Hi Dr. Davis,

Adipose tissue also stores a lot of LA (proportional to long-term diet) and that will influence blood lipids.  The half-life of adipose LA is about 2 years, so changing that contribution is a long-term process.

I used the omega profile thru YFH.com.  My AA/EPA ratio was 1.39 on 7.5gm EPA+DHA (1 TBS EicoRx)daily  This dose also cured my asthma and almost eliminated my seasonal allergies.  EicoRx has GLA added, which pushes eicosanoid synthesis more toward the "Good Side".  One of the best basic fish oils is available thru the life extension foundation.  It is 60% pure (600mg EPA+DHA per 1000mg capsule) and contains sesame lignans and olive extract.  It is certified thru IFOS.  I got it on sale for under $10 for a bottle of 120!

I wonder if taking 6G of EPA+DHA/day - split as three separate dosages has any advantage over a single dose?

Dr. Davis!

I like your n=1 experiment!

Thank you for sharing your results. In all honesty, I think your Japanese blood demands more omega-3's.  That might in fact be genetic!!
  
-G

Dr. Davis!

I like your n=1 experiment!

Thank you for sharing your results. In all honesty, I think your Japanese blood demands more omega-3's.  That might in fact be genetic!!
  
-G

What about the studies that Harvard's nutrition webpage cites that omega-3 and omega-6 were both beneficial and that they are not competition with each other?

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/omega-3-fats/index.html

The studies have citation numbers of 4 and 5 but i'll link them here anyway

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17876199?dopt=Citation

"Adequate intakes of both n-6 and n-3 fatty acids are essential for good health and low rates of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, but the ratio of these fatty acids is not useful. Reductions of linoleic acid to "improve" this ratio would likely increase rates of cardiovascular disease and diabetes."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15630029?dopt=Citation

"n-3 PUFAs from both seafood and plant sources may reduce CHD risk, with little apparent influence from background n-6 PUFA intake."

I wonder if there are any other commercial labs doing Omega3/6 testing? Ideally, I'd like to get it a regular lab, through insurance, as I see enough doctors that I can get one to write a script.

Any concerns about GeneSmart also selling Omega 3 supplements? It seems like a conflict of interest to me somehow. I would look at a VAP test differently if the same company sold statins direct to the consumer, for instance.

Aw, shucks! Since dark chocolate is supposed to have good antioxidants, and nuts are supposed to have good fats, I thought that peanut or almond M&Ms would be the perfect health food.

I'm currently taking 3600 mg EPA-DHA in 5 gels of PurPride fish oil at $.04 per gel...while equiv LEF fish oil would be 3 at $.17 per.

I'm sure the LEF quality is better.

Was wondering if 5 gels (3600 mg) was too much...looks like it might not be.

Omega6s are one of the reasons I cut back on most nuts. Walnuts are the worst. The lowest amounts of omega6s are in macadamia nuts, so I still eat few of those. For this same reason I rarely eat avocados any more - they were throwing off my omega6/omega3 balance way too much, despite all the fish and supplements. Compared to most nuts and avocadoes even grain-fed beef is pretty benign from omega6 point of view.

I wonder if any progress is being made in evaluating each person as a unique system. The same levels for everyone may not be appropriate.

I don't know how many nuts you're eating a week Doc, but 8 oz. of mixed nuts has about 25 g. 18:2 n-6 (LA).  Most nuts are high in LA, except for macadamia nuts.  Walnuts are the highest, with 38 g. LA per 100 g. of nuts.  Pecans are next at 20, peanuts at 15, almonds and pistachios at about 13.5, and cashews at 8.5. Macadamias have only 1.3 g. LA per 100 g. of nuts.

Hello,

I just purchased the omega 3/omega 3/6 ration test -

what does the omega ratio test cover? The ratio in tissue? Blood? My understanding is that the ratio in tissue is what is the best identifier, but I believe it says that blood is tested?

*confused*

All the evidence suggests that dietary linoleic acid (plant-based omega 6) is perfectly healthy - it's the dietary arachidinoic acid (animal-based omega 6) that's problematic.

Omega-6 intake seems to be a tripping point. We'll discuss that in a future post.

Dr Davis,
If we order test kits from overseas, even if the kit arrives OK I'm worried about customs problems when sending back my own blood in order to get the results. Any idea how likely this is to be a problem?

Hi, Rick--

To my knowledge, there should be no problem with international orders.

I remember one of the marketing points made by krill sellers is that krill EPA/ DHA is absorbed better into the cell membrane verses regular fish oil.  It would be interesting to see if that is true.

Interesting comment about the krill, although to do a fair comparison the Omega 3 intakes would need to be equal (or in the same ballpark) for both fish and krill.

To get to 1-2 grams of Omega 3s/daily from krill, it'd probably bankrupt you.

I think krill may do a better job than fish oil as to  reducing c-reactive protein and probably does absorb better. But it's not so cost effective at large doses.

Are you a vegetarian?  I think I read somewhere you don't like meat.  Perhaps this is contributing to your omega 3 index.

Hi.  I just recently saw something on WebMD that said Fish Oil has been shown to worsen your risk of heart disease.  What do you think about that?

I previously posted that I was taking 3600 mg O3s...when it is actually 1500 mgs...
will be increasing to around 2900 mgs.

Do have a question as far as the interaction of a pomegranate extract which I take...where this is also supposed to help clear plaque...any such thing as too much arterial clearing?

These companies that sell supplements and omega 3 index tests dont do the analysis.  
The lab that created the Index, OmegaQuant, does the lab work and is blinded to patient information.

Attitude--it's half the battle, isn't it? Great post.

He seems to be in denial. I'm sure that he is not following your guidelines, so no improvement in his health will occur.

When I read about Hank I thought "he could be related!"  Many relatives on my mom’s side of the family are similar to him.  They naturally find faults with situations, other people, and are world class deniers.  They are pretty miserable to be around, to me, for any length of time.  

My family is a real contrast in that my father’s side of the family is the opposite from moms.  They are eternal optimists.  They tend to see positives in most things.  

When it was learned that I had a high calcium score on my heart scan, responses received were as expected.   Relatives on mom’s side called to say - "doctors don't know what they are doing", "eat what you want", "those test scores don't mean anything." etc.  Fathers side of the family has been supportive - with my father going so far as to join me on the TYP diet and supplements.  He didn't have to but he wanted to know what it is like to take fish oil, the niacin flush, and to eat like a cave man.    

Almost everyone who is older on mom’s side of the family, died of heart disease, has heart disease or experienced a stroke.  I want to say to them, why not try something different - like the ideas presented in the TYP book?  What has been tried in the past did not work so well, why not be open to new ideas?  But I know what ever I say will go in one ear and out the other.  They know they know and can not be persuaded other wise.  Being grizzled pessimists is in their blood, I believe.  

I'm glad that I take after my father’s personality.