There is a substantial amount of evidence that one should take a portion of omega 3 oil per day.
The consumption of omega 3 fish oils rather than genetics is responsible for the low incidence of coronary heart disease amongst the Japanese. In one commentary on the subject, it was shown that omega 3 consumption protected against heart disease even in the presence of traditional risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension [i]
In contrast to the anti-inflammatory, cell growth suppressive and blood thinning quality of Omega 3s, Omega 6 is associated with pro-inflammatory, cell stimulating and thrombotic tendency. It has been shown that women with breast cancer are far more likely to have lower levels of omega 3 [ii] and that Omega 3 inhibits tumour growth [iii]
There is quite frankly such strong evidence that omega 3 is a major contributor to general health, that I consider it almost negligent not to improve one's diet to increase consumption of oily fish or else take at least 1000mg of omega 3 oil per day. [iv]. In fact if one is suffering with arthritic or cardiovascular problems the suggestion is one should take 2000-4000mg per day .
The declining presence of omega 3 compared to omega 6 levels in the diet has been stated to be the root cause of much of the western epidemic of obesity in the last 50 years ( in the same article it demonstrates that young babies fed on the same number of calories but higher in omega 6 rather than omega 3 are more likely to be obese.
The omega 3 content of our daily food has profoundly altered; for example that the natural omega 3/omega 6 ratio in eggs has dropped 20 fold due to the diet of the chickens being supplemented with corn feed. The omega 3 content of free range butter eggs cheese and milk is much higher than intensively farmed produce fed on corn. This observation may contribute to the the ‘Alpine/ French paradoxes’ where high fat in diet is not associated with increase in heart disease due to the protective effects of high levels of omega 3.
In the same reference it is noted that the levels of the protective factor CLA (conjugated linoleic acid ) have dropped and the consumption of the extremely harmful trans fats has risen. Both can be remedied by eating free range (grass fed, not corn fed ) animals and avoiding processed foods particularly hydrogenated fats such as margarine. [v].
So eat good quality oily fish 4-5 time per week or if like me you can never manage this, consider taking a supplement of 2000-4000mg per day of Omega 3 fish oil.
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[i] Sekikawa A, Curb JD, Ueshima H, et al. Marine-derived n-3 fatty acids and atherosclerosis in Japanese, Japanese-American, and white men. A cross-sectional study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008;52:417-424. Harris W. Omega-3 fatty acids: The "Japanese" factor? J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008;52:425-427
[ii] Researchers compared the omega 3 content of breast tissue from patients with invasive, breast cancer with those with benign breast disease and found inverse associations between breast cancer-risk and the women's breast tissue levels of omega-3 fatty acids . Women who had the highest ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s had a 67% lower risk for breast cancer compared to women with the lowest ratio of omega-3s to 6s. Maillard et al. . N-3 and N-6 fatty acids in breast adipose tissue and relative risk of breast cancer in a case-control study in
[iii]Levent et al Protective Effects of Diets Supplemented with Omega-3Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Calcium Against ColorectalTumor Formation Dig Dis Sci (2008) 53:2177–2182
[iv]Mark A. Moyad An introduction to dietary/supplemental omega-3 fatty acids for general health and prevention: Part I, Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations 23 (2005) 28–35. Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations 23 (2005) 36–48. Mark A. Moyad An introduction to dietary/supplemental omega-3 fatty acids for general
health and prevention: Part II,. 3’s DeFilippis and Sperling Understanding omegas Am Heart J 2006;151:564- 70.)
[v] Dr David Servan-Schreiber ; Anti Cancer , a new way of life (penguin 2008) 82-94.
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