Omega-3

[Sheila]

Omega-3 preserves and lengthens telomeres, which reverses aging process and extends lifespan

Natural News.com
by John Phillip
5 Nov 12

Despite a continual assault on the health benefits of omega-3 fat supplementation by the mainstream media and Big Pharma drug manufacturers, solid evidence is released by the scientific research community to vindicate the critical importance of the long-chain fatty acids. The omega-3 fats, EPA and DHA have repeatedly been shown to help prevent chronic diseases ranging from cancer and dementia to heart disease and stroke. It is an indisputable fact that these essential fats are necessary for the human body to assimilate the billions of cellular structures that form our organs and tissues and aid DNA replication.

Researchers from Ohio State University have published the result of a study in the journal, Brain, Behavior and Immunity that demonstrates how taking omega-3 fatty acid supplements can change the balance of oils in the diet to slow a key biological process linked to aging. The study team found that most healthy, middle-aged and older adults who took omega-3 supplements for four months altered the ratio of their fatty acid consumption in a way that helped preserve tiny segments of DNA in their white blood cells.

Telomeres naturally shorten over time as a consequence of poor diet, stress, environmental and household pollutants. Many consider telomere shortening to be a normal part of the aging process. Scientists know that telomeres shorten faster as a result of increased oxidative stress, a process induced by consuming foods laden in trans or hydrogenated fats and sugars and by chronic disease.

Omega-3 fats lower systemic inflammation to slow and reverse telomere shortening.
This research is important because it supports the notion that telomere shortening can be prevented and even reversed by lifestyle improvements including supplementing with the omega-3 fats, EPA and DHA to alter the blood ratio with inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. Lead study author, Dr. Jan Kiecolt-Glaser commented "The telomere finding is provocative in that it suggests the possibility that a nutritional supplement might actually make a difference in aging."

To implement the study, researchers broke participants into three groups (106 disease-free adults, average age of 51) and were supplemented with 2.5 grams of active omega-3 fats (combined EPA/DHA in a 7:1 ratio), 1.5 grams of the long-chain fats or a placebo. Both groups of participants who took omega-3 supplements showed, on average, lengthening of telomeres compared to telomere stability or decline in the placebo group. When the scientists reviewed the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats in the overall diet, they found a direct relationship to telomere lengthening, where a lower ratio was clearly associated with lengthened telomeres.

The research team concluded that improved omega-3 to omega-6 fat ratios obtained with fish oil supplementation resulted in a reduction in total body systemic inflammation. Telomere shortening was reduced and even reversed to lower risk of chronic disease in the cohort group. Based on the findings of this study and numerous other prior research bodies, most adults will want to supplement with 1,200 to 2,400 mg per day of a molecularly distilled fish oil (in a 7:1 EPA/DHA ratio) to extend natural lifespan as part of a total health maintenance program.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...89159112001183
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1001140957.htm
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-osm100112.php


http://www.naturalnews.com/037843_om..._lifespan.html

[Luc]

Scientists detail how vitamin D and omega-3 fats synergistically halt Alzheimer's plaque formation

July 02, 2013

(NaturalNews) Alzheimer's disease is characterized by a loss of short-term memory, cognition and thought processes that define a person's personality, and new cases are exploding exponentially. Though allopathic physicians and researchers maintain there is no known cause or treatment for the ultimately fatal illness, alternative practitioners understand the etiology has evolved from decades of living an unhealthy lifestyle. Dietary transgressions, exposure to cosmetic and household pollutants, lack of physical activity and long-term nutritional deficiencies all combine to promote Alzheimer's disease development and progression.

A group of scientists have published the findings from their research in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease that has pinpointed how vitamin D3 and omega-3 fatty acids may enhance the immune system's ability to clear the brain of amyloid plaques. Researchers identified key genes and signaling networks regulated by vitamin D3 and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) that may help control inflammation and improve plaque clearance.

Prior studies have identified the loss of normal ability to break down amyloid proteins before they develop into tangles or plaques as a key process in the development of the memory-robbing disease. Lead study author, Dr. Milan Fiala from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA commented "Our new study sheds further light on a possible role for nutritional substances such as vitamin D3 and omega-3 in boosting immunity to help fight Alzheimer's."

Vitamin D3 and DHA boost immune response to help prevent amyloid protein tangles

To perform their study, scientists drew blood samples from both Alzheimer's patients and healthy controls and then isolated critical immune cells called macrophages from the blood. Macrophages are responsible for splicing the amyloid proteins before they can aggregate around the nerve synapse, effectively stifling electrical and chemical transmissions throughout the brain. Scientists then incubated the immune cells with amyloid-beta and added either an active form of vitamin D3 or the omega-3 fatty acid DHA to gauge effectiveness on inflammation and amyloid-beta absorption.

The researchers determined that vitamin D3 and DHA greatly improved the clearance of amyloid-beta by macrophages in patients with Alzheimer's disease, and found subtleties in the effects the two substances had on the expression of inflammatory genes. The study team concluded "We may find that we need to carefully balance supplementation with vitamin D3 and omega-3 fatty acids, depending on each patient in order to help promote efficient clearing of amyloid-beta.... this is a first step in understanding what form and in which patients these nutrition substances might work best."

The study team observed that each nutrient (vitamin D and DHA) utilized different receptors and common signaling pathways to prevent amyloid protein aggregation leading to disease. Optimizing vitamin D blood saturation levels and supplementing with a molecularly distilled DHA omega-3 formulation can provide critical support in helping the brain to properly clear amyloid metabolic byproducts and help prevent Alzheimer's dementia.

http://www.naturalnews.com/041038_Al...ga-3_fats.html

[fj929]

http://wurtmanlab.mit.edu/static/pdf/1030.pdf

[Sheila]

Ha ha! Luc moved this uridine article to Media, and now I’m moving it to Omega-3. Your fame preceeds you, fj929. We have already discussed this study you found. See posts # 141-144 above on the Omega-3 thread.

[Sheila]

Today’s amazing Omega-3 factoid –

DHA is involved in the expression of several hundred genes in the brain.

K. Kitajka, A.J. Sinclair, R.S. Weisinger, H.S. Weisinger, M. Mathai, A.P. Jayasooriya, J.E. Halver, L.G. Puskas, Effects of dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on brain gene expression, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101 (30) (2004) 10931–10936.

[Iggy131313]

I asked Dr shippko about the demyelination therory, here is his reply

Your points are interesting, but still speculative. MRI scans are notorious for having all sorts of punched out spots, so it is hard to know what this might mean. It would be great if one day this whole problem could be studied, and a definitive understanding can be reached. If you have this sort of problem, and wanted to approach it as demyelinating disease, it would be as good as any other approach since we just plain don't know what we are looking at.

[Sheila]

Thanks for researching and reporting, Caroline!

[shel]

I have not had a chance to read through all of the info. on Omega-3 yet so I am sorry if this info. is somewhere but I have a couple of questions. Is there an ideal EPA to DHA ratio? Other question is if there is a way to take too much Omega-3? I am asking because doesn't Omega-3 lower cholesterol? I have read some info. that has linked lower cholesterol with depression.

[Needinghelp]

Sheila, could you please assist. How do i lower Omega 6 in my diet? What is omega 6 and why is it bad for you? I read DHA is better than EPA is the important one of the 2. Is that correct?

If i have 1000mg fish oil, do i combine the 2 EPA and DHA counts on the back of the bottle?

Also, if i eat fish, how many times a week is ok and should i still take the Omega 3 fish oil? I see fish has alot of omega 3 more than in pill form, a tin is more than 2900MG EPA & DHA together, so if i just eat fish and not take fish oil pills, would it be ok?

Sorry if im asking stupid questions or if it seems i have no clue what im talking about, i cant think straight anymore at all

[Iggy131313]

allow me NH,

Omega 6 is found in meat fats, cooking oils, processed food, in fact most things you eat, you can google it to find the details....but meat fats is the main one.

yes look on your omega 3 pills and tell us what the dha/epa is for EACH pill, watch out, mine gives the value of 3 pills so be sure you have it right and you add the 2 together....the body converts epa to dha so dont worry about which is higher.

if you want to do it by eating fish, it is found mostly in salmon, but only really in wild caught salmon, the farmed has very low omegas in it, the other food sources very rich in omega are flax seeds (VERY high) and eggs...there is certainly not more omegas in fish than in the oil, you would be able to mintor your omega levels much better using the omega 3 sippliments.

Im not sure about one tin having all that omega in, where did you get that info?

Im also not sure about the cholesterol that shel is talking about, hopefully sheila will answer but I will also do some reseach