Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren vocal bomb here nutrition is complicated. Eggs at one
Speaker 1: time were considered awful for you, cholesterol bombs, heart killers,
Speaker 1: dietary death. Now even the American Heart Association says that
Speaker 1: a few eggs a week, no matter they're high flying
Speaker 1: cholesterol content, may be good for you and your heart.
Speaker 1: The story of fish oil supplements, which are pills that
Speaker 1: contain a Mega three fatty acids considered critically to be
Speaker 1: good fats to have in your diet, is similar, only reversed.
Speaker 1: At one time, regularly popping a fish oil pill was
Speaker 1: considered hugely beneficial for mental health, cardiovascular health, brain health,
Speaker 1: and to aid in the health of unborn babies, among
Speaker 1: other benefits. But earlier this year, a British meta study
Speaker 1: that covered seventy seven thousand, nine hundred and seventeen heart
Speaker 1: patients was released, and it said that fish oil supplements
Speaker 1: quote had no significant association with reducts in fatal or
Speaker 1: non fatal coronary heart disease or any major vascular events.
Speaker 1: In other words, the pills didn't do anything for these
Speaker 1: heart patients in terms of heart attacks and strokes. Suddenly
Speaker 1: fish oil supplements weren't quite the magic pill that some
Speaker 1: took them to be. So what's the health conscious consumer
Speaker 1: to think. We spoke with Dr herzel Gerstein, a Canadian
Speaker 1: endocrinologist and one of the studies authors, who said, I
Speaker 1: think the overall message is when you look at the
Speaker 1: best evidence in the world taken together synthesized in this way, overall,
Speaker 1: there's really no scientific justification to go out and buy
Speaker 1: omega three fatty acid supplements if you think you're going
Speaker 1: to be preventing heart attacks and strokes, because there's no
Speaker 1: evidence you will. That study dealt specifically with dietary supplements.
Speaker 1: Many reputable places, including the National Institutes of Health, the
Speaker 1: Harvard School of Public Health, and yes, the American Heart Association,
Speaker 1: still tout the need for omega three's. Two problems exist
Speaker 1: in getting enough omega three fatty acids though your body
Speaker 1: doesn't make them most types anyway, so you have to
Speaker 1: get them in your diet, and many American diets don't
Speaker 1: include the main food sources of omega three's, things like soybeans,
Speaker 1: flax seed, and cold water. Fatty fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel,
Speaker 1: and sardines, that's why many consider fish oil supplements a must.
Speaker 1: According to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, some sixteen percent
Speaker 1: of American adults take omega three fatty acids in supplement form,
Speaker 1: with tens of millions of Americans popping fish oil pills
Speaker 1: spending millions of dollars, The manufacturers of these supplements aren't
Speaker 1: going to go quietly on suggestions that their products don't work.
Speaker 1: We also spoke with Douglas Duffie mackay, the Senior Vice
Speaker 1: president for Scientific and Regulatory Affairs for the Council for
Speaker 1: Responsible Nutrition, the leading trade association for the dietary, supplement
Speaker 1: and functional food industry. He said this study was about
Speaker 1: high risk cardiovascular heart disease individuals and determining if omega
Speaker 1: three fatty acids would act actually like a drug, a
Speaker 1: nutritional drug to help prevent future cardiac events. But the
Speaker 1: bottom line for the general population is this is still
Speaker 1: an essential nutrient that plays incredibly important roles in human nutrition,
Speaker 1: balancing inflammation. It's part of cell membranes, it's part of
Speaker 1: cells communicating with one another, and Americans just don't eat
Speaker 1: a lot of cold water fatty fish that provides these
Speaker 1: important nutrients. Thus, mackay contends, if sardines and flax seed
Speaker 1: aren't on your weekly shopping list, you ought to consider
Speaker 1: supplements even if they don't stop heart attacks in high
Speaker 1: risk cardiovascular cases, because your body still needs them. For
Speaker 1: his part, Gerstein, who's a professor in the Department of
Speaker 1: Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, agrees that omega
Speaker 1: three's are essential and that a diet high in omega
Speaker 1: three is indeed may be beneficial, although the science behind
Speaker 1: that is still unsettled. He said, there is some evidence
Speaker 1: from the dietary literature that there may be a benefit
Speaker 1: to it. This research does not in any way refute
Speaker 1: that when you think of the dietary literature, though, if
Speaker 1: someone decides they're going to eat a diet high in
Speaker 1: omega three fatty acids, that means they're also reducing other things,
Speaker 1: such as maybe red meat. So if there's a benefit,
Speaker 1: maybe it's because they're replacing harmful things with omega three's.
Speaker 1: The main question comes down to whether people are getting
Speaker 1: enough omegathreees in their diets and what can be done
Speaker 1: about it if not. McKay says most people don't get enough,
Speaker 1: and suggest supplements in consultation with a doctor as a
Speaker 1: possible answer. Gerstein says most people do, though if they don't,
Speaker 1: it's something that should be discussed with a doctor. The
Speaker 1: good news is that taking a regular fish oil pill
Speaker 1: as a supplement doesn't seem to do any harm, except
Speaker 1: Gerstine says, all those extra fatty acids, not to mention
Speaker 1: all the money spent, may end up quite literally down
Speaker 1: the drain. He said, you're making expensive urine. Today's episode
Speaker 1: was written by John Donovan and produced by Tyler Clang.
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