The Truth about Omega3 Supplements

An item on todays Pat Kenny show on RTE Radio one prompted me to send off the following email:

Dear Pat

I was intrigued to hear your interview with Doctor Sarah Jarvis of the CLO3 Foundation. I have had an interest in omega 3s for some time, and am excited by the range of potential uses. However, only recently have I noticed Cod Liver Oil being promoted as the best source of omega 3s, and I was very surprised that Dr. Jarvis did not draw the key distinction between Fish Liver Oils, and Fish *Body* Oils.

I have noticed that Seven Seas have had a large advertising campaign promoting their Cod Liver Oil products in the same vein.

After your interview, I checked the CLO3 website, and it turns out that CLO3

"has been set up supported by an educational grant from Seven Seas Cod Liver
Oil, Haliborange and Pulse Fish Oils".

Actually these are all Seven Seas products.

Why does this matter?

Well, while Cod Liver Oil contains omega 3s they make up the smaller part of
the oil. For all the omega 3s ingested one must also ingest alot of
accompanying Vitamin A. The problem is that Vitamin A is toxic if taken in
too large a dose. The best source of Omega 3s is fish *body* oil, which
comes in supplements going up to 90% omega3 content. Unlike Cod Liver Oil,
fish *body* oil has no known toxicity level. This is especially relevant
when taking omega 3s in high doses as part of an depression regime for
intance (as recommended Dr. Servan Schreiber who also has been interviewed on
RTE radio).

[ Incidentally, on the subject of safety, Seven Seas fared very badly in a
report by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland on contaminants in fish oil
capsules in 2002. Presumably they have had to get their act together to meet
new EU legal limits in this area. I am not expert on the following, but
pollutants tend to be fat soluble and get concentrated in livers of fish
high in the food chain. Fish body oil from smaller species tend to be purer
apparently. Eskimos by the way in recent decades have had huge problems cances caused by
PCBs ]

I believe that omega threes show great medical potential, but marketing Cod
Liver Oil as the best form of omega 3s muddies the water un-necessarily. The
best way to obtain omega3s is in pure phamaceutical grade fish body oil
capsules - a number of excellent brands are available.

So it is disppointing to have an interview on omega 3s dominated by the
commercial need of Seven Seas to sell their Cod Liver Oil.

Best regards, Daniel Dunne

The supplement I use is called OM3 from http://www.isodisnatura.net/. They don't pay me to promote it by the way. Also good are Equazen's EyeQ range and Omegabrite.

Nutrition and Hysteria

There has been some good coverage recently about issues and controversies surrounding health and nutrition. The BBC broadcasted The Truth about Food, exploding some received wisdoms as myths, while supporting others. This is a complex area, and every nugget of information has to be tested.

For instance received wisdoms about drinking 2 litres of water a day, and now coming under attack, as is the whole notion of detox diets.

Some media stars are even under personal attack. Ben Goldacre, whose work I admire, turned up on The Panel, to bash the Gillian McKeith school of thought about nutrition. Ben rightly pointed out the strong role of social factors (income, status, exclusion) in health. McKeith's qualifications also came under deserved scrutiny.

Goldacre has a more formidable opponent in Patrick Holford. Holford impressed on recent appearances promoting his book Food is the Best Medicine. The Holford and Goldacre spat makes for interesting reading:

Goldacres initial article on Holford on Jan 6th in the Guardian

Holfords Reply on the Guardian's letter page (Feb 16th)

Goldacre has another go (Feb 17th)

Goldacre and Holford have also taken the argument to the British Medical Journal.

Goldacre's BMJ article published on his own Bad science website

Holford's response to Goldacre's BMJ Article in context on the BMJ Letter's page

Make your own mind up who is most convincing!