EPA reversed HD in small groups of patients in two double blind studies. Dr. Erasmus is that rare writer that can write about a complex subject in a simple way. His authoritative and clear information on EPA should be dear to the hearts and minds of all Phds (Persons with Huntington's Disease) and those at risk. Check your local library or amazon.com to get his book.
EPA can be made by our bodies from the LNA in flax or hemp oil as a preferred source. There are a few things Phds should be aware of. The conversion is less than 3% of the LNA in the flax oil. Flax oil is about half LNA. A complement of vitamins and enzymes are required for the conversion. The conversion is impaired in Welsh-Irish, Norwegian, Inuit, Oriental and North American Native genes. The conversion is impaired by degenerative conditions. HD, being an insidious devil, may impair the conversion. The only certain way to know if ones blood level carries a therapeutic level of EPA is by lab test.
If you know of the test, the lab and the cost let me know. --Jerry 09Feb01 e-mail:Jerry@HDLighthouse.org
Jerry, here's a source for having EFA levels tested. Don't know how reliable this guy is, but he has a form for doctors to use to request as well as info for patients. You may have to dig around a bit: www.efafood.com/efalab.htm
I also think any university lab could do it, but you'd probably need a doctor's order.
From: Fats that Heal Fats that Kill by Udo Erasmus
Fish oils bring to mind the cod liver oil I used to get in winter when I was a kid. It's hard to forget the 'fishy smell and taste (which are caused by rancidity), I remember losing nightly battles with my parents, tearfully surrendering, and swallowing yet another slug of the greasy liquid off the old aluminum spoon, gagging on it once again - all this to get my Northern winter ration of vitamins A and D. "Why must it taste so awful to be good for health?" I asked. They had no answer. During one winter of my childhood, however, I craved and looked forward to cod liver oil.
Cod liver oil now comes in capsules. Only the occasional burp reminds us that it's still the same rancid fish oil. We've come a long way in our knowledge of cod and other fish oils regarding their benefits to health, but manufacturing practices still need to be improved.
Not all fish oils are special in their health-enhancing capacity. Oils of some fish contain fatty acids that may not be good for us. An example is cetoleic acid, found in herring and capelin oils, which makes up between 12 and 20% of the oil these fish contain. Cetoleic acid is also found, in smaller quantities in the oils of menhaden and anchovetta, and to some extent also in cod liver oil (did the child sense something that the parents missed?). Cetoleic acid has been suggested by some to be toxic to heart tissue because it resembles erucic acid, but this suggestion has not yet been verified, and erucic acid has now been found to be relatively harmless (see Chapter 20, Erucic Acid).
Many fish oils are neither toxic nor especially beneficial. Low-fat and warm-water fish fall into this 'kettle offish'. While these fish contain nutritious protein, their oils have no special nutritional merits. Oolichan and smelt oils, prized by North American natives, were their versions of 'olive oil from the sea'. They contain few essential fatty acids (EFAs) but keep well. They were stable oils for dipping foods and making pemmican - a dry, non-perishable, meat-based food - to take on long journeys.
Some fish oils are associated with clean arteries and freedom from fatty degeneration. The health secret in these oils was discovered only recently, and revolves around two w3 fatty acids called eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), respectively.
What makes these oils special? Both EPA and DHA are normal constituent of our cells. They are especially abundant in brain cells, nerve relay station' (synapses), visual receptors (retinas), adrenal glands, and sex glands - the most biochemically active tissues in our body.
EPA and DHA can be manufactured by healthy cells from the essential w2 fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid (LNA), which is found abundantly in flax hemp, and several other seeds. However, degenerative conditions may impair our body's ability to make EPA and DHA from LNA for the same reasons that these degenerative conditions impair its ability to make the w6 long-chain fatty acids (see Chapter 57, Evening Primrose, Borage, and Black Currant Oils. W3 and w6 essential fatty acids require the same enzyme system to make their corresponding long-chain derivatives.)
In certain populations and a few individuals, EPA and DHA can also over come the effects of mutations that have destroyed the ability of their cells to convert LNA to EPA and DHA. Populations affected might include some West Coast North American native, Inuit, Oriental, Norwegian, and Welsh-Irish - people who traditionally lived along cold-water coasts and included fish as a staple in their diets. The number of people affected is likely to be less than 2% of the population, and certainly less than 10%, but the individuals affected would require a dietary source of EPA and DHA.
EPA and DHA, come from cold water fish and other northern marine animals. Fish can make EPA and DHA from the w3 EFA, alpha-linolenic acid (LNA), but get much of their EPA and DHA from brown and red algae which manufacture EPA and DHA from carbohydrates - sugar, starch, cellulose, etc.
EPA and DHA reverse the negative health effects of lack of w3 fatty acid due to deficient diets by adding a few capsules of fish oils containing these wonderful fatty acids. Even better, we can eat fresh (raw) fish whose oils contain high quality fresh, unspoiled EPA and DHA.
More recently, brown and red algae have-begun to be grown commercially for EPA and DHA. These living little factories make 10 to 14% of long-chain w3s (on dry weight basis) and can be used as excellent, high-quality food sources of EPA and DHA-containing triglycerides. They also serve as starting material for making the free fatty acids EPA and DHA for clinical uses.
EPA and DHA, being highly unsaturated, have a strong urge to disperse. They have extremely low melting points (-54°C [-65°F]; and -44°C [-47°F], respectively), and will not harden or aggregate. So strong is their tendency to move apart from other EPA and DHA molecules that they help prevent aggregation of saturated fatty acids that like to stick together. EPA and DHA thus help keep saturated fatty acids and cholesterol dispersed.
EPA and DHA keep our platelets from getting too sticky. The result is less likelihood of clots that can cause heart attack or stroke.
EPA and DHA also appear to lower apo(a) and fibrinogen levels in our arteries. These two repair proteins are involved in the proliferation of athero-sclerotic tissue in arteries. Lowered levels of these repair proteins result in less atherosclerosis, and more fully open arteries.(Vitamin C, cysteine, niacin, vitamin E, coenzyme QIO, and lysine are other critical factors that help prevent and reverse atherosclerosis.)
EPA and DHA can lower high triglycerides by up to 65% (by 75 to 50 mg/dl in one study). They may somewhat lower cholesterol level and low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and lower very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) by half (from 12 down to 6 mg/dl in the same study). Exactly how is still a mystery. High cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, and VLDL levels are associated with cardiovascular disease: high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, heart and kidney failure, stroke, and heart attack.
EPA lowers elevated blood pressure through the effects of series 3 prostaglandins (PCs) made from it, which block the production of blood pressure-raising series 2 PGs made from w6 fatty acids.
From EPA, our body makes PG3 prostaglandins (see Chapter 58, Prostaglandins) and leukotrienes, which help prevent strokes, heart attacks, and other problems that involve clot formation, such as pulmonary embolism and cardiovascular complications accompanying diabetes, which can result in gangrenous limbs and blindness. The presence of EPA helps prevent our cells from making too many PG2 clot-forming prostaglandins.
In some animal studies, w3 fish oils inhibited growth and metastasis of tumors. Negative experimental results with w3 fish oils in cancer treatment are likely due to poor product quality (rancid oils) or the use of fish oils low in w3 fatty acids. Trout, salmon, mackerel, sardines, tuna, and eel are the richest sources of w3 fatty acids. The oils must be fresh for good results. They deteriorate rapidly.
The rate at which the average human body can convert LNA to EPA has been measured in one study using normal adults to be 2.7% per day of the LNA administered - nutritional intake of co-factors necessary for conversion and PG production was not measured.
Since 80% of the population gets less than recommended amounts of al least one of the co-factors, optimum quantities of essential nutrients, especially vitamins B3, B6, and C, magnesium, and zinc might even boost the conversion of LNA to EPA and its conversion into PG3s above 2.7% per day.
A persons fat deposits should contain 2% LNA (2.4% is normal in bodies built from traditional diets). This amounts to 200 grams of LNA available for conversion in a normal persons 10 kg of body fat. Using the 2.7% figure, the body can make 5400 mg of EPA, as much as one would get from about 18 large (1000-mg) capsules of the w3-richest fish oil. Sellers of fish oil who claim that conversion of LNA to EPA and DHA in humans is not fast enough may be protecting sales rather than telling the truth, since they recommend only 3 capsules per day.
If a person has no w3s in their body but takes 2 tablespoons of flax oil each day, of which 50% is LNA, their body can make 378 mg of EPA, which is what two large capsules of fish oil will supply. In w3 supplementation after long-tern-deficit, 3 to 5 tablespoons are often used. The LNA in this oil can be turned into as much EPA as 3 to 5 large capsules of fish oil will supply. The advantage is that the EPA made in our body is fresher. LNA-containing seeds and oils are available( in fresher conditions than fish oils because they are simpler to produce (less processing). They are also more stable, and are less likely to contain toxic ingredient like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
A few people might be genetically unable to make the conversion. These people would require fish or their oils in their diet.
Dietary saturates, monounsaturates, trans- fatty acids and cholesterol all slow down conversion, and deficiencies of vitamins B3, B6, C, magnesium or zinc also inhibit conversion.
Most people don't get much LNA in its natural state in their diet. The richest sources of LNA come from flax, chia, and hemp seeds and their oils, which are new to the marketplace.
In spite of many scientific studies slowing beneficial effects of EPA and DHA on cardiovascular health, fish oils are still waiting for the official 'green light' in the U.S. In Canada, all essential nutrients are considered drugs rather than foods - a ill-considered notion, considering their low toxicity compared to drugs. The U.S Food and Drug Administration concluded in 1993 that sellers of w3 (flax an fish) oils may not make claims for the usefulness of w3s to establish cardiovascular health. I believe they will change their stand when they distinguish the results obtained from studies using poor quality oils, studies using low w3 oils, and poorly carried out studies, from results obtained in well-designed studies using fresh, w3-rich oils.
Foods and components of foods (essential nutrients) should be administered by a government body separate from that which deals with drugs. Pharmaceutical drugs are dangerous, toxic, unnatural substances with a narrow range between effective dose and fatal dose. They should be tightly controlled, and used as little as possible. Foods and their essential nutrient components are relatively safe even in large quantities. They have been self-administered since the days of Adam and Eve. Foods build and maintain health in the first place, starting from conception. They also reverse, cure, and prevent degenerative diseases whose origins lie in malnutrition and deficiencies. Until non-toxic foods and toxic drugs are separated under the law and administered separately (which may take years), Canadians can get EPA and DHA supplements from the U.S., and citizens of both countries can eat fish containing these oils or get their EPA and DHA from sushi, which luckily for us, is still considered food by bureaucrats. And even if we can't make any claims, our hearts and arteries will be (secretly) in better shape.
In the same way as the administration of foods and drugs should be separated, the fields of nutrition and medicine should be separated. Farmers, grocers, and nutritionists practice primary health care through foods, and should be allowed to make legitimate health claims for their food products. As long as doctors rely on the practice of drug-oriented disease management without paying attention to primary health care through the appropriate use of foods, water, and air, your grocer will likely be able to do more for your health than your doctor. As doctors learn to use foods to heal, they may be able to catch up with the excellent level of service now provided by farmers, green grocers, and natural healers.
The richest sources of EPA and DHA are high-fat (10 to 15%) cold-water fish like salmon, sardines, mackerel, trout, and eel. EPA and DHA make up between 15 and 30% of the oils found in these fish. The measured w3 fatty acid content of different types of salmon ranges between 18.9 and 31.4% of total fat content. (Their w6 content measured between 1.6 and 3.6% of total fat content.)
Low-fat (1 to 4%) fish like pike, carp, and haddock contain EPA and DHA in much smaller quantities.
EPA and DHA from fish take about 2 to 3 weeks to be completely metabolized in our body after being consumed. Their triglyceride-lowering, platelet-'unsticking', and artery-protecting effects last the same length of time. To maintain these protective effects, fresh w3 fish should be eaten at least every 2 weeks. The Catholic custom of fish on Fridays may have had health benefits before it degenerated to fish 'n chips - low-fat fish and potatoes, both deep-fried in damaged and damaging oils.
Good fish would be fresh, high-fat fish that contain EPA and DHA. They should not be fried. It is best to boil them whole, so that their oils are not destroyed by light, oxygen, or high temperature. They can be eaten raw as sushi or sashimi (decked with edible gold for art's sake) made from fish which are kept fresh by deep freezing and served in Japanese sushi bars. Preserved this way, fish oils give maximum health benefits.[ Fish that carry human parasites are not served raw by properly trained sushi chefs. Such fish include cod and other bottom-feeding fish that live close to the shoreline, where both hosts in whom the parasites grow - fish and humans - have regular contact. Open ocean fish that have no contact with humans can be eaten raw because they do not carry parasite: active in humans. As a second precaution, sushi chefs freeze fish at -40°C (-40°F) to kill any parasites they carry.]
Unlike chicken and turkey, high-fat cold-water fish are best eaten with their skins on. The oils we want are found under their skin, especially behind the gills, around the fins, and along the belly.
Seals contain about 3.5% EPA and 7.5% DHA in their fat tissue. Dolphins and whales have between I and 3% of each in their blubber. Penguins carry about 3% EPA and 9% DHA in their body fats.
Tiny animals (zooplankton, krill, copepods) and tiny plants (phytoplankton, algae) that live in oceans and lakes are food for fish and marine animals These are rich in w3s such as LNA, EPA and DHA. Polar bears eating marine animals that live on plankton have about 7% each of EPA and DHA in their fat.
Oils from scallop, clam, oyster, and squid contain from one-quarter to one half EPA and DHA. Since their total oil content is less than 2% of their weight they are minor sources of w3 fatty acids.
As already stated, EPA and DHA help keep our arteries clean, our platelets less sticky, and cold-water animals fluid in freezing cold water. EPA is the starting material for making series 3 prostaglandins, which have beneficial effects on blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, kidney function, inflammatory response, and immune function, EPA and DHA have other functions. In our retinas, these highly active fatty acids are involved with the conversion of light energy entering our eyes into the chemical energy of nerve impulses.
In our brain, they have neurological functions that involve energy conversion and electron transfer. They attract the oxygen necessary for intense chemical activity of brain cells. In adrenal and sex glands, they provide increased chemical activity.
EPA and DHA are even more sensitive to destruction by light, air, and heat than LNA, the 'prima donna' of EFAs. EPA and DHA belong in completely opaque capsules made under conditions that exclude light, air, and heat. Most capsules marketed today contain 'fishy tasting (partly rancid) oil. Sardines canned in their own (sardine or sild) oil are the only processed source I know of fish oils without rancid taste. The best way to eat fish is to get it so fresh it's 'still wiggling', and then prepare and eat it immediately.
Fresh EPA and DHA can be a valuable addition to the human diet. They provide one of the main reasons why traditional Inuit were virtually free of disease of fatty degeneration, even though their diets contained 39% fat providing almost 60% of total calories (of which more than one-tenth was EPA and DHA), but very little fiber.
Salmon and trout are being raised in tanks or shallow ponds, much like chickens in the chicken coop. Fish in the fish coop are fed commercialized, convenient foods that are not the fresh live krill, copepods, plankton, and algae that feed these fish in nature. Since their fat content depends on what they eat, their fat content is different from that of free-swimming ocean or fresh-water fish. The process of changing fat content in fish has begun, similar to changes that have occurred in beef farming (see Chapter 46, Meats) and egg production (see Chapter 49, Eggs).
Commercial fish foods contain less vitamins A and C, and less w3 fatty acids than the foods that wild fish eat. These three spoilable nutrients are essential to fish, [W6 fatty acids, which are essential in human nutrition, are not essential to fish. Fish can convert w3 fatty acids, which are essential for them, into w6 fatty acids.] but further shorten the already short shelf life of fish foods. Commercial dry fish foods last only 2 months. Wet refrigerated foods last 3 months.
Experts in fish farming consider farmed salmon to be inferior to fresh ocean fish. Their meat is less firm. The fish are less viable. Sometimes algal blooms kill the entire cooped-up fish school, because the fish are not free to escape these blooms. Decreased quality of farmed fish is offset by some advantages. Farmed fish can reach consumers within 48 hours. Ocean fish may be dead (on ice) a week or two before the boat comes in. Farmed fish are available fresh all year round, while ocean salmon are fresh only in season, and must be frozen, dried, smoked, or canned the rest of the year.
Market surveys indicate that buyers prefer fresh ocean salmon to fresh farmed salmon, but prefer fresh farmed salmon to frozen ocean salmon. This preference mirrors nutritional quality.