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Under Publicized Fish Oil Research Reveals Scam

Fish Snake Oil.jpg

Don’t be fooled by the fancy label … the contents are toxic.

When it comes to dietary fats, most doctors and nutritionists focus on the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio and completely neglect to address saturated fats. This is because fraudulent and unscientific research supported by government grants and backed by a giant industry demonized saturated fats to the point that everyone is trying to avoid them.

But, if you stop for a minute and ask why cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease are projected to plague more of the population in the near future while modern medicine is ‘supposedly’ advancing, the concept of “Profit Over People” becomes self-evident.

Let’s explore what real science has to say about polyunsaturated fats and how you can protect yourself.

Fish Oil and Cod Liver Oil Go Rancid, Even Inside Your Body

Fish oils are susceptible to lipid peroxidation due to their high degree of unsaturation. When these polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) oxidize, they produce a number of different toxic aldehydes. The toxic effects of these PUFA-derived aldehydes are well described in animal studies.1 One such aldehyde is acrolein, which was used during World War I as a chemical warfare agent.

Fish oils and vegetable oils high in omega-3 fats, such as canola oil, are being promoted as ‘heart healthy’ even though it has been observed that dietary consumption of peroxidation products may represent an important risk factor for the induction and development of atherosclerosis in humans.2

It is the triglyceride and cholesterol-lowering effect of the unsaturated fats that has led these omega-3 fats to be called ‘heart healthy’.

But, it’s now known that the triglycerides in the blood are decreased because of fish oil’s toxic effects on the liver.3,4

Additionally, unsaturated oils (fish oils and most vegetable oils) were proven to cause heart disease as well as cancer in a study at the L.A. Veterans Hospital published in 1971.

And another study found that after the age of 50, low cholesterol is clearly associated with an increased risk of dying from a variety of causes. The researchers found that “mortality was lowest at serum cholesterol 7.0 mmol/l [=270 mg/dl]… This relation held true irrespective of age, even when blood pressure, body weight, history of myocardial infarction [heart attack], creatinine clearance [kidney function] and plasma proteins were taken into account.”5

And your MD still wants your cholesterol level below 170 mg/dl?!?

Poisoning one critical organ to ‘theoretically’ help another is hardly an intelligent trade-off.

Polyunsaturated Fats Suppress the Immune System

The immunosuppressive effects of the highly unsaturated fish oils are well known. Their use has even been promoted as a possible adjunctive treatment in organ transplantation so that the recipient’s body does not reject the graft.6

When animals are fed fish oil and then exposed to bacteria, their immunosuppressed thymic (T) cells cause them to succumb to the infection more easily than animals fed coconut oil or a fat free diet. Natural killer cells, which eliminate cancer cells and virus infected cells, are decreased after eating fish oil, and T suppressor cells are often increased.

In one study, pigs exposed to bacterial endotoxin developed severe lung problems (resembling “shock lung”) when they had been on a diet with either fish oil or Intralipid (which is mostly omega-3 oil, used for intravenous feeding in hospitals), but not after palmitic acid [a saturated fat].7

A Weak Immune System Is A Characteristic of Cancer Patients

One common trait seen in cancer patients is a weak immune system.

When the body’s immune system is overwhelmed or suppressed, cancer has the opportunity to thrive.

Fish oil is often promoted as an anti-cancer supplement.

This is deceptive marketing at its best!

Researchers know that the unsaturated fatty acids (cleverly named ‘essential fatty acids’ – yes, the double-speak of George Orwell’s 1984 is alive and well today) cause cancer in animals. But, knowing that cancer cells have the ability to consume large amounts of fatty acids, they were able to show that these unsaturated fats could kill cancer cells in a petri dish.

The mechanism of action is similar to chemotherapy. Since the cancer cells are metabolizing more rapidly then normal cells, they take up more of the PUFA, which subsequently oxidizes and kills the cells. Meanwhile, non-cancerous cells are also taking up the PUFA and becoming weakened and destroyed.

A study published in 1998 showed that the growth and metastasis of a variety of tumors are inhibited by saturated fatty acids, and increased by fish oil–as much as 10 times in number of metastases and 1000 times in size.8

Lipofuscin Is A Product Of The Lipid Peroxidation of Polyunsaturated Fats

Lipofuscin, a plaque-like substance, is responsible for ‘AGE spots’ or ‘liver spots’ on the skin and is implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS as well as many other chronic degenerative diseases.

Lipid peroxidation triggers neurodegeneration.9 The most likely explanation for this observation is the resultant formation of lipofuscin destroying nerve tissue.

There has been a growing movement of using coconut oil to halt the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and it has even been able to reverse it to varying degrees. This indicates that the medium chain triglycerides (MCT) in coconut oil may be able to dissolve lipofuscin plaques.

If polyunsaturated fats are so harmful, what fats should we be eating?

The answer is simple… what our ancestors ate, saturated fats.

Saturated fats are not susceptible to lipid peroxidation.

Our ancestors ate large amounts of saturated fats because they are readily available in nature and they preserve well.

Studies have shown dietary saturated fats to reverse alcohol liver disease fibrosis. Another study found that dietary saturated fat reverses liver cirrhosis, even when the researchers kept feeding the rats alcohol!10, 11,12

The researchers reported “[a] diet enriched in saturated fatty acids effectively reverses alcohol-induced necrosis, inflammation, and fibrosis despite continued alcohol consumption.”10

Coconut oil (high in medium chain triglycerides, MCTs) and olive oil (high in monounsaturated fats) are the only vegetable oils that are safe for human consumption. Palm oil is another vegetable fat that is primarily saturated and is safe, but it is not as readily available.

Animal fats, including butter and lard, which are highly saturated, are generally very safe unless the animal has been poisoned or raised on an unnatural diet of grains.

Proper animal husbandry practices are crucial to insure healthy food.

Always check your sources.

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References
  1. J. Clin. Invest. 102, 1216-1218. In vivo absorption, metabolism and urinary excretion of unsaturated aldehydes in experimental animals. Grootveld, M., Atherson, M.D., Sheerin, A.N., Hawkes, J., Blake, D.R., Richens, T.E., Silwood, C.J.L., Lynch, E. and Clarson, A.W.D. (1998).
  2. FEBS. Lett. 355, 81-90. Generation of lipid peroxide products in culinary oils and fats during episodes of thermal stressing: A high field HNMR study. Clarson, A.W.D., Hawkes, G.E., Richardson, D.A., Naughton, D.P., Haywood, R.M., Chander, C.L., Atherton, M., Lynch, E.J. and Grootveld, M.C. (1994).
  3. Scand J Clin Lab Invest. 1988 Dec; 48(8):813-6. Mechanisms for the serum lipid-lowering effect of n-3 fatty acids. Hagve TA, Christophersen BO.
  4. Food Chem Toxicol. 1998 Aug; 36(8):663-72. The association of increasing dietary concentrations of fish oil with hepatotoxic effects and a higher degree of aorta atherosclerosis in the ad lib.-fed rabbit. Ritskes-Hoitinga J, Verschuren PM, Meijer GW, Wiersma A, van de Kooij AJ, Timmer WG, Blonk CG, Weststrate JA.
  5. Lancet. 1989 Apr 22; 1(8643):868-70. Cholesterol as risk factor for mortality in elderly women. Forette B, Tortrat D, Wolmark Y.
  6. Transplantation 1995 Sep 27; 60(6):570-7. The effect of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) on acute rejection and cardiac allograft blood flow in rats. Haw MP, Linnebjerg H, Chavali SR, Forse RA.
  7. Nutrition. 2002 Jul-Aug; 18(7-8):647-53. Dietary fat composition alters pulmonary function in pigs. Wolfe RR, Martini WZ, Irtun O, Hawkins HK, Barrow RE.
  8. Cancer Res 1998 Aug 1; 58(15):3312-9. Dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids promote colon carcinoma metastasis in rat liver. Griffini P, Fehres O, Klieverik L, Vogels IM, Tigchelaar W, Smorenburg SM, Van Noorden CJ.
  9. Free Radic Biol Med. 2013 Sep; 62:157-69. Lipid peroxidation triggers neurodegeneration: A redox proteomics view into the Alzheimer disease brain. Sultana R, Perluigi M, Allan Butterfield D.
  10. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2001 Nov; 299(2):638-44. Dietary saturated fatty acids reverse inflammatory and fibrotic changes in rat liver despite continued ethanol administration. Nanji AA, Jokelainen K, Tipoe GL, Rahemtulla A, Dannenberg AJ.
  11. Gastroenterology. 1995 Aug; 109(2):547-54. Dietary saturated fatty acids: a novel treatment for alcoholic liver disease. Nanji AA, Sadrzadeh SM, Yang EK, Fogt F, Meydani M, Dannenberg AJ.
  12. Hepatology 1997 Dec; 26(6):1538-45. Dietary saturated fatty acids down-regulate cyclooxygenase-2 and tumor necrosis factor alpha and reverse fibrosis in alcohol-induced liver disease in the rat. Nanji AA, Zakim D, Rahemtulla A, Daly T, Miao L, Zhao S, Khwaja S, Tahan SR, Dannenberg AJ.

Elizabeth Hawke: your regular neighborhood herbalist, homeschooler, blogger.