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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel Bomb here with another classic

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Speaker 1: podcast episode. This one delves into the tricksy world of

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Speaker 1: nutrition and dietary supplements, with a focus on one particular

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Speaker 1: type that's gotten both hype and flak fish oil pills,

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Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel bomb Here. Nutrition is complicated.

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Speaker 1: Eggs at one time were considered awful for you, cholesterol bombs,

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Speaker 1: heart killers, dietary death. Now even the American Heart Association

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Speaker 1: says that a few eggs a week, no matter they're

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Speaker 1: high flying cholesterol content, may be good for you and

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Speaker 1: your heart. The story of fish oil supplements, which are

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Speaker 1: pills that contain a Mega three fatty acids considered critically

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Speaker 1: to be good fats to have in your diet, is similar,

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Speaker 1: only reversed. At one time, regularly popping a fish oil

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Speaker 1: pill was considered hugely beneficial for mental health, cardiovascular health,

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Speaker 1: brain health, and to aid in the health of unborn babies,

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Speaker 1: among other benefits. But earlier this year, a British meta

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Speaker 1: study that covered seventy seven thousand, nine hundred and seventeen

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Speaker 1: heart patients was released, and it said that fish oil

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Speaker 1: supplements quote had no significant association with reductions in fatal

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Speaker 1: or non fatal coronary heart disease or any major vascular events.

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Speaker 1: In other words, the pills didn't do anything for these

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Speaker 1: heart patients in terms of heart attacks and strokes. Suddenly,

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Speaker 1: fish oil supplements weren't quite the magic pill that some

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Speaker 1: took them to be. So what's the health conscious consumer

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Speaker 1: to think. We spoke with Dr herzel Gerstein, a Canadian

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Speaker 1: endocrinologist and one of the studies authors, who said, I

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Speaker 1: think the overall message is when you look at the

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Speaker 1: best evidence in the world taken together synthesized in this way, overall,

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Speaker 1: there's really no scientific justification to go out and buy

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Speaker 1: omega three fatty acid supplements if you think you're going

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Speaker 1: to be preventing heart attacks and strokes, because there's no

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Speaker 1: evidence you will. That study dealt specifically with dietary supplements.

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Speaker 1: Many reputable places, including the National Institutes of Health, the

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Speaker 1: Harvard School of Public Health, and yes, the American Heart Association,

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Speaker 1: still tout the need for omega threes. Two problems exist

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Speaker 1: in getting enough omega three fatty acids, though your body

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Speaker 1: doesn't make them most types anyway, So you have to

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Speaker 1: get them in your diet, and many American diets don't

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Speaker 1: include the main food sources of omega threees, things like soybeans,

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Speaker 1: flax seed, and cold water fatty fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel,

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Speaker 1: and sardines. That's why many consider fish oil supplements I must.

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Speaker 1: According to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, some sixteen percent

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Speaker 1: of American adults take omega three fatty acids in supplement form,

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Speaker 1: with tens of millions of Americans popping fish oil pills

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Speaker 1: spending millions of dollars. The manufacturers of these supplements aren't

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Speaker 1: going to go quietly on suggestions that their products don't work.

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Speaker 1: We also spoke with Douglas Uffie mackay, the Senior Vice

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Speaker 1: president for Scientific and Regulatory Affairs for the Council for

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Speaker 1: Responsible Nutrition, the leading trade association for the dietary, supplement

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Speaker 1: and functional food industry. He said this study was about

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Speaker 1: high risk cardiovascular heart disease individuals and determining if omega

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Speaker 1: three fatty assets would act essentially like a drug, a

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Speaker 1: nutritional drug to help prevent future cardiac events. But the

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Speaker 1: bottom line for the general population is is it still

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Speaker 1: an essential nutrient that plays incredibly important roles in human nutrition,

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Speaker 1: balancing inflammation. It's part of cell membranes, it's part of

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Speaker 1: cells communicating with one another, and Americans just don't eat

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Speaker 1: a lot of cold water fatty fish that provides these

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Speaker 1: important nutrients. Thus, mackay contends, if sardines and flax seed

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Speaker 1: aren't on your weekly shopping list, you ought to consider

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Speaker 1: supplements even if they don't stop heart attacks in high

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Speaker 1: risk cardiovascular cases, because your body still needs them. For

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Speaker 1: his part, Gerstein, who's a professor in the Department of

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Speaker 1: Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, agrees that omega

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Speaker 1: three's are essential and that a diet high in omega

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Speaker 1: three'es indeed may be beneficial, although the science behind that

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Speaker 1: is still unsettled. He said, there is some evidence from

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Speaker 1: the dietary literature that there may be a benefit to it.

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Speaker 1: This research does not in any way refute that when

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Speaker 1: you think of the dietary literature, though, if someone decides

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Speaker 1: they're going to eat a diet high in omega three

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Speaker 1: fatty acids, that means they're also reducing other things such

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Speaker 1: as maybe red meat. So if there's a benefit, maybe

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Speaker 1: it's because they're replacing harmful things with Omega three's. The

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Speaker 1: main question comes down to whether people are getting enough

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Speaker 1: omegathreees in their diets and what can be done about

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Speaker 1: it if not. McKay says most people don't get enough

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Speaker 1: and suggest supplements in consultation with a doctor as a

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Speaker 1: possible answer. Gersteine says most people do, though if they don't,

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Speaker 1: it's something that should be discussed with a doctor. The

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Speaker 1: good news is that taking a regular fish oil pill

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Speaker 1: as a supplement doesn't seem to do any harm, except

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Speaker 1: Gerstine says, all those extra fatty acids, not to mention

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Speaker 1: all the money's spent, may end up quite literally down

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Speaker 1: the drain. He said, you're making expensive urine. Today's episode

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Speaker 1: is based on the article the Case for and Against

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Speaker 1: taking fish oil pills on how stuff works dot com,

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Speaker 1: written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production of by

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com,

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Speaker 1: and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listening to your favorite shows.