There's Something Fishy in today's Post!

Hey there! Thanks for clicking by today. Great to see you! You've got that "I'm ready for my coffee" look about you so wander over by the coffeepot and pour yourself a mugful. While you're there, load a mega-treat onto your plate and bring everything over here to the VIP table, why don't'cha? Say, do you take a fish oil supplement to get your Omega-3, et al? Well listen to what my pal, Dr Al has to say about that.

Dear Bob,

There’s a sad truth that one of the things I recommend you use to help you thrive in our toxic, polluted world has been contaminated and compromised.

And when my patients come to my clinic, it puts me in an awkward position.

On the one hand, I want them to benefit from these foods and nutrients, but I don’t want them to be exposed to the potential poisons.

I’m talking about fish oil.

Why do I feel so uncomfortable about this?

Well, the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil are critical to your overall health. Study after study confirms omega-3s are essential for your heart and brain, and help maintain normal blood pressure, eyesight, memory and mood.

Unfortunately, you can’t just pick up a bottle of standard fish oil on the shelf of your drugstore. It can be dangerous for your health.

My research into the fish oil problem shows most fish oils you buy from your local grocery store or health-food store come from European waters, which are highly industrialized... and highly polluted.

Even the “farm-raised” fish are polluted. And there’s often no way to tell from looking at the bottle where the fish come from – or whether they’ve been properly decontaminated.

In a report to the European Union, the Scientific Committee on Food said fish from fish farms and the region’s seas are regularly contaminated by mercury, dioxins and similar toxins.

Even The New York Times said, “Fish oils of European origin have dioxin levels up to 8 times as high as similar products from nonindustrial regions.”

It’s a problem here in the United States, too.

In a recent lawsuit filed in California, two environmentalists along with the Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation sued a number of well-known fish oil manufacturers and retail outlets.

The activists claim these companies violated California’s Proposition 65, which requires that consumers be warned about chemical exposures. Check out what a CBS News story revealed:

“Their initial testing found that levels of PCBs in supplements in popular fish oil products varied wildly, from about 12 nanograms per recommended dose in the best performer to more than 850 nanograms in the worst performer – a factor of 70.” 

In other words, some fish oils have levels of heavy metals that are up to 70 times higher than other brands... with no way of knowing just by looking at the bottle.

Some of the companies targeted in the lawsuit include names you’d probably recognize. These are the companies that tell you their fish oil is the “finest” or “professional grade.” But these words have no precise or defined meaning. There’s no industry standard. These “feel good” words are used to make their products sound reputable.

But I do things differently to help you take that worry out of your life. So instead of throwing your hands up and surrendering, here’s what you can do to protect yourself.

A good alternative to the pollution in fish oil is krill oil. It comes from the pure waters of the Antarctic, the cleanest place on earth.

In my own practice, I’ve helped many of my patients improve their overall health simply by boosting their omega-3s with krill oil.

Krill makes it easier to get your omega-3s by eliminating the fishy-smelling oils and delivering the omega-3s in a much more penetrating phospholipid form. Besides being pure and clean, krill reaches places fish oil can’t.

For instance, fish oil can’t enter the mitochondria (the tiny energy-makers in your cells).

Yet krill can.

This allows krill oil’s omega-3s to help boost your energy. Loss of energy makes doing the things you love, and getting up in the morning, tougher, while putting your health under great strain. This is particularly important in your brain and heart since they have the most mitochondria, and need the most energy.

Now, here is the thing about krill oil… it’s very powerful, and works very well. What that means is that the word is starting to get out about the value of krill oil to your health.

The important thing to remember here is that once the word really starts to spread, fly-by-night companies will be looking to get in on the “action.” That means there will be a lot of cheap “krill” products out there.

So, if krill oil interests you, remember that there are a lot of mass-manufacturers out there that cut corners. Look for pure krill oil farmed from the crystal clear and frozen waters of the Austral-Antarctic Circumpolar Ocean – possibly the purest place on earth. And, get at least 600 mg of DHA and 400 mg of EPA from your krill oil supplement.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

Okay...fish oil out...krill oil in. Got it! In fact, we were planning to pick up some fish oil today. Guess we'll close in for the krill!

See ya, eh!

Bob