Nutrition

Fish Oil and Inflammation

http://www.crossfitoakland.com/archives/2009/01/recently_the_he.html

http://cfo.footle.org/archives/2010/03/whats-your-daily-intake

There has been much discussion lately about fish oil at flux. Our paleolithic diet used to create a 1-to-1 ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids, but our modern diets look more like a 1-20 ration of 3s to 6s. Why is that? The meat we consume is largely fed grain and this leads to unhealthy animals filled with omega 6s. Grain fed animals have much more saturated fat. If you have made the switch to grass fed beef you are getting more omega 3s. Examples of omega 6s are soy, corn and canola. Omega 6s are pro-inflammatory and omega 3s are anti-inflammatory. Omega 3s become increasingly important with a diet that is high in carbohydrates. High insulin levels, which can be attributed to a diet high in carbohydrates, are pro-inflammatory.

I have also read that all cancer is related to inflammation in some way.

Omega 3s have an anti-coagulating property to them. Robb Wolf was recently asked if this is a concern for individuals consuming large amounts of fish oils. Robb's response was that unless the individual has a disorder such as hemophilia this is probably not a problem. I do not know about blood thinning drugs. Robb also mentioned that if you are concerned with the anti-coagulating properties of fish oils you can ask your doctor to do a coagulation test, which measures the rate at which your blood coagulates.

Here is a link to Dr. Barry Sears discussing fat and fish oils.