Benefits of Fish Oil

There are many fish oil health benefits by using an ultra pure ultra refined fish oil supplement.

Scientific Evidence Reveals a Diet Rich in Long Chain Omega 3 Fatty Acids Helps Support:

- A Healthy Heart*
- A Healthy Immune System*
- Healthy Joint Movement*
- Healthy Kidneys*
- Balanced Mood and Sense of Well Being*
- Strength and Stamina*
- Helps Maintain Cholesterol Levels that are Already within the Normal Range*

Sealogix fish oil is highly concentrated and a very potent nutritional supplement for essential Omega-3 Fatty Acids (EPA and DHA).

Sealogix fish oil is ultra pure. It meets the same quality control standards used by leading medical institutions to provide many fish oil benefits for your health.

Sealogix fish oil contains hundreds of times less PCB's than health food grade fish oil because it is Ultra Pure and ultra refined.

It has TWICE the EPA and DHA (substances necessary to affect your eicosanoid balance) potency as found in health-food grade fish oil.

It is easy on your stomach. Most people will not experience mild gastric upsets often found with high doses of health-food grade fish oil.

It is a superior quality product. We believe you'll never find this quality of fish oil in any health food store, nor from any direct mail company. Frequently Asked Questions on the benefits of Sealogix Fish Oil.

What health benefits can you expect when you begin taking high-dose fish oil if you're relatively healthy?

You will notice that your mental abilities are enhanced and that your emotional state is on a more even keel. Taking doses of long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids increase your body's production of the two neurotransmitters (dopamine and serotonin). Dopamine spurs you to action allowing enhanced concentration by your brain. It allows you to concentrate on the task at hand and organize yourself more efficiently. Serotonin is your morality or "feel good" hormone that gives you a sense of well being and allows you to handle stress more easily.

Within 7 days of taking EPA/DHA Omega-3 fish oil concentrates and following the rest of my dietary recommendations, you can expect to find yourself thinking more clearly with a greater sense of concentration. In addition, your ability to handle stress will be greatly increased. Finally, you will see improvement of your physical capacity for exercise, especially in terms of greater endurance, due to better blood flow. Most important, however, you are keeping yourself in the Zone, ensuring you have a longer and better life.

Content on this Site is provided for informational purposes and is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professional. It is very important to inform your physician or health care provider about all dietary supplements you take or intend to take. You should not use the information contained herein for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication. You should read carefully all product packaging. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, promptly contact your health care provider. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this site. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Dyslexia, Diet and Omega 3 Fish Oils

Dyslexia appears to be a close cousin of attention deficient disorder and affects about 5 percent of Americans. Dyslexics often see letters backwards or turned sideways and have a tough time reading printed text. Just like those with ADD, people with dyslexia have a deficiency of long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids in their blood lipids. Supplementation with long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids should, therefore, reduce this problem. This thinking makes perfect sense because the retina in each of your eyes (which is responsible for the quality of the visual input to the brain) has the highest concentration of DHA in the body. Like the children with ADD, those with dyslexia will require the combination of high-dose fish oil and insulin control as found in dietary recommendations. Like the children with ADD, children with dyslexia initially require between 9 and 18 grams per day of ultra- refined long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids to see an improvement in their condition.

Who wants to have heart health problems?

Heart problems are the number-one killer of American men and women, which is odd considering that heart problems were an uncommon cause of death at the beginning of the 20th century. While it's true that more people died of infectious diseases in those days and often didn't live long enough to die of , they also consumed much greater amounts of long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil. As subsequent generations began eating less fish and more beef, their rate of heart problems shot up.

Hippocrates said that "whatever is good for the heart, is probably good for the mind." Let's reverse his insight a little to say "whatever is good for the mind is probably very good for the heart".

One of the best ways to live a longer and better life is to reduce your likelihood of developing heart problems. If we could eliminate heart problems tomorrow, the average life expectancy of every American would increase by an estimated 10 years. Advances in medical care have cut the death rate from heart problems, but it hasn't touched the incidence rates. We have heart problems more than ever, and as our population ages, more of us will suffer from this condition. We are simply not doing a good enough job of addressing the underlying cause of heart problems, decrease in blood flow to the heart and an increase in inflammation in the arteries. These both result from an increased production of "bad" eicosanoids

Protecting yourself against heart problems requires far more than just simply lowering your cholesterol levels. In fact, 50 percent of the people who are hospitalized with heart issues have normal cholesterol levels, and 25 percent of people who develop premature heart problems have no risk traditional factors at all. So maybe there is the possibility that elevated cholesterol isn't the real cause of problems in the first place.

The best predictors of future heart problems comes from prospective studies that follow healthy people for a number of years to determine which ones go on to develop heart problems and then to figure out why. Because these are expensive trials, there are very few of them. But those that exist have concluded that cholesterol levels are, in fact, a very poor predictor of future heart problems. In fact, the likelihood of future heart complications has everything to do with excess levels of "bad" eicosanoids.

Angina is the result of the death of the muscle cells in the heart from a lack of oxygen. This occurs when blood flow can't reach the heart because of a blockage or clot in the arteries caused by a clumping of blood platelets or because of inflammation, which causes an unstable plaque to break off and block the blood flow in the artery. Sometimes a spasm in the artery blocks flow to the heart, or the heart goes into electrical chaos and simply stops its synchronized beating on its own. None of these four heart problem causes have much to do with increased cholesterol levels, but they have everything to do with excess levels of "bad" eicosanoids. These are listed below.

Causes of Heart Problems

•Clot formation

•Plaque instability

•Vasospasm

•Electrical chaos (sudden death)

During the past several years, more and more research, especially from prospective studies, has shown that elevated insulin puts you at a greatly increased risk of heart problems. The reason why elevated insulin levels increase your risk of heart complications is because excess insulin causes your body to overproduce "bad" eicosanoids. This is why you need to combine both diet and Omega-3's for insulin control if your goal is promoting optimal heart health. Only this one-two dietary punch can maximally reduce the AA/EPA ratio, a marker for silent inflammation, and thus restrict the formation of "bad" eicosanoids.

"Bad" Eicosanoids = Bad Heart

It is important for you to understand the how and why behind heart problems and eicosanoid levels

The link between high "bad" eicosanoid levels and heart issues stems from a variety of factors. First, excessive levels of "bad" eicosanoids increase the likelihood of platelets clumping to form a clot. (Platelets are circulating cells that rush to the site of a wound and clump together causing your blood to clot so you don't bleed to death.) Excessive levels of "bad" eicosanoids trick your platelets into thinking there's a wound in your arteries, so platelets clump in the wrong places causing decreased blood flow.

"Bad" eicosanoids are also the primary mediators of inflammation that increase the likelihood of causing an unstable arterial plaque to rupture. When such a plaque bursts, platelets see this as a wound and begin to aggregate in response to released debris. As a result, the new clots formed from aggregated platelets may completely plug up the artery, stopping blood flow. Once the blood supply is cut off, heart muscle cells die from lack of oxygen, and this causes the damage. The reason why aspirin is such a powerful weapon against heart attacks is that it reduces the production of "bad" eicosanoids, which cause both increased platelet clotting and increased inflammation that destabilize existing atherosclerotic plaques.

These very same "bad" eicosanoids are also the culprit behind vasospasm, the third cause of fatal heart attacks. "Bad" eicosanoids act as powerful constrictors of your arteries and can lead to a vasospasm, a potentially fatal cramp or "charley horse" that prevents blood flow to the heart. This same type of action occurs during a headache, which occurs as blood flow to the brain is constricted. If you have a headache, what drug do you take? Aspirin works by decreasing the production of "bad" eicosanoids and increasing blood flow.

As if all this weren't enough, too many "bad" eicosanoids can also lead to serious heart problems caused by chaotic electric rhythms in the heart. The heart is basically a very large muscle that must have all of the cells contracting and relaxing in a synchronized manner in order to pump blood effectively. What controls this cardiac symphony is the electrical current that spreads over the heart muscles to maintain the rhythm of the heart. If this electrical network is disturbed by too many "bad" eicosanoids, the muscle cells will start beating in an uncoordinated rhythm from each other. Pretty soon, the symphony becomes random noise and the heart stops beating, stopping blood flow. Animal studies have shown that regardless of your total cholesterol levels. The connection between this TG/HDL ratio was confirmed by studies from Harvard Medical School.

Cerebrovascular Events and Omega3 Fatty Acids

It has become very chic in cardiovascular circles to rename a cerebrovascular event as a "brain attack" in order to give people more awareness of this condition, which is the third leading cause of death in this country. Remember, one of the things your brain dearly loves is oxygen. Cerebrovascular events cut off oxygen to the brain, causing the death of vital nerve cells. There are two different types of events. One type is the blood flow is blocked and not enough oxygen is getting to the brain. The factors leading to this type of event are similar to those for heart problems. The second most common type of a event is when the artery supplying blood and oxygen to the brain bursts because of weakness in the vessel wall--usually caused by high blood pressure. This is no different than your garden hose bursting because of a weakness in the lining, which results in not enough water getting to the plants. In this case, the nerve cells that are normally supplied by the burst artery are deprived of oxygen and begin to die. In either type, your brain takes a massive hit. The worst types of cerebrovascular events (whatever the cause) are the massive ones that leave you paralyzed. This is why reducing elevated blood pressure has become the first line of defense to avoid such problems. A simple approach to help prevent strokes is the use of Omega 3 fatty acids

Omega 3 Fish Oils and Schizophrenia

Characterized by hallucinations, delusions, inner voices, and highly abnormal behavior, schizophrenia has been feared through the ages. With the advent of new drugs (really chemical lobotomies), schizophrenia now appears to be a controllable disease. The drugs, however, don't work in all patients, and many patients refuse to take their medications because of unpleasant side effects, such as the loss of any creative thought.

The cause of schizophrenia remains unknown and even the mode of action of the drugs used to treat it are unclear. What is clear is that the levels of Omega-3 fatty acids in the blood stream are exceptionally low in people with this disease compared to healthy individuals. Early attempts to improve schizophrenia by supplementation with Omega-3 fatty acid rich fish oils alone have been mixed. EPA seemed to have an effect, but DHA was relatively ineffective. Of course, the questions to be addressed are: (1) was enough Omega-3 fatty acids used? (2) Were the right combination of EPA and DHA used? (3) Was there any effort made to control the insulin levels? These were exactly the same differences between successful experiments in children with ADD and the failure of those at the Mayo Clinic.

Mood disorders, Omega 3 Fish Oils and Diet

Mood and Anxiety problems are a disabling conditions in which life becomes a hopeless morass. In the past, this condition was called melancholy. You lose pleasure for things that brought you enjoyment in the past. In fact, it becomes difficult to conjure up previously happy times. Any motivation for the future, let alone the next day evaporates.

Mood conditions have increased significantly in the past century, with nearly 20 million people now affected by it. The increase in its incidence correlates very well with our decreasing intake of fish and fish oil in the same time period.

Psychiatric researchers learned several decades ago that decreased mood levels are often caused by lack of the neurotransmitter, serotonin. In fact, drug companies have made billions off of the development of drugs to boost serotonin levels like Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft, all of which have become household names. More recent research has found that even people who have healthy mood levels experience an improvement in their moods when they take one of these drugs. What this indicates to me is that our nation has developed a serotonin deficiency.

Researchers believe the answer lies in our reduced intake of long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids. Since one of the benefits of high-dose fish oil is to increase serotonin levels, it is not unreasonable to think that the decrease in fish oil consumption in the past century led to a decrease in the natural levels of serotonin in the brain. Furthermore, using an imaging test known as SPECT, researchers have found that blood flow within a normal brain is uniform, whereas blood flow in patients with mood and anxiety problems is scattered with "holes" in which little or no blood flow is observed. Since high-dose fish oil can improve blood flow, we now have another potential clue to explain the molecular basis of these conditions. Finally, the Greenland Eskimos have virtually none of these conditions.

Could it be that simply eating a greater amount of fish is the answer to this growing incidence of mood and anxiety problems? If that is the case, then there should be a strong correlation between the amount of fish consumed and the extent of these conditions.

The rates of mood and anxiety problems in Japan are just a fraction of the rates in America and the rates in other countries where low amounts of fish are eaten. In fact, New Zealanders have 50 times the rate of the Japanese and eat the least amount of fish in the industrialized world. In native Greenland, Eskimos (who consume some 7-10 grams per day of long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids) have virtually none even though their living conditions can be pretty depressing with only an hour or two of sunlight a day during the winter months.

Epidemiological studies, however, only indicate association, not causality. Perhaps, the Japanese and Eskimos just have good genes, and the amount of fish they consume has nothing to do with it. (That's not what researchers believe, but such confounding factors can come into play with epidemiological studies.) That possibility is unlikely since animal studies demonstrate a significant increase in the amount of serotonin in the frontal cortex of their brains if they consume high-dose fish compared to animals that were given a standard diet rich in Omega-6 fats.

These animal studies have been verified by recent research in humans that indicates the AA/EPA ratio is highly elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with mood and anxiety problems when compared to patients with healthy mood levels. Likewise Belgian studies indicate that patients with mood and anxiety problems have lower levels of total Omega-3 fatty acids in their blood and a significantly higher AA/EPA ratio when compared to healthy individuals. British researchers have confirmed this observation.

One reason why increased consumption of fish oils would improve unhealthy mood conditions is through a reduction in AA levels. This would, in turn, lead to a reduction in the production of "bad" eicosanoids, such as PGE2, which is known to be present in much higher levels in the spinal fluid patients with mood and anxiety problems compared to healthy controls. In addition, researchers have found that the higher the intake of fish oil, the greater the improvement in the AA/EPA ratio. This ratio has also been found to correlate strongly with the severity of the problem.

All of these suggestive bits of research called out for an intervention study to determine the impact that high-dose fish oil could actually have in treating mood and anxiety conditions. Andrew Stoll and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School used exactly this approach in tackling the most severe forms of mood and anxiety conditions. These patients cycle from unhealthy mood levels to a manic high and then back again. The most common drugs prescribed for these conditions are lithium and valproate, both block the release of arachidonic acid in the brain. Unfortunately, both drugs (especially lithium) have significant toxic side effects. So a search for a safer alternative led Andrew to investigate the use of long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil.

In Stoll's experiment, one group of patients with this type of unhealthy mood levels took a refined fish oil containing 10 grams per day of long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids. The other group of patients took a placebo containing olive oil. After four months of the nine-month-long trial, the researchers ended the trial early because the divergence between the fish oil group and the control group was so great that they felt it was unethical to continue the study. (Another small complicating factor was that the supply of ultra- refined fish oil provided by the U.S. government had run out.) Even in this shortened trial, those on the high-dose fish experienced stabilization in their symptoms, while those on the olive oil control had a significant worsening of their symptoms.

Now the question is what was happening inside the brain to help alleviate this unhealthy mood level in the patients who took fish oil? A pretty good assumption is that serotonin levels increased in the brain's frontal cortex, as has already been demonstrated in animal experiments. Increased EPA consumption through fish oil supplementation also probably decreased the AA/EPA ratio in both the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes the brain and the blood lipids-which led to a corresponding decrease in mood and anxiety conditions. Such a decrease in the AA/EPA ratio would also reduce the levels of pro-inflammatory eicosanoids, which would cut off a cycle that leads to the production of "bad" eicosanoids such as PGE2 that is known to be increased in the depressed patients. Finally, high-dose fish oil almost certainly improved blood flow to the patients' brains providing a more uniform distribution of critical nutrients such as oxygen and glucose.

These are some complex and striking consequences for a relatively simple dietary intervention. Yet as dramatic as these result were, some believe they could have been even better if the Harvard researchers had brought these patients' insulin levels under control (through the Zone dietary recommendations) while supplementing with even higher levels of fish oil. A lower level of insulin would have further decreased the production of arachidonic acid, and thus enhanced the benefits of high-dose fish oil supplementation. In addition, lower insulin levels would have maintained a more constant supply of blood sugar to the brain.

Omega 3 Fish Oils, Diet and Stress : The Mind-Body-Diet Connection

For years, the medical establishment laughed at the notion that our emotions could influence the way our bodies work. In their opinion, the mind-body connection was simply New Age gobbly gook unsubstantiated by hard evidence. Part of the reason for their skepticism was due to the complex biochemistry underlying our emotional states, which no one fully understands. Today, biochemists are on the verge of understanding how emotions, mediated by hormones, impact the physiological function of our body. If hormones, indeed, play a central role in our psychological well being, then the Zone dietary recommendations should, in theory, lead us to a healthier emotional state as well as to a healthier physiological one.

Here's a quick review of the emotional map of your brain, just in case you've never taken a college-level neurology course. Your brain stores and generates emotions in its limbic system, which is the most primitive portion of the brain. The limbic system also contains two other structures called the hypothalamus and the hippocampus. The hippocampus stores dry, unemotional facts for recall, such as where you live and your spouse's work number. The hypothalamus acts as the commander-in-chief of your hormonal communication system deciding which gland should release what amounts of hormones at what particular time.

The central processing facility for your emotional memories is called the amygdala. If you're, say, having a heated argument with a driver who just rear-ended your car, the incoming words are filtered through your hippocampus, amygdala and frontal cortex (the thinking part of the brain) to decide whether or not an appropriate hormonal response needs to be generated by the hypothalamus. Ultimately, your limbic system forms the basis behind the mind-body connection. As you argue with the driver, your heart rate speeds up and you begin to sweat. All of these physiological reactions result from the hormone flow that was initiated by your hypothalamus as a result of emotional distress perceived by your limbic system. This is an extremely simplified explanation of what's really happening in your brain. So, you can imagine how much more complex your emotional system really is.

Although the range of emotions that your brain processes and stores is complex, the chemicals that mediate these emotions are not. The two primary mediators of emotions are cytokines (hormones that are involved in inflammation) and eicosanoids. High-dose fish oil gives you the ability to control both cytokines and eicosanoids and thus helps you deal with the wide variety of emotional issues that take place in your life.

How Stress Affects the Immune System

Hans Seyle put the concept of adaptation to stress forward in the 1930s. Stress can be viewed as anything that causes a dis-equilbrium in the body. It could be an injury, emotional trauma, over-training in a sport, or even taking a test. At the molecular level, any type of stress induces changes in the eicosanoid output at the cellular level, and the higher the concentrations of arachidonic acid in the cell, the greater the number of pro-inflammatory "bad" eicosanoids produced in response to that stressor. The body's response to stress is to increase the secretion of cortisol to dampen down the over-production of "bad" eicosanoids, but if too much cortisol is secreted, then the immune system is turned down too much, making your body more susceptible to infection and illness. The way the body responds to illness is to increase inflammation through the production of more "bad" eicosanoids, and the cycle continues. Furthermore, these "bad" eicosanoids also stimulate the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Cytokines are a class of immune system chemicals that cause you to feel woozy, have a fever, feel tired and down in the dumps when you're sick. They also cause the loss of appetite, the loss of desire, and can even provoke sadness. Your body releases cytokines when you have an infection in an effort to get you to conserve energy and remain you in bed as it tries to fight off the illness. If you have a depressed immune system due to too much stress, this will happen with increasing frequency to generate a continuing downward spiral of physical illness characterized by increased inflammation. This explains how emotions, especially stressful ones, can make us more prone to illness, but how can illness effect emotions?

How the Immune System Affects Emotions

It is clear that when you are ill, more pro-inflammatory cytokines will be released by your immune cells to fight infections. The cytokines produced by your immune cells are too big to cross the blood-brain barrier, but they can interact with receptors on the surface of this barrier to make pro-inflammatory "bad" eicosanoids that can easily cross into the brain. Once inside the brain, these pro-inflammatory eicosanoids can now stimulate the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines inside the brain. The brain responds this new round of inflammation inside its boundaries by sending out for more cortisol to be secreted by the adrenal glands. Now the emotion-inflammatory cycle is complete from initial stress response perceived by the brain to immune response and back to an increased stress response within the brain.

To control your emotions and your immune system, you have to have some means to break this inflammatory cycle. High-dose fish oil gives you that tool.

High-dose fish oil can be successfully used in the treatment of depression and help you more readily adapt to stress through the increase in serotonin levels. Also we know that depression is highly associated with increased levels of "bad" eicosanoids in the brain, and an increased AA/EPA ratio in the blood of depressed people. Both of these observations strongly suggest the underlying role of pro-inflammatory eicosanoids in depression. Furthermore, the increase in the AA/EPA ratio of depressed patients may help explain why depression seems to accelerate the development of both cancer and heart disease, two diseases that have strong inflammatory components. The ancient Roman physician Galen recognized this fact when he commented that depressed women were more prone to breast cancer than their more cheerful counterparts. This also explains why depressed individuals have depressed immune systems with abnormally low levels of natural killer cells, lymphocytes, and T-helper cells. This same immune system depression has been observed in individuals who report being chronically stressed or those who have been given a single injection of corticosteroids.

On the opposite extreme of the emotional spectrum is laughter, which is associated with decreased cortisol production and increased production of two types of immune cells, natural killer cells and activated T-cells. This is why Norman Cousin wrote his famous book on laughter as the best medicine against cancer. His theories make perfect sense if you understand the role of eicosanoids and cytokines in cancer.

Your Personalized Plan for Better Emotional Control

1. Maintain your insulin control by balancing protein, carbohydrate and fat.

2. To determine how much fish oil to take, check the results of your last cholesterol screening if you had it within the past six months. If you haven't had a recent test, get a fasting cholesterol blood test to find out your TG/HDL ratio. If the TG/HDL ratio is less than 2, supplement your diet with a preventative dose of 2.5 grams of long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids per day (equivalent to a teaspoon or 4 capsules of ultra - refined fish oil). If your TG/HDL ratio is more than 2, supplement your diet with 5 grams of long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids per day for 30 days, and then reduce the dosage to 2.5 grams per day.

3. Continually check your TG/HDL ratio every six months. Your goal is to try to keep it between 1 and 2.

Note: Only follow this recommendation for long-chain Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation if you are using ultra - refined fish oil.

Omega-3 and Dementia

Dementia is associated with the development of amyloid plaques in the brain, similar in many ways to the plaques that clog artery walls and eventually lead to heart attacks. In fact, people who have a genetic susceptibility to heart attacks (a variation in the Apo E protein) also have a far higher risk of developing dementia or other memory problems. Thus, a strategy to prevent both heart problems and dementia seems to make sense. In fact, Hippocrates stated this some 2,500 years ago when he said, "whatever is good for the heart is probably good for the brain".

Since reducing inflammation is good for the heart ,then reducing inflammation should also be good for the mind. Perhaps, not surprisingly, people who are long-term users of anti-inflammatory drugs have a much lower incidence of dementia or memory loss than the general population.

Is there an appropriate strategy to reduce the likelihood of developing dementia? Population studies have shown that people more than 85years-old who eat fish have a 40 percent smaller risk of developing dementia or memory loss. Other research has shown that the brains of patients have 30 percent less DHA than the brains of healthy individuals. In data from the landmark Framingham Heart Study, those patients who had lower levels of long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids in their blood had a 67 percent greater likelihood of developing dementia. In fact, supplementation with DHA seems to improve the cognitive function of patients, according to one intervention study. More ominous is that those individuals who consume the most Omega-6 fatty acids have a 250% increase in the development of dementia. Remember it is the over-consumption of Omega-6 fatty acids (such as those found in common vegetable oils) that leads to an increase in arachidonic acid formation.

Therefore, we can theorize that making too many "bad" eicosanoids and not enough "good" ones increases your risk. This hypothesis is confirmed by recent studies that have looked at the AA/EPA ratio in patients and age-matched controls.

The fact that patients have double the AA/EPA ratio suggests that they have increased brain inflammation. In fact, Memory compromised conditions are now being considered primarily an inflammatory condition. Thus, consumption of high-dose fish oil and control of insulin levels are the effective preventive measures.

Other Dementias

Dementia comes from the death of nerve cells and subsequent loss of brain function. The other major form of dementia comes from the continual occurrence of cerebrovascular events These occur when there is insufficient blood flow to the brain robbing it of the necessary oxygen and glucose to maintain itself. These events are not as disabling as massive cerebrovascular events , but their cumulative effect is the same; loss of brain function. The best way to stop them is though the preventing of the aggregation of platelets, which is caused by an over-production of "bad" eicosanoids. Drugs such as aspirin can reduce this platelet aggregation, but the best long-term drug is the Zone dietary plan because of its ability to alter the levels of "good" and "bad" eicosanoids.

Autoimmune Disorders and Omega 3 Fatty Acids

Nerve cell autoimmune disorders leave the patient in an unresponsive body with mental functioning intact. In multiple sclerosis, the insulating membrane that coats nerve cells unravels making it difficult for nerve cells to transmit their signals. Although the molecular cause of autoimmune disorders affecting the nerves is unknown, scientists have learned that it's a problem primarily driven by inflammation.

Interestingly, this condition is virtually unknown in Greenland Eskimos. Could their high-intake of long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids provide a clue to prevention and treatment of this serious health condition?

Like all inflammatory conditions, autoimmune disorders are characterized by an over-production of "bad" eicosanoids. For inflammatory conditions outside the brain, a variety of drugs ranging from aspirin to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (like Advil) can decrease inflammation and provide temporary relief to the patient. Unfortunately, these drugs can't pass through the blood brain barrier that separates the brain from the blood stream. One leading treatment is a drug called beta-interferon. The thought behind this approach is that it will inhibit the synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Long chain Omega-3 fatty acids inhibit the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This may explain why populations that consume the most fish have the lowest rates of autoimmune disorders affecting nerve cells.

An intervention study, however, is the only way to prove all these theories. Such a study was recently done in Norway when patients were given long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids daily for two years. The patients were also told to consume three to four fish meals per week (which would increase their fish oil consumption), decrease the consumption of red meat (which would decrease their arachidonic acid intake), and eat more fruits and vegetables.

By the end of the first year, the patients' AA/EPA ratio had decreased from 8.5 to 1.5 and remained at this lowered level throughout the following year. The number of symptoms that these patients experienced decreased by 90 percent in the first year. And after two years, their disability index decreased by 25 percent, which means they regained mobility