Fish, Fish Oil, Krill, Mercury, and More

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, nearly all Americans are deficient in heart-healthy omega-3 fats.  These aren’t the only type of omega fats which are important to your optimal health, but they are the ones you hear about the most. 

You also hear a lot about fish oil supplements, prescription medications made from fish oil, and high mercury levels found in many types of the fish we usually consume.

To help make your fish and fish oil decision making a little bit easier, I want to pass along this PDF format report I received this week.  One of the authors of the report, Jayson Hunter, also happens to be marketing a krill oil supplement product.  So you’ll find the last few pages are highly promotional for his product.

I am not endorsing the krill oil product.

But I do find much of the content of the report compelling, and I think you’ll find the chart on page 15 is particularly handy for choosing the low-mercury varieties of fish.

If you are not eating either “fatty” fish, walnuts, eggs, or grass fed meats at least once every day, then you are probably omega-3 deficient.  And if you can’t eat any one of those things every day – whether you are allergic or a vegetarian or you just plain don’t like them – then quality supplements could be a good idea.**

Great information on quality supplements from an independent testing laboratory can be found at http://www.consumerlabs.com/.

Here’s the link to get your own copy of the report.  It’s lengthy but worthwhile reading:

http://athletesacceleration.getprograde.com/viewpdffile/What-Your-Doctor-Never-Told-You-About-FishOil.pdf

Now you say to yourself (after you’ve looked at the chart on page 15), “Self,” you say, “have I been eating so much contaminated fish that I might have mercury poisoning and not even know it?”

Well, that’s a perfectly reasonable question.  There are other ways to become overexposed to mercury, too.  So as a special bonus, I’m going to turn you on to a very comprehensive article from the aforementioned Dr. Hyman about mercury toxicity and how to recover from it. 

http://drhyman.com/how-to-rid-your-body-of-mercury-and-other-heavy-metals-a-3-step-plan-to-recover-your-health-523/

**Extra-extra-extra-special bonus tip from Trainer Jane:  Get advice from your doctor, AND your pharmacist, AND a good lab where you can get blood and urine analysis done to determine your own unique deficiencies or toxicities before you take any supplement beyond a basic multivitamin.  You may already be on a medication that can cause an adverse reaction when combined with a supplement, or have a condition that could be worsened by one.

Here in Savannah, Brighter Day Natural Foods on

Park Ave.

provides great resources for local labs which perform this type of testing.

The more you know about your own individual needs, the better you can personalize your optimal health plan.

Be Well!