Omega-3 Fats and Longevity

I’ve written about the many health benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids before. In addition to their positive effects on cardiovascular health, reducing inflammation, and helping depression and mood disorders, research now indicates that being deficient in them actually shortens your life span.

Testing of what’s called the Omega-3 index measures the amount of EPA and DHA (the major Omega-3 fatty acids) in the walls of your blood cells. An ideal Omega-3 index is considered to be about 8%.

90% of Americans fall short of that ideal target, with the national average being about 5%. By comparison, the average in Japan is approximately 10%, presumably due to their high intake of fish.

Recent statistical analysis shows that for all-cause mortality, people with an Omega-3 index in the ideal range of 8% have a 5 year increased life expectancy as compared to those with an index of 4%.

Most likely this increase in life expectancy is related to the cardiovascular benefits of Omega-3, but there’s also neuro-protective effects (healthy fats are extremely important to neurological physiology and in protecting the brain and nerve structures) that come into play as well.

Smoking is usually considered one of the most damaging lifestyle habits you can have. But Omega-3 deficiency might be just as bad. One recent study found that smokers who had high Omega-3 indexes (8% or higher) had the same mortality rates as non-smokers with low Omega-3 indexes (4% or lower).

Going back to the Japanese for a moment, the damaging effects of mercury toxicity from seafood consumption have been highly publicized. Given their high intake of fish, particularly tuna and other fatty species that tend to be on the higher end of the mercury contamination scale, one might expect the Japanese to have significant problems with the ill-effects of mercury.

But it appears that the high Omega-3 intake is largely protective against mercury toxicity. It probably also helps that the Japanese also consume a fair amount of seaweed, which pulls heavy metals out of the body, but even considering that, the protection from Omega-3 appears to be substantial.

You can consume too much Omega-3, but most people are much more likely to be deficient than consuming an excess.

For ongoing daily consumption, I suggest a total intake of approximately 1000 mg of EPA per day. This can be easily achieved by eating fish like salmon or tuna, but that may not be practical for most people on a daily basis. Other foods, such as grass-fed meats and dairy, free-range poultry and eggs, as well as vegetarian sources such as seeds and nuts (which contain fatty acids that the body can convert to EPA and DHA) contain some Omega-3 as well, so although supplementation is generally advisable, how much supplementation you need will vary depending on your diet.

If you’re not eating a serving of cold water fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines, etc.) at least twice per week, daily supplementation is strongly recommended.

Most Omega-3 supplements are made from fish oil, which contains both EPA and DHA. Note again that the recommendation is for 1000 mg per day of EPA, and that’s different from 1000 mg of fish oil, which is a common supplement pill size. Most fish oil supplements are approximately 20% EPA, so you would need five 1000 mg doses of fish oil to get close to 1000 mg of EPA. But you may not need that much if you eat a relatively healthy diet, especially if you eat grass-fed meats and dairy and free-range poultry and/or eggs on a daily basis. The more-common grain-fed meats, dairy, poultry, etc. do contain Omega-3 fats as well, but in a lower percentage of total fat, and therefore grass-fed and free-range is preferable.

There are charts available online that give the EPA content of various foods if you want to actually calculate your typical dietary intake of Omega-3 and base your supplementation on how far below the mark your diet falls.

For a basic guideline, I suggest supplementing with at least 1000 mg EPA (which again, would be about 5 times more than the amount of fish oil in a supplement) if your diet is mostly carbs and processed foods, and 500 to 600 mg of EPA (about three 1000 mg fish oil supplements) per day if you have a “decent” diet that includes at least a couple of daily servings of good quality meats, dairy, and/or eggs.

Until next time…

George F. Best, D.C.