By Andrew Gaeddert
A tiny, shrimp-like creature from Antarctica called krill could replace fish oil as the supplement of choice for patients seeking to increase essential fatty acids in their diet. Krill oil offers more health benefits, works faster, and requires a lower, more manageable dose without the indigestion commonly associated with fish oil.
Antarctic krill offer a more concentrated dose of the essential omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, and a healthier ratio between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Omega fatty acids are known to protect against a long list of chronic diseases.
Fish oil often contains mercury, which potentially counteracts the cardiovascular health benefits of the EPA and DHA it contains. However, because krill live in the pristine Antarctic seas, krill oil is free of all toxic heavy metals.
As an antioxidant, krill oil is 48 times more effective than fish oil, and 34 times stronger than coenzyme Q10. Its natural antioxidants also prevent it from going rancid. Fish oil, on the other hand, must be stabilized with Vitamin E. Additionally, if it is not properly packaged to protect it from light and oxygen, lower quality fish oil may spoil easily.
Krill are one of the most abundant animal species on the planet. Individual females lay up to 10,000 eggs several times a season. Krill are protected by a treaty that takes an ecosystem-friendly approach to fishery management by limiting the total catch to 4 million tons per season, or less than 10% of the amount currently fished. In other words, krill oil makes sense ecologically, too.
EPA AND DHA
In the early 1970s, Danish physicians observed that Eskimos in Greenland had a low incidence of heart disease despite their high-fat diet. This observation helped to uncover the health benefits of two omega-3 essential fatty acids found in both fish and krill oils — eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). A variety of studies have documented that fish oil benefits cardiovascular health, reducing death due to heart disease by half. Fish oil supplementation also significantly lowers triglyceride and cholesterol levels, without affecting HDL, the “good” cholesterol.
These fatty acids are called “essential” because animals, including humans, lack the enzymes required to synthesize them. We have to get them in our diet, mainly by eating fish that eat the algae and other plants that can synthesize them.
In the decades since the benefits of EPA and DHA were discovered, fish oil has become a popular supplement. There is a very long list of studies that have documented the beneficial effects of supplementing with fish oil and a laundry list of ailments almost as long. Those Eskimos, for instance, have a very low incidence of asthma, diabetes, psoriasis and allergies as well.1 Studies of fish oil supplementation have also found significant effects on hypertension, cholesterol levels, depression, rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, stroke, Crohn’s disease, lupus, or breast, colon and prostate cancers.2
Because the human brain contains more than 20g of DHA, it is particularly important for mental health. Indeed, the human brain tripled in size when consumption of omega-3 rich foods containing DHA increased thousands of years ago. When agriculture came into the picture with an accompanying decrease in omega-3 consumption, the brain shrunk a bit.3
Studies have linked DHA deficiencies to low serotonin levels, and thus to depression, suicide and violence. In one study, relapse rates dropped from 52% to 12% in bipolar patients who were supplementing with omega-3s.4 High fish intake has been associated with improving memory loss in Alzheimer ’s patients.
Researchers are currently looking for links between DHA deficiency and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, preeclampsia and post-partum depression.5 Interestingly enough, the fatty acid profile of krill oil closely resembles that of the human brain.
THE OMEGA-3: OMEGA-6 RATIO
Today it is commonly thought that most people in the Western world are deficient in the omega-3 fatty acids, which produce the “good” prostaglandins that inhibit the body’s inflammatory, clotting and immune responses. Conversely, Westerners take in far too much of the omega-6 fatty acids, which block the production of good prostaglandins, and thus are associated with chronic disease. At 15:1, krill oil offers a healthy, balancing omega-3:omega-6 fatty acid ratio.
When omega-6 fatty acids pre- dominate over omega-3s in the diet, they stimulate the synthesis of prostaglandins which promote the cell proliferation, inflammation and blood clotting associated with cancer, blood clots, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Prostaglandins derived from omega-3s do the opposite.6 For example, some medical experts posit that inflammation, by damaging artery walls, is an underlying cause of atherosclerosis. This partially explains the beneficial effects of omega-3s on heart disease.7
While our ancestors’ diet boasted an omega-3:omega-6 ratio of roughly 1:1, the modern Western diet is estimated at any where from 1:20 to 1:40, a dramatic difference that may be responsible for the significant increase in heart disease seen in the 20th century.8 A number of Western dietary trends have converged to create this unbalanced omega-3:omega-6 ratio. In the 1950s, when saturated animal fats were the evil of the day, dieticians started steering people toward polyunsaturated vegetable oils. Omega-6 fatty acids are found in most vegetable oils — including corn, cottonseed, grapeseed, peanut, safflower, sesame, soybean and sunflower oils – and thus are plentiful, excessively so, in the modern Western diet. Additionally, the animal products we eat these days are mostly farmed, and don’t get as much omega-3 in their feed as free-range or wild animals do. By comparison, the animals that our hunting and gathering ancestors ate had a more omega-3-rich diet because they consumed mostly omega-3-rich wild grasses.
ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY
Watch out hot chocolate, and step aside green tea and red wine — krill oil contains potent antioxidants including astaxanthin, vitamins A and E and a particularly potent bioflavonoid. Antioxidants protect cells from oxidation, particularly benefiting the circulatory system. Astaxanthin, in particular, protects against free radical damage due to smoking, ultraviolet light and infections. With an Oxidation Radical Absorption Capacity of 378, krill oil’s antioxidant capacity is 300 times greater than Vitamin E and Vitamin A, 48 times greater than the average fish oil, and 32 times greater than coenzyme Q10. (*Oxidation Radical Absorption Capacity, or ORAC, is a measure of antioxidant capacity against peroxyl and hydroxyl radicals, the primary cause of diseases related to oxidative cellular damage.)
APOTENT ANTIOXIDANT BIOFLAVONOID
Bioflavonoids are nutrients, related to Vitamin C, that strengthen capillaries and cells. Flavonoids are not synthesized by the body, and so must be obtained through diet or supplements. The bioflavonoid found in krill oil is a particularly potent antioxidant, and is the first bioflavonoid ever extracted from a non-plant source. Research indicates that flavonoids can be used to prevent or treat cardiovascular disease, cancer, inflammation, asthma, periodontal liver disease, cataracts and macular degeneration.
KRILL OIL STAYS FRESH NATURALLY
According to two common measures of oxidation in fresh oils, krill oil has much better staying power than fish oil, which goes rancid easily unless protected from heat and light. Krill oil has a peroxide value of .05 (a value of more than 2 indicates that the product may go bad on the shelf), and an Oxidative Stability Index (OSI), the amount of time it resists oxidation, of more than 50 hours at 97.8oC. Fish oil starts oxidizing after only eight hours at 80oC.9
MONITORED FOR HEAVY METALS
Chronic intake of low levels of mercury have been shown to increase the risk for cardiovascular disease by increasing free radicals and hindering antioxidants. The mercury content found in some fish oil may counteract the beneficial effects of EPA and DHA against cardiovascular disease. Krill oil,on the other hand, is free of toxic heavy metals.
HEALTH CONCERNS’ EPAQ – RESEARCH
The omega-3s and antioxidants found in EPAQ may have preventive and therapeutic benefits for cancer. A study of skin cancer in mice found krill oil is associated with a significantly lower incidence of skin cancer compared to a control group.
A 25-subject study designed to identify toxic effects of krill oil supplementation at 6g daily found no adverse effects, though subjects did report an increase in concentration, improved skin hydration and hair texture, and a decrease in allergy symptoms, joint discomfort and PMS symptoms. In addition, blood tests indicated that cholesterol, LDL, albumin and amylase all decreased significantly during the study.
Most women of reproductive age experience some degree of physical and emotional symptoms during their monthly cycle. In a 70-subject, double-blind PMS study conducted by physicians at the University of Montreal and McGill University, a dose of 2g of krill oil per day, 8 days prior and 2 days during menstruation, was found to be significantly effective at reducing all ten emotional and physical symptoms measured.
Fish oil improved just three of the ten, and none of the emotional symptoms. Specifically, krill oil succeeded in improving breast tenderness, feelings of inadequacy, stress, irritability, depression, joint discomfort and bloating, while fish oil did not. The women taking krill oil also reported improved alertness, energy and well-being, and less need for analgesics. Additionally, results were seen by the second menstrual cycle with krill oil, while the fish oil took three cycles to achieve its lesser results. What’s more, 64% of the women in the control group taking fish oil complained of unpleasant gastrointestinal reflux.10 tidylcholine (PC), and phosphatidylserine (PS). It also contains unique flavonoids and Krill oil offers the health benefits of fish oil in a smaller, more potent package.
A 3-month study of 120 men and women indicated that krill oil is significantly more effective at managing hyperlipidemia than fish oil by reducing triglycerides and LDL. Maintenance doses of 500 mg of krill oil per day were found to maintain healthy levels of glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL and HDL.
CONCLUSION
Health Concerns, in partnership with Neptune Bioresources, is making available EPAQ™ 100 percent krill oil. It is processed by a patented cold extraction technique, and regularly tested to be free of toxic heavy metals. It is the only natural EPA supplement high in phospholipids, including phospha has excellent stability. It has been proven safe and effective in an ongoing clinical testing program. We will keep readers updated on any new developments.
Krill oil offers the health benefits of fish oil in a smaller, more potent package. Because of its large therapeutic dose of 10 capsules per day, patients who take fish oil as a supplement are often not taking enough to get the health benefits they are hoping for. Others may stop taking the supplements altogether because of the indigestion commonly associated with fish oil, or because they tire of taking so many pills. With krill oil, patients see better results faster, with just 1-3 capsules a day, and without unpleasant side effects.
Health Concerns®
ENERGETIC FORMULAS
EPAQ ™ Krill Oil Supplement
60 Softgels
EPAQ
- Quickly relieves joint pain and stiffness
- Clinically proven more effective than fish oil for PMS, hyperlipidemia, and quality of life
- Has anti-inflammatory activity and assists in peak brain performance
REFERENCES
- 1. Uauy-Dagach, R., and Valenzuela, A. Nutrition Reviews. November 1996; 54: 102-108.
- 2. Connor, W.E. America Journal of Clinical Nutrition. January 2000; 71 (suppl.): 171-175.
- 3, 4. Somer, E. The Origin Diet. New York: Henry Holt & Co; 2001:47.
- 5, 6, 7, 8. Weil, A. Eating Well for Optimal Health. New York: Alfred A. Knopf; 2000: 88, 87, 78, 85.
- 9, 10. Kidd, P. Total Health. September 2003; 25(4): 48-49.