) if that is an issue.

Bentley2718

When you have this type of question, it's often worth googling, if you google "fish oil supplements health" the first (non-paid) link is this from the Mayo Clinic (which is probably a reasonable source for health-related info): http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fish-oil/NS_patient-fishoil . That way you don't have to wait for people to respond!

Also, if for some reason you don't want to take fish oil, there are a few vegan processed algae supplements that provide very similar benefits (e.g. V-pure).

lizgreenhill

Well i take fish oil and/or krill oil pills every single day. They havent helped with weight loss i dont honestly think they are supposed too but i take them to keep myself from getting high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. If you want to take vitamins maybe try with a multi-vitamin with all the basic vitamins in it. Or try eating fruit and vegetables because they have an excellent source of them.

patricia909

bump

servilia

You're a man so don't need to worry about this, but women who are pregnant or might become pregnant should ensure they're taking fish oil produced from the body of the fish rather than the liver because the liver version contains high levels of vit A.. which you already get in your prenatals and is pretty abundant in a lot of foods. Too high a level can cause birth defects. I noticed the former fish oil I was using already had 50% of my vit A for the day!

Fish oil a really good supplement as it's high in DHA and EPA, omega 3s which are anti-inflammatory. Most people on a typical western diet get too much Omega 6, and it's important to get enough Omega 3s as well to balance the two in a correct ratio. We still need more omega 6 v omega 3, but because our present diet is skewed way too much towards omega 6 (something like 10:1 typically), it's good to supplement.

It's also great for brain and nervous system development, and a host of other things:
I got this list of benefits of fish oil from a website:

- Reduce inflammation throughout your body
- Keep your blood from clotting excessively
- Maintain the fluidity of your cell membranes
- lower the amount of lipids (fats such as cholesterol and triglycerides) circulating in the bloodstream
- decrease platelet aggregation, preventing excessive blood clotting
- inhibit thickening of the arteries by decreasing endothelial cells' production of a platelet-derived growth factor (the lining of the arteries is composed of endothelial cells)
- increase the activity of another chemical derived from endothelial cells (endothelium-derived nitric oxide), which causes arteries to relax and dilate
- reduce the production of messenger chemicals called cytokines, which are involved in the inflammatory response associated with atherosclerosis
- reduce the risk of becoming obese and improve the body's ability to respond to insulin by stimulating the secretion of leptin, a hormone that helps regulate food intake, body weight and metabolism, and is expressed primarily by adipocytes (fat cells)
- help prevent cancer cell growth

oh and I would repeat what tangal said about fish oil v flaxseed - the compounds you want (DHA and EPA) are already bioavailable in the form of fish oil but if you take flaxseed oil, the body would have to try to convert the ALA to these..

neanderthin

A lot of health problems have derived not only from overeating but from having an imbalance in regards to our omega consumption. The basic problem over the last 2 centuries with the last 50 years especially is the overconsumption of omega 6, which is derived mostly from grain sources including grain oils, all of which have little omega 3. Omega 3's are derived mostly from sea creatures, pasture raised animals, wild animals and green vegetables.

This imbalance is associated with heart disease, arthritis, depression, suicide, inflammation and some cancers. Ideally we want a 1:1 ratio or there abouts but the average is around 20:1. The important bit about this conundrum is in the simple fact that most people aren't going to eat less grain products, lets face it they taste good, so the trend has been not only from the gov't but from conagra to promote omega 3's and to boost processed shelf foods with extra omega 3's to lower this balance.

A few hiccups with this process is in the type of omega 3's that been offered up in these products. First of all it's important to understand that there is a big difference between the omega 3's from animal sources and plant sources. Animal sources have n:3's that are referred to as EPA and DPA and plant n:3's have whats called AHA.

That real benefit of omega 3's for our brain and our overall health is primarily found in EPA and DHA. Saying that our body has adapted a way to convert AHA to EPA and DHA. when I say convert, I really mean that it it will desaturate the AHA which elongates the fatty acid chain producing firstly EPA which is the next ismer in that fatty acid chain, then that EPA is desaturated further and produces DHA.....everyone is happy, right, well no, and here's why. That convertion pathway in our body is shared with omega 6 and the sheer amount of omega 6's we consume, in a ratio aspect prevents much of this convertion to take place. Think of it like a door way where omega 6's and omega 3's are going through equally in a 1:1 ratio, everybody is happy, but when 20 omega 6's are blocking the doorwa before 1 omega 3 can get through in order for the elongation to take place, the process is greatly reduced and blocked. Basically the convertion of AHA to EPA and DHA is generally around 20% at best with people is perfect health, but for most of the NA popultion that convertion is less than 5%. Further the convertion from those EPA's that are generated have to then be elongated further to DHA and that convertion is known to be less than 1 tenth of 1%, basically zilch.

Based on these facts, the type of omega 3's are of extreme importance. Most omega 3's that are added to processed foods are coming primarily from flax seed, which is AHA so while conagra can promote omega3's fro heart health and the other benefits, the actual benefit to our bodies is pretty insignificant. The same goes with flax oil.

My recommendation is that people consume a fish oil product rather than a plant based omega 3, and the best absorption of all fish based n:3's imo is krill oil. I'm not saying don't eat plant based omega 3's because there are a lot of health benefits, especially for women when flax seed, (but not the oil) is consumed which are full of lignans, phospholipids and phytosterol.

We need to get our omega balance lower and consuming fish oil is better for us. Secondly, if someone consumes a lot of grain and grain oil and few vegetables it might be wise to rethink that and reduce some, especially the grain oils, that have been promoted to replace saturated fat in our diet, wrongly so I might add and just doing that would help quite a bit. Later

raven56706

thanks for the responses... if anyone would like to add, please feel free