Krill Oil: Three Times As Healthy As Fish Oil?

If you are already familiar with the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids and how fish oil supplements can help attain a healthy balance of these essential fatty acids, then you may want to scroll down to the ‘A Better Alternative?’ section.

It is well acknowledged in the scientific and consumer communities that taking in omega-3 fatty acids can improve your health.

Omega-3 fatty acids cannot be produced by the human body and are thus part of the “essential fatty acid” family.  We can only get them from the food we eat or the supplements we take.  Cold water fish, such as salmon and cod, are great sources of omega-3s.

There are three types of omega-3 fatty acids: alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).  All of these act as anti-inflammatories in the body.  Inflammation is a leading cause of many medical conditions including the deterioration of the cardiovascular (heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure) and brain (depression, Alzheimer’s) systems.  Inflammation is also primarily responsible for many of the effects of aging, including skin wrinkling, arthritis, and the degeneration of bone and tissue in the body.

Another member of the essential fatty acids are the omega-6s.  They are far more common in the typical diet and can be found in meat, nuts, and seeds.  Maintaining a healthy ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids can reduce the likelihood of suffering from a variety of medical problems including cancer, arthritis,and heart disease.  However, the proper ratio between the two can differ based on the condition you are trying most to alleviate or prevent.

Regardless of the ratio, taking in the appropriate amount of omega-3s and omega-6s can be immensely beneficial to our health.  Most people get plenty of the omega-6 fatty acids in their day to day diet.  However, due to the limited food sources available (how many people eat fresh salmon everyday?), supplementation is a great way of ensuring that we get the appropriate amount of omega-3s.

Fish oil pills have become a popular source of omega-3s over the last ten years.  Even doctors, who routinely disavow any nutritional benefits of non-prescription supplementation, are recommending fish oil supplements to their patients.  Especially those who suffer from any of the warning signs of impending cardiovascular issues (adverse cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, etc).

So, in summary, various scientific studies conclude that a healthy balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids can help with the following conditions:

• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Adverse cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• Depression
• Certain types of stroke
• Eczema
• Asthma
• Arthritis

Taking fish oil supplements can help achieve that healthy balance of essential fatty acids.

Fish Oil Supplements Do Have A Downside

Fish oils are a great source of the omega-3 fatty acids.  But they do have some risks.  Fish oil is obtained from fish that swim in oceans that contain varying levels of mercury and other toxins.  And because salmon and other cold water fish are way up the ocean food chain, they absorb all the toxins that have been ingested by the fish they eat, the fish that those fish ate, and so on down the line.

By the time a salmon is caught and harvested for its oil, it potentially contains dangerously high levels of mercury and other toxins that have poisoned our oceans.  You always want to check the quality of the fish oil supplements you buy to ensure that quality filtering processes are used to purify the extracted oil.  But, no matter the quality of the manufacturing, there is a risk of at least trace amounts of bad stuff in those pills.

A Better Alternative?

Krill are tiny shrimp-like marine animals that live in all oceans of the world.  They are considered a “keystone” species near the bottom of the food chain because they feed purely on phytoplankton and zooplankton and convert these into the main dietary sources for fish and other higher level marine animals.

In other words, they are a primary food source for many of the bigger boys in the ocean.

Turns out krill oil contains higher and more efficient concentrations of the omega-3 fatty acids DHA, EPA, and ALA than is found in the cold water fish that fish oil supplements are made from.

Three times the effectiveness of fish oil!

The effectiveness of krill oil is superior due to the fact that the omega-3s in krill oil are linked together in a different cellular structure that, without going all high school chemistry, mimics the structure of the fat in human cell walls.  This means that krill oil is more compatible with the human body and thus more easily absorbed.

In addition, krill oil contains astaxanthin, an extremely potent antioxidant the body uses to neutralize free radicals that can damage cells and tissues throughout the body.

Krill are a plentiful ocean resource.  Less than 1% of the ocean’s 600 million tons of krill is harvested annually.  This ensures an abundant, sustainable krill population.  This is a plus because many people are shying away from fish oil supplements due to the concerns over depleted fish populations across the globe.

Krill oil is typically packaged in small soft gel form.  This is compared to the larger fish oil gel pills that can be hard for some people to swallow.  And krill oil keeps longer.  Bottles of fish oil pills typically spoil within six months to a year.  Krill oil pills can stay fresh and nutritionally potent for up to two years or more.

And for some reason, krill oil doesn’t have the fishy smell or disgusting burp aftertaste that is so common with fish oil.

So, fish oil is a good source of omega-3s if you do your homework on quality and purity.  But krill oil supplements are clearly superior in terms of effectiveness and purity.

I’ve switched to krill.  I get mine thru Bulk Nutrition, which is a site I learned about in the homemade supplements guide I obtained.  It’s a great site that carries a large supply of quality supplement brands at super discount prices - especially when you buy in quantities.

Click to see the Bulk Nutrition krill oil I use.

They carry various brands, so be sure to type ‘krill oil’ into the ‘Quick Find’ search box on the left side of the page if you want to check their selection.  They also carry a wide range of other products that you can browse for.  Again, great prices and quick shipping.

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I Trust Lance Armstrong… I Think

It’s tough not to like Lance Armstrong.  Even tougher not to admire him and what he’s accomplished.  A discussion of his achievements would read like a real life Rocky story, but that’s not what this post is all about.

Lance is now promoting a new energy drink called FRS.  After trying FRS, he was so impressed he actually approached the company, The FRS Company,  about endorsing the product. And he must be committed to the stuff, because he’s now also a member of the The FRS Company’s Board of Directors.

I’m not a big fan of most of the “energy” drinks you see lining the shelves and coolers of your local health store or grocery.  Catchy names like Red Bull, Full Throttle, and Monster Energy (”Unleash the beast!”) are slapped onto stimulant laced drinks that typically contain way too much sugar and way too much caffeine.  I’ve already given you a rundown of the ingredients you find in most of these drinks, so no need to rehash them here.

FRS, which stands for Free Radical Scavengers, is advertised as a healthy energy drink that uses all natural ingredients to provide a kick.  Minimal sugar and minimal caffeine. The formula relies on a unique antioxidant called quercetin to encourage the production of energy at the cellular level.  According to the FRS web site:

Quercetin is a natural antioxidant found in the skins of apples, blueberries, and onions. It protects the adrenaline that your body naturally creates to give you energy for small daily tasks like staying awake at work and big events like running a marathon. Quercetin allows your body to use energy more efficiently so you feel more energy for a longer amount of time.

I’m a big fan of the power of antioxidants.  Especially as we age.  But they are not the miracle cure that’s going to enable us to splash around in the fountain of youth.

However, I am always interested in finding reasonably safe energy supplements - i.e. ones that aren’t full of sugar, caffeine or other herbal heart-pounders like guarana or ephedra - that can give me the occasional boost I need to get off the couch and into the gym.

So I picked up a 4 pack of FRS to give it a try. Not cheap.

First, the stuff tastes like flat 7-Up. Sort of lemon-limey without the in your face carbonation that many of the other energy drinks have. But you’ll definitely want to throw these into the fridge, because FRS goes down alot easier when cold.

According to the product literature, a single can of FRS delivers the same antioxidant quantity as roughly three servings of blueberries, or eight servings of raspberries. This is due to the 250 mg of quercetin and 100 mg of catechins in each serving. We learned above that quercetin is an antioxidant that can be found in apple skins, red onions, and blueberries. Catechins are found in tea leaves, especially green tea, and have been proven effective at promoting cardiovascular health.

In addition to the antioxidant ingredients, FRS also contains high levels of the B-vitamin family (niacin, riboflavin, B-6, B-12, etc) as well as significant quantities of vitamins A, C, and E. Again, very little caffeine (<50 mg) and very little sugar. The B vitamins contribute to the energy mix, but you can get those alot cheaper in pill form. So, FRS must be pinning it’s value proposition on the quercetin.

Well, does it work?

Well, there’s certainly no immediate energy rush. Used to be when I downed a Red Bull, I’d feel a quick jolt as the sugar and caffeine hit my system. None of that with FRS. But at the same time, no jacked up heart rate, no twitching muscles, and no urge to punch through a wall. I’ve always thought I would have loved to have had Red Bull around when I was twenty and invincible. But nowadays, I’ve shorted out enough fuse boxes to know that power surges aren’t all good.

Did some more research and discovered that the FRS formula is not designed to provide that quick surge that the other drinks deliver. FRS supposedly provides an all day energy boost that, while not as intense as the typical energy drink, is much longer lasting. According to Lance Armstrong and the rest of the FRS Company, after taking drinking FRS, you’ll feel much more energized at the end of the day.

Hence the FRS marketing slogan “Tired of being tired?”.

The key to FRS’s claim is the antioxidant quercetine and how it interacts with the body to increase mitochondria production. Without getting all high school biology, mitochondria are the energy producing components in our body. More mitochondria equals more energy at a cellular level.

Now, if the claims are true and FRS does help you feel less fatigued at the end of the day, then great! But this stuff is being heavily marketed to athletes as a performance boosting drink and I just don’t see how a slight, long lasting increase in energy levels qualifies as a performance boost. Well, I take that back. Maybe it does help in marathon type of activities such as running the New York Marathon or cycling the Tour De France.

But wait. There have been studies that prove that quercetine does increase mitochondria production. In mice. But what about people?

The jury is still out, but recent studies such as this one indicate that quercetine does not increase mitochondria production or boost athletic performance in humans in any way.  Potentially another in a long line of nutritional supplement claims based solely on the results of animal experiments.  Humans aren’t mice.

So, like I said, I want to trust Lance.  And I’m sure he’s done his homework on FRS.  But while it does appear the energy enhancing capabilities of quercetine might wake up a tired mouse, I’m not sure it’s going to do a thing for me.

I’m going to keep my eye on the ongoing studies around the benefits of quercetine.

So,what’s your favorite energy drink? And do they work for you? Leave a comment and share your experience.

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Homemade Nutrition - Make Your Own Supplements

I’m in complete agreement with the argument that maintains that, as we get older, our bodies need more nutrition than we can absorb from the typical daily diet. This is partially because today’s fruits and veggies just aren’t as healthy as they were 25 years ago, but it’s also due to advances in body science that have led to newly discovered chemical interactions that serve to ward off the effects of aging using various sources of antioxidants and other nutritional goodies.

But unless you’re actually eating 6-8 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day (primarily vegetables), chances are you’re not getting enough of these rejuvenating substances, especially as our bodies age and begin to lose the ability to efficiently utilize the vitamins, minerals, and other good stuff (antioxidants, phytochemicals, etc.) in the foods we eat.  Hence the need for supplements.  The right supplements.

And just to review.  We’ve talked about supplements that we think work.  We’ve talked about supplements that we just don’t think are worth the money.  And we’ve talked about supplements that are just out and out scams.

Supplements can be expensive.  Just head over to your local GNC, and before you know it, the clerk has talked you into buying a hundred dollars worth of stuff to treat what ails ya.

Worried about cholesterol?  They have multiple pills, potions, and powders to choose from.  Want to burn fat?  Just grab a bottle of one of those energy kickers they sell for $30-$45 bucks.  Want to stay young?  Step right up, pull out that credit card, and purchase a bottle of acai pills.  Yea, they’re a little expensive, but they’re hot right now.  And Oprah swears by them!

Maybe at this point you might want to review the three questions I ask myself before I’ll even think about laying out dollars for a supplement.

Picking the right supplements is important.  Picking the right supplements and not going broke is even more important.

Well, last week I picked up an interesting e-book called Homemade Supplement Secrets.  Did you know that you pay a huge premium for many supplements when, if you were to purchase the ingredients individually, you could cut the substantially cut the cost?

This book actually teaches you how to make your own supplements.  It takes you through all the steps, including analyzing a popular supplement that might cost you $50 per bottle in the store, buying the ingredients from online supplement suppliers, and, using inexpensive kitchen-type equipment, mixing your own version of that supplement for a fraction of the cost.

Really interesting stuff.  And for $27, just getting a list of his preferred online suppliers is worth the cost to me.  These suppliers have been checked out for quality and offer supplements at really really cheap prices, especially when you buy in bulk.

Just to give you an idea, here’s the table of contents of the 193 page downloadable e-book:

Chapter 1: Supplement “Suckers” 101…………………..9
Chapter 2: Supplements – Are They Worth It?……..12
Chapter 3: “Back Room” Supplements……………………23
Chapter 4: Marketing Secrets Exposed ………………..31
Chapter 5: The Good, The Bad, And The UGLY ………48
Chapter 6: The Home-Based Supplement Lab ………59
Chapter 7: “Knocking Off” The Top Supplements ….68
“Energy/Pre-Workout Aids”…………………………76
“Mass Gainers” …………………………………………..90
“Muscle Builders” ……………………………………..106
“Fat Burners” ……………………………………………117
“Sports Performance” ……………………………….132
“Post-Workout Recover”……………………………146
“Nitric Oxide” …………………………………………..159
“Hormone-Boosters” …………………………………176

Really good stuff.  The analysis of the popular supplements in the categories listed above is valuable and provides alot of insight as to what works and what doesn’t.

Their web site is a little hype crazy, but the book is definitely worth it.

Click here to learn more about Homemade Supplement Secrets.

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Oprah’s Miracle Fruit? The Truth About The Latest Super Supplement.

Lose weight with Dr. Oz’s miracle fruit!  Hollywood stars regain youth with acai!  Nature’s miracle in a bottle!

Okay, first, I love fresh acai fruit. I can’t find fresh acai berries anywhere here in Dallas, but it’s a staple at most of the smoothie/juice shops in Australia. Great morning pick-me-up snack. And really healthy. But miracle cure?

Remember how popular pomegranate juice was 2-3 years ago? How it was chockfull of healthy antioxidants and other anti-aging substances? Well, the pomegranate has been replaced as the latest super fruit of choice by the Brazilian fruit, the acai berry.

And it’s pronounced “Ah-Sigh-EE”.

These days you see ads for acai berry supplements all over the Internet. Free trial offers. Lose weight with acai!  Grow younger with acai!  Cleanse your colon with acai! Even Oprah has supposedly hawked the benefits of the acai berry.

Let’s get down to facts.

The acai berry is a very healthy fruit.  It is high in antioxidants and cholesterol lowering omega 3 and omega 9 fatty acids.  It is also high in fiber and has a low glycemic index, which means it doesn’t play havoc with your blood sugar, but rather supplies a steady source of raw energy.  All good stuff from one of nature’s healthiest fruits.

Bring on the hype.

So, as with any newly discovered “super” food, what is the first thing the nutritional supplement makers do?  They set up what are often questionable manufacturing processes to extract and bottle acai berries in juice, pill, and powder forms.  They slap some colorful labels on these bottles with names like AcaiBurn, The Brazilian Miracle, and Acai Essence Deluxe. And then they embark on a massive marketing campaign that revolves around hyped testimonials, exaggerated science, and suck-you-in free trial offers designed to prey upon our miracle cure mentality.

All of a sudden you saw ads on Facebook, Google, and all the major news media web sites advertising product web sites called  Oprah-best-acai.com , OprahsAmazingDiet.com, DrOzMiracle.com, rachaelray.drozdiet-acaiberry.com and others with totally misleading names.

Yep, anyone can buy an Internet domain with someone else’s name in it.

The typical pitch is, we’ll send you a free month’s supply.  You just give us your credit card number to pay for shipping and handling.  But if you look at the really small print, you’ll see you’re signing up for an never-ending supply of the supplement, which they will bill you for every one or three months.  They keep shipping, you keep paying.

And apparently, it’s been very difficult to get them to stop shipping.  There have been thousands of complaints against these companies, many of which operate overseas in such hotbeds of corporate activity as Tunisia, Vietnam, and Majorca.  Even when you try to cancel, they keep shipping and you keep paying.

Many people have had to cancel their credit card just to halt the billings.

You can find out more about the CSPI warning here.

Look, acai is just the latest super food fad.  Acai is a great tasting and very healthy fruit, but let’s put things in perspective.

Acai juice does contain healthy levels of antioxidants.  But, recent studies show that, even in juice form, it contains lower levels of healthy antioxidants than Concord grape juice, blueberry juice, and black cherry juice.  It does contain higher levels of antioxidants than apple, orange, or cranberry juices.  And the fatty berry that is the acai does also contain healthy levels of omega fatty acids.

So, again, acai is a healthy fruit.  It tastes great, especially when mixed with nuts.  Trick is, due to it’s native Brazilian rain forest growing environment and challenges in packaging, it’s hard to find acai berries in raw fruit form here in the States.

You can find juices and juice concentrates, which are the next best thing.  But you do still lose some of the benefits in the juice extraction process.

Then you have the pills and powders.  I have yet to find a food of any type that can be packaged in pill or powder form and retain any significant percentage of its nutritional content.  So, take that under consideration the next time you see one of those blinking “Oprah Lost 50lbs With Acai In A Bottle!” ads.

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Pond Scum: It’s What’s For Dinner

Everyone is going green these days. In the interest of reducing the supposed man made effects of the supposed crisis called !GLOBAL WARMING!, we are all encouraged to take actions to reduce our carbon footprints. I’m fine with adopting a lifestyle that minimizes reliance on fossil fuels and encourages conservation and environmental responsibility, but don’t get me started on the whole !GLOBAL WARMING! thing. That’s a debate for another day when I’m feeling particularly dry and ready to spit out statistics that would turn An Inconvenient Truth into A Wildly Speculative Lie.

Where was I? Oh yeah, going green. Even our supplement industry is going green. One of the more popular lines of nutritional supplements these days are the pills and powders made from blue-green algae and it’s cousins spirulina and chlorella.

There’s alot of marketing out there that claims that blue-green algae, spirulina, and chlorella are wonder foods that will:

• increase energy
• enhance mental clarity
• oxygenate and purify the blood
• improve the immunity system
• eliminate toxins from the body
• nourish the nervous system

Wow!  Sounds like a real miracle “superfood”.  Let’s do our homework, and my apologies if this brings back scary memories of high school biology.

Blue-green algae, chlorella and spirulina are all in the algae family, a huge class of organisms that range in size from microscopic single cell organisms to hundreds of feet long (multi-celled seaweed). More than 200 species have been harvested and used as food since prehistoric times in virtually every landmass that has a coastline. They are also commonly used as fertilizer.  Algae are abundantly available in fresh and salt waters, high in minerals, and can be good sources of protein, carbohydrates, fiber, essential fatty acids and vitamins.

Sounds good Teach.  But where can I find some of this healthy algae stuff?

Well, blue-green algae, spirulina, and chlorella actually grow in stagnant fresh-water lakes and ponds.  They can be easily harvested because they collect in large clumps on the surface and can be skimmed off.  Yes, Johnny, this is what is commonly referred to as “pond scum”.  The green ooze that we see covering the surface of still lakes and ponds.

Okay, not the most appetizing source of nutritional goodness, but neither is the thought of squeezing fish for their oils.  The real question is, is the ooze really healthy?

If you recall, I previously wrote about the nutritional value of omega-3 fatty acids and their popularity’s effect on fish populations.  In addition to being found in cold water fish, high concentrations of omega-3s can be found in the algae that grows on the floors and reefs of the earth’s cold water oceans.  Makes sense, right?  We eat the fish that eat the plankton that eat the algae.

However, the algae that grows on the surface of ponds and lakes does not contain any significant concentrations of omega-3s or any other beneficial fatty acid.  Again, it does contain protein, carbohydrates, and other beneficial ingredients, but no high concentrations of omega acids. The nutritional makeup of the algae is similiar to soybeans.

Ancient tribes in Central and South America used to harvest the algae from their lakes, dry it in brick form, and use those bricks for food.  But based on the concentration of ingredients, you would need to eat a pound of blue-green algae to equal, say, a pound of soybeans.

And that’s why it makes no sense to buy blue-green algae in pill or powder form.  Dried soybeans sell for roughly 89 cents per pound.  A pound of dried blue-green algae in pill form would cost you hundreds of dollars at your local GNC.

Blue-green algae does not contain any “miracle” substances and has the nutritional value of an equivalent amount of soybeans.  And at 100x the price.

Not a very good use of your supplement dollars.

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