How Much Omega-3 Is Right for You and What Are the Best Sources?

Many Americans diets are lacking in healthy fats, and this includes the animal-based omega-3 fats eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Although omega-3s are most well known for their role in heart health, they're important for so much more.

Your brain, bones, mental health and even your risk of cancer are all impacted by these beneficial fats. In the U.S., Americans spend about $1.2 billion on omega-3 fat supplements every year, although few are aware of what dose, and what sources, are best. I firmly believe that getting the correct macronutrients, especially fat is, one of the the most important choices you can make in your diet. You need to have the absolute highest quality fats to build your cell membranes and optimize your mitochondrial function.

How Much Omega-3 Is Right for You?

There is no one answer to this question, as how much omega-3s you need depends on your body size, age, health status, the type of omega-3 and more. There is no set recommended standard dose of omega-3 fats, but some health organizations recommend a daily dose of 250 to 500 milligrams (mg) of EPA and DHA for healthy adults. Keep in mind this applies to EPA and DHA, not to ALA (alpha-linolenic acid, a type of plant-based omega-3 found in flaxseeds, chia seeds and hemp).

While your body can convert ALA into EPA and DHA, it does so at a very low ratio, and only when sufficient enzymes (that many people are deficient in) are present. This means you'd need to consume far more ALA to reach optimal omega-3 levels (and even then may not reach therapeutic levels).

If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, your body will likely require additional omega-3 fats. The American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada recommend pregnant and lactating women (along with all adults) consume at least 500 mg of omega-3s, including EPA and DHA, daily. The European Commission recommends pregnant and lactating women consume a minimum of 200 mg of DHA, in particular, per day. Your diet also dictates how much omega-3 you need, especially if you consume a lot of omega-6 fats.

Most people are consuming far too many omega-6 fats compared to omega-3 fats. The ideal ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats is 1:1, but the typical Western diet may be between 1:20 and 1:50. Even the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements states:

"Most American diets provide more than 10 times as much omega-6 than omega-3 fatty acids. There is general agreement that individuals should consume more omega-3 and less omega-6 fatty acids to promote good health."

To add insult to injury these additional omega-6 are nearly all industrially processed oils and many of them are heated converted a significant percentage of these fats into trans fats, or even worse cyclic aldehydes.

Certain health conditions also indicate an increased need for omega-3 fats. For instance:4

·         Heart health: The American Heart Association recommends people with coronary heart disease consume 1,000 mg of EPA and DHA daily while those with high triglycerides may need 2,000 to 3,000 mg per day.

Research also shows people who took 850 mg of EPA and DHA daily for 3.5 years had a 25 percent lower risk of heart attack and a 45 percent lower risk of sudden death.

·         Depression: Higher doses of omega-3, from 200 mg to 2,500 mg daily, may help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.

·         Memory: In one study, elderly volunteers suffering from memory deficits saw significant improvement after taking 900 mg of DHA per day for 24 weeks, compared with controls.

Another study found significant improvement in verbal fluency scores after taking 800 mg of DHA per day for four months compared with placebo.

·         Pain and stiffness: Researchers found that 300 mg of krill oil per day significantly reduced inflammation, pain, stiffness and functional impairment after just 7 days, and even more profoundly after 14 days.

In Health, 

Dr. Brad Niewierowski

Source: How Much Omega-3 Is Right for You and What Are the Best Sources?

January 04, 2016    Mercola.com

This Popular Beverage Can Increase Your Stroke Risk

Is Drinking Diet Soda Worth Increasing Your Stroke Risk?

Diet soda is often perceived as being "healthier" than regular soft drinks because it contains artificial sweeteners in lieu of sugar, and therefore has no calories. Sugar, and particularly the sugar often used to sweeten regular soda, is clearly something you need to limit for optimal health. In fact, before you reach for another can, you might want to get up to speed on the latest research, which shows that drinking diet soda results in an increased risk of vascular events such as stroke, heart attack, and vascular death.

Diet soda can be addictive, so if you need incentive and motivation to quit this habit, ask yourself whether the pleasure you get from drinking it is worth having a stroke. This is a very real scenario, as researchers found that people who drank diet soft drinks daily were 43 percent more likely to have suffered a vascular event, including a stroke. This significant association persisted even after controlling for other factors that could increase the risk, such as smoking, physical activity levels, alcohol consumption, diabetes, heart disease, dietary factors and more.

According to the authors:

"This study suggests that diet soda is not an optimal substitute for sugar-sweetened beverages, and may be associated with a greater risk of stroke, myocardial infarction, or vascular death than regular soda."

Vascular events like strokes and heart attacks typically occur suddenly without any warning, which is why prevention is so important. I like to refer to the most common type of stroke as a brain attack, which is similar to a heart attack; the only difference is that the blood clot blocks blood flow to your brain instead of your heart. As a result, brain cells begin to die. Naturally, the longer your brain goes without oxygen, the greater your risk of lasting brain damage.

In order to be effective, you typically need to get treated within one hour. This is clearly one of the miracles of modern science, however it all goes to waste if you do not address the underlying conditions after the stroke. Again, prevention is your best option, and research is now suggesting that eliminating diet sodas may be an important way to dramatically reduce your stroke risk. Up to 80 percent of strokes are preventable by making lifestyle modifications; this includes not only diet but also optimizing your vitamin D levels, as research recently found that people who got less than the midpoint level of sun exposure were at a 60 percent increased risk for stroke.

Need Even More Incentive to Ditch Diet Soda? It Can Make You Fat!

If potentially lowering your risk of heart attack and stroke doesn't spur you to ditch this dangerous habit, maybe the fact that diet soda will make you fat will. A study by researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, ­­­­presented at the 2011 meeting of the American Diabetes Association, followed 474 diet soda drinkers for nearly 10 years. They found that their waists grew 70 percent larger than the waists of non-diet soda drinkers. Furthermore, those who drank two or more diet sodas a day had a 500 percent greater increase in waist size! A second study by some of the same researchers also revealed that mice eating food laced with the artificial sweetener aspartame had higher blood sugar levels than mice eating food without it, which suggests it may increase your risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. In a statement, the researchers noted:

"These results are consistent with data from community-based epidemiologic studies in which the consumption of diet sodas was shown to be associated with increased incidence of metabolic syndrome and diabetes. They suggest that aspartame exposure may in fact directly contribute to increased blood glucose levels, and thus may contribute to the associations observed between diet soda consumption and the risk of diabetes in humans."

Artificial sweeteners also tend to trigger enhanced activity within your brain's pleasure centers, yet at the same time providing less actual satisfaction. This separation of the taste of sweetness from caloric content means that when you consume artificial sweeteners, your brain actually craves more of it because your body is not satisfied at a cellular level by the sugar imposter! This can actually contribute to overeating and weight gain. To best protect your health, ditch the sodas all together and grab some water the next time you need to quench your thirst.

In Health, 

Dr. Brad Niewierowski

Posted By Dr. Mercola | February 20 2012

REFERENCES

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• ⁱ Journal of General Internal Medicine January 27, 2012
• ⁱⁱ Study presented at the meeting of the American Diabetes Association, San Diego, California, June 26, 2011
• ⁱⁱⁱ Study presented at the meeting of the American Diabetes Association, San Diego, California, June 26, 2011
• ^iv Study presented at the meeting of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego, 2005
• ^v Study presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference in New Orleans, February 2012
• ^vi Neurology March 4, 2008 vol. 70 no. 10 788-794

Why does your stomach growl?

Most people think that stomach growling is usually due to being hungry. This is not always the case. Your stomach can actually growl when it is hungry or when it is full. The noise actually may not be coming from your stomach at all. It actually can be coming from your small intestine. When the noise comes from your stomach it is known as “borborygmi,” which does happen when the stomach is empty.

The stomach growling is a result of muscle contractions of your intestinal wall combined with the presentence of liquid and gas. It is a perfectly normal function that happens all day long.

Growling is part of the (MMC) Migrating Motor Complex

The Migrating Motor Complex occurs when your stomach and intestines have been empty for about two hours. Sensing the absence of food, receptors in the walls of your stomach cause waves of electrical activity in your enteric nervous system (which is like a second brain embedded in your gut).

This triggers hunger contractions that travel the entire length of your gut, helping to clear out stomach contents, mucus, food particals, bacteria and other accumulated debris between your means. A poorly functioning MMC has been linked to abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and indigestion.

Bowels sounds are generally a problem with irritable bowel syndrome or if your experiencing diarrhea, due to increased muscle contractions and accumulation of fluid and gas. They also should be a concern when there is a possible obstruction increasing the intestines attempt to move solids, liquids and gas through the narrowed intestines.

For more information regarding abdominal sounds or noises call our office at (210) 468-1891.

In Health, 

Dr. Jacob Torres

Reference- http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/08/29/stomach-growling.aspx

Does fructose damage your body?

With all of the confusing information circulating out there concerning how bad sugar is for our bodies and debating whether sugar itself or artificial sweeteners are worse to ingest, it can make it very hard to feel like we’re not damaging ourselves by eating anything sweet. Most people tend to enjoy having something of that flavor profile in their diet, so it can be helpful to know, if you can’t abstain all together, which ones tend to be more or less harmful. Of all the types of sugar you could consume, refined fructose is by far the most damaging. Research as shown high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is more toxic than table sugar (sucrose). Mice fed a high-HFCS diet had nearly twice the death rate of mice fed a diet high in sucrose. Table sugar consists of two molecules, which separate in your gut: fructose and glucose. Glucose travels throughout your body and fuels your muscles and brain, making it our primary and most readily available energy source. But fructose, on the other hand, goes straight to your liver where all sorts of problems result. Your liver readily turns this fructose into liver fat, which causes a slew of metabolic problems. When we see elevations on lab results for AST and ALT liver enzyme tests, fatty liver becomes a likely suspect, especially if other values like triglycerides and cholesterol are also high.

Excess fructose shuts down the part of your brain that tells you when you’re full, making overeating likely. This is triggered by the hormone leptin. Leptin is a very powerful and influential hormone produced by your fat cells. Your fat, by way of leptin, tells your brain whether you should be hungry, eat and make more fat, whether you should reproduce, or (partly by controlling insulin) whether to engage in maintenance and repair. In short, leptin is the way that your fat stores speak to your brain to let your brain know how much energy is available and, very importantly, what to do with it. You become leptin-resistant by the same general mechanism that you become insulin-resistant – by continuous overexposure to high levels of the hormone. If you eat a diet that is high in sugar (particularly fructose), as the sugar gets metabolized in your fat cells, the fat releases surges in leptin. Over time, if your body is exposed to too much leptin, it will become resistant, just as your body can become resistant to insulin. The resulting insulin resistance is at the core of a long list of serious health problems, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease. And the list seems to grow longer by the day. Research published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)3 shows your risk of dying from heart disease nearly triples if 25 percent or more of your daily calories come from sugar. 

You may not realize that insulin resistance affects each organ differently. For example, insulin resistance may be the first step toward the development of hyperlipidemia and cardiovascular disease. Added sugars, especially fructose, may play more of a role than salt in high blood pressure. When certain organs experience insulin resistance, specific diseases may develop. Type 2 diabetes results from the muscles not being able to properly uptake glucose, and if it starts affecting the nerves, that’s when peripheral neuropathies set it. We already mentioned its effect on the liver, which is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. If it develops in the ovaries there is polycystic ovary syndrome, and insulin resistance by brain cells can lead to brain fog and ultimately Alzheimer’s disease.

Therefore, we need to limit the fructose-containing foods in our diets in order to minimize our risk. The majority should come from natural sources only, such as fruits, which are typically higher in fructose but also have numerous vitamins, antioxidants, phytochemicals and fiber to help offset the negative effects. Agave syrup has been touted as a better alternative to some sweeteners, but it is very high in fructose content as a result of the processing techniques. Honey is a little better but only in raw form as, once again, processing increases the concentration of fructose. Pure maple syrup in small amounts can be used occasionally and stevia tends to currently be the best option as a sugar replacement. Enjoying healthy sweet foods should be able to be part of a balanced diet, but if you find that you need to get your “sweet fix” more frequently or it leads to making bad food choices, start by eliminating the poor sources of fructose from your diet and have yourself checked for insulin resistance.

In Health, 

Dr. Brad Niewierowski