The
many healthy and nutritional benefits of Fish and Seal Oils
A
Message from Dr. Robert Ackman
World-Renowned Expert on Fish and Seal Oils
Dr.
Robert Ackman
As
early as 1960, a doctor in Halifax, Nova Scotia gave seal
oil to his patients to improve their blood lipids. He did
not know at the time about the good health of the Arctic
Eskimos who ate a diet rich in seal meat and oil, and as
it was later discovered, seldom suffered heart attacks.
The publicity of this discovery, in 1979-80, indicated that
the Eskimo benefited from the three long chain Omega-3 Fatty
Acids, commonly known as EPA, DHA and DPA.
Fish oils were used in medical research in the USA and Europe,
and thousands of medical studies have shown that the EPA
and DHA of these oils have clinical benefits. In that work,
the DPA was ignored because fish oil contains very little.
However, it has always been important in human milk fatty
acids, now an important research area for DHA in connection
with infant brain development and the continued good health
of the mother. In ten thousand years, human society has
changed from a hunting diet, emphasizing animals and fish,
to one dependent on large-scale farming.
Our
body biochemistry, based on a model perfected at least a
million years ago, will take thousands of generations to
adapt to this new lifestyle based on agriculture. The so-called
“essential” fatty acids produced by farm products
are of a shorter chain length than the Omega-3 fatty acids
of seal oil. Our bodies do make the truly essential long-chain
fatty acids from the farm products, but slowly, and the
Omega-3 type may suffer from competition from the excess
of Omega-6 type in them. It is time to go back to enriching
the diet of the entire family with all three Omega-3 fatty
acids. Seal oil provides an easy solution to re-balancing
our fatty acid intake.
Omega-3’s are a special type of long-chain polyunsaturated
fatty acids (PUFA), they are know as one of the “good”
fats. The most important components of Omega-3 PUFA’s
are commonly known as EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), DHA (docosahexaenoic
acid), and DPA (docosapentaenoic acid), all of which are
found naturally in the human body at birth. One of the critical
functions of Omega-3 is found in the body’s most basic
unit – the cell.
Human
cells absorb various raw
materials, process them and then send this processed material
to the required destination within the body. The outer membrane
of these cells acts as a gateway allowing the raw material
in and the processed material out. This outer membrane requires
a constant turnover of PUFA’s to remain functional.
Omega-3’s are an essential part of this replenishment.
A shortage of Omega-3 reduces the ability of cells to efficiently
perform their function, leading to nutrient starvation and
chronic and debilitating diseases. Omega-3 is also converted
into another class of chemical called eicosanoids; the most
critical of which are prostaglandins. Prostaglandins are
important for the regulation of inflammation, pain, swelling,
blood pressure, heart function, gastrointestinal function
and secretions, kidney function and fluid balance, blood
clotting and platelet aggregations, allergic response, nerve
transmission; steroid production and hormone synthesis.
If the diet is inadequate, the Omega-3 prostaglandins produced
are either lacking or unbalanced, leading to dysfunction
of these vital bodily activities. The Omega-3 fatty acids
keep the blood vessel walls smooth and elastic. A smooth
and supple condition of the vessel wall reduces the blood
pressure necessary to force blood through small blood vessels,
delivering oxygen to where it is needed and preventing circulatory
problems, for example those resulting from diabetes. As
well, Omega-3 reduces the risk of blood vessel blockages
that are often the cause of heart attacks and strokes.
Many studies have found the Omega-3’s anti-inflammatory
action offers great relief for those suffering from arthritis.
Omega-3 has also been found to modulate the movement of
cholesterol through he blood system. Some researchers have
reported that Omega-3 tends to change the balance of cholesterol
in the blood by lowering the “bad” and raising
the “good” cholesterol. Omega-3 PUFA’s will
remarkably lower plasma tryglycerides even in “healthy”
people. Many studies also indicate that the DHA component
of the Omega-3 family is essential to early childhood brain
development while the DPA component is found in significant
quantities in mother’s milk.
Omega-3’s are therefore believed to be essential to
good health and normal development of both the unborn and
the newly born. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, are
therefore, deemed “essential” for our health and
wellness. In fact, Health Canada – Nutrition Recommendations
for Canadians states, “Omega-3 polyunsaturates are
essential nutrients for maintaining good health, normal
growth and development.”
Omega-3
and Your Diet
Over the past five thousand years, western society has evolved
from a hunting diet to one largely based on agriculture.
Many nutrients formally consumed in abundance have now become
scarce. One of the nutrients still considered absolutely
essential for our good health and normal development,
but
not largely missing from our diets, is the family of polyunsaturated
fatty acids know as Omega-3.
“In
comparing seal oil with fish oils, assimilation of seal
oil into the body is more efficient than fish oils.
Dr.
Fereidoon Shahidi
Coupling
this fundamental change in dietary nutrients with our society’s
rapid
adoption of highly processed foods, it is little wonder
that western society is experiencing an impressive escalation
in diet-based/lifestyle disease. These diseases range from
asthma and obesity to atherosclerosis (hardening of the
arteries) and cancer. This has been best demonstrated through
studies of native cultures with a traditional marine diet
high in Omega-3, such as the documented findings of the
Norwegian diet.
When
Norwegians were forced to return to its traditional marine-based
diet during the shortages of World War II, the death rate
(of heart disease, cancer, etc.) dropped by 40%. This rate,
however, returned to pre-war levels as soon as the war ended
and Norwegians returned to their western-based diet of highly
processed foods. It is of great interest that during the
war, the Norwegian decrease of heart disease coincided with
a 50% increase in Omega-3 intake. Another example of the
health benefits of a traditional marine diet, high in Omega-3,
is found with the Inuit of the High Arctic.
Despite their large daily intake of fat, the Inuit blood
lipids remained within normal levels, their incidence of
heart trouble was low and they were relatively free from
hardening of the arteries. Like the Norwegians, as the Inuit
have adopted western diets, their incidence of diet-based
disease has risen to western levels. Our bodies do not naturally
synthesize, or replenish, Omega-3. Therefore it must be
obtained from external sources through a diet rich in Omega-3,
or through the use of dietary supplements.
A
Superior Oil!
Seal Oil is “Bio-filtered” Fish Oil
As seals are much higher in the food chain than fish, seals
use their digestive system to filter out the many natural
impurities found in fish. The “bio-filtering”
naturally enriches and adds an essential element not found
in most fish oils; DPA. The natural purity and quality of
seal oil is therefore higher than most fish oils.
What
the Experts Say
Dr. Fereidoon Shahidi of Memorial University of Newfoundland
(MUN), a world-renowned scientist on seal product development
provides the following explanation: “In comparing
seal oil with fish oils, assimilation of seal oil into the
body is more efficient than fish oils. EPA, DHA, and DPA
in seal oil are located primarily in the terminal positions
of the triglyceride molecules while they are preferentially
present in the middle position of triglycerides in fish
oils. This difference in the location of the Omega-3 PUFA
is a major reason for the superior effect of seal oils compared
to fish oils in disease prevention and potential health
benefits.”
Omega-3’s,
Seal Oil and Nursing Mothers
It
is interesting that the Chinese consider a child one year
old when born. It is in fact usually nine months old, and
for that time, shares the mother’s long-chain Omega-3
fatty acids. Recently it has been realised that the total
supply of one of these Omega-3 fatty acids, DHA, cannot
be made by the mother fast enough to help fully develop
the infant brain in the last few moths of pregnancy.
Numerous studies have now explored the possible lesser abilities
in newborns that can result from a deficiency in DHA. Some
reports suggest that DHA-related developmental problems
can be followed even in older children. As a result, nutritionists
have been examining proposals for enriching infant formulas
with fish oils known to contain DHA. The model for these
formulas is obviously mother’s milk, and comparisons
show that fish oils are not the complete answer to a supplemental
supply of long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids.
The two fatty acids of this type common in fish oils are
EPA and DHA which start off in roughly equal amounts. All
of the polyunsaturated fatty acids become less, showing
that the mother is having to draw on her own body reserves.
However, the proportions of EPA and DHA in mothers milk
changes rapidly over the first few weeks of nursing. The
EPA also drops to about one third of the DHA over the first
few weeks of nursing. What is usually ignored is the presence
of the third long-chain Omega-3 fatty acid, DPA. In fish
oils DPA can be as little as a tenth of the DHA. In seal
oil it can be half or more of the percentage of DHA, and
thus fits almost exactly the proportion in mother’s
milk.
