Another reason to opt for krill oil
The standard Western diet is sadly lacking in omega-3 fats. Most of the recommendations we hear are to increase our intake of omega-3s by eating fish a few times per week. Most people who do eat fish eat tuna, the most readily available fish around that contains a halfway decent level of omega-3 fats.
But news reports over the past several years have put a lot of us off of tune, at least the canned variety, with reports of how much mercury such tuna contains. MD and I have opted to get our tuna as sushi grade tuna that we get either at Japanese restaurants or by purchasing it at a natural foods grocer and making our own sashimi. Now comes a report that gives us pause.
The International Herald Tribune published an article story showing that even sushi-grade tuna is crawling with mercury, which makes fish eating now a Faustian bargain. We can get the omega-3s, but at the expense of a ton of mercury.
Recent laboratory tests found so much mercury in tuna sushi from 20 Manhattan stores and restaurants that at most of them, a regular diet of six pieces a week would exceed the levels considered acceptable by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Sushi from 5 of the 20 places had mercury levels so high that the Food and Drug Administration could take legal action to remove the fish from the market. The sushi was bought by The New York Times in October.
But maybe this is just a freaky sample. I’m not so sure. And the article goes on to state that the more expensive the tuna, the greater the contamination.
These findings reinforce results in other studies showing that more expensive tuna usually contains more mercury because it is more likely to come from a larger species, which accumulates mercury from the fish it eats. Mercury enters the environment as an industrial pollutant.
Now, I love sushi (actually, MD and I almost always opt for sashimi, which is the raw fish without the sticky rice, as shown in the photo above), but I’m not really willing to sacrifice my health for it. I get most of my omaga-3 fat from the krill oil that I take daily. Krill are tiny shrimplike creatures that are at the bottom of the food chain, and, thus, don’t concentrate mercury in the same way that fish do. And krill have a unique phospholipid structure to their fatty acid bonds that makes them much more absorbable, preventing the fishy smelling belching that fish oil capsules sometimes cause. If you want to get your omega-3s as tastelessly and painlessly as possible – and without the risk of mercury toxicity – you can’t go wrong with krill oil. Even a few years ago krill oil wasn’t readily available, but now you can find it all over the place. And it’s not all that expensive. So, to get your daily dose of omega-3, down a krill oil gelcap or two and forget the recommendation to eat fish several times per week.
I checked out Bronwyn’s blog, and she is not someone I would ever consult for nutritional advice. Not only does she advocate the kind of grain-bean feedlot diet that made me fat, she also heartily endorses T. Colin Campbell’s überidiotic, junk science ‘China Study’.
I am weird no doubt, but about seven years ago, I began eating a can of tuna for lunch Mon-Friday. (tuna fillet in olive oil). I did this for three years, with hardly any variation. Then I heard about mercury and had my level tested. It was 10, the upper limit of the lab’s normal range. I began to eat other things, but still eat tuna sometimes. I will have the level tested again soon.
My point is that I think it takes A LOT of tuna or other fish to get into the toxic range.
I’m not sure if it takes that much mercury to accumulate (probably depends on Vitamin D status as well b/c as you know if you’re deficient, then your body nonselectively uptakes any mineral like Hg++ which looks like Ca++ calcium)…
Daphne Zuniga of Melrose Place fame is a strong proponent of testing for mercury b/c she became toxic from ‘eating healthy’ with frequent fish. I’ve heard of several other stories as well! My husband’s friend has a brother who is a fisherman in San Francisco Bay. Recently his blood tested 75 for mercury (10 and less is normal). Other people who have canned tuna or Ahi for lunch a couple times a week end up toxic too… I think if Krill oil has < 1ppm Hg (mercury) than that’s actually a better product (and safer to take if you’re conceivable taking them indefinitely/forever) than most purified, filtered fish oil capsules available on the market at this time. Anyone know?
THANK YOU DR. Eades for another informative, discussion-provoking post!! Keep up the commentary and sharing your insights, I miss your wry wit in the comments section…
g
John N,
I would agree from my experience — if one is on an optimal dose of DHA+EPA ‘seafood’ oils, then one should notice improvement in mental alertness, acuity and sync-ing of the synapses! Since I’ve been taking them for the last 2-3 mos I notice a huge improvement. It is not as if I’m going to join Mensa now (like perhaps some of you here) but I do feel mentally rejuvenated, handle stress better, and sleep is improved. I’ve reviewed some ALA diets and studies, however without fish oils DHA + EPA, the benefits for the brain and heart are apparently not evident. The longest chains (for conductivity) in nature are the seafood oils DHA and EPA. Thanks! g
Mike, please, I would like to know your thoughts about this:
http://trevormarshall.com/BioEssays-Feb08-Marshall-Preprint.pdf
http://bacteriality.com/2007/09/15/vitamind/#9
Vitamin D as an immunosuppressive steroid?
Cancer promoting?!?
Gulp…
Marco
I’ll post on it soon.
MRE
Mainstream media starting to get it (maybe) on fish oil and the like. Here’s a link from the BBC on a study that showed that arthritis patients who were given cod liver oil cut down their use of antiinflammatories without experiencing an increase in pain
Best,
Stephen
I’ve finally decided to start supplementing my diet with fish oil. I’ve looked into all of the formulations and many of the “pharmaceutical grade” brands. Just when I thought I had decided what I’d used, the question of liquid or pill entered my mind.
I know the liquids are generally more potent and cheaper per milligram. But I’m wondering about oxidation levels. We all know that if the oil smells really bad it’s probably rancid. But what if it’s not quite to the point that it smells? If the oil is so easily oxidized, won’t oxidation begin and continue as soon as it’s bottled because of the oxygen in the neck of the sealed bottle? Even if i refrigerate it after opening it, isn’t oxidation going on? If it’s a month supply how many free radicals are present after 3 weeks even when properly kept? How significant is the exposure to the free radicals when taking the oil even if only slightly oxidized compared to our everyday exposure? Do the soft-gels confer a measure of protection against oxidation compared to the liquid because the oil is sealed in the capsule?
The soft-gels provide some measure of protection, but the soft-gels are permeable to oxygen. As are the plastic bottles in which they come. The best way I’ve found to keep fish oil fresh is to buy the soft-gels, then transfer them to glass bottles and keep them in the fridge.