283. Should You Even Be Taking Fish Oil??
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Ryan Reynolds here for, I guess, my 100th Mint commercial. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, honestly, when I started this, I thought I'd only have to do like four of these. I mean, it's unlimited premium wireless for $15 a month. How are there still people paying two or three times that much? I'm sorry, I shouldn't be victim blaming here. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch whenever you're ready. For

$45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. See details. The information provided in this podcast episode is for entertainment purposes and is not medical advice. If you have any questions about your health, contact a medical professional. This content is strictly the opinions of Lucas Owen and is for informational and entertainment purposes only.

The references, claims and scientific information linked to any products are only applicable to those listeners who are based in the US. If you are outside the US, this information does not apply to you. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice or treatment from a personal physician. All viewers of this content are advised to consult with their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions.

Thank you for listening to the Boost Your Biology podcast. My name is Lucas Owen. I uncover the most cutting edge health information on the planet, ranging from hormones, nutrition, supplementation, fat loss, biohacking, longevity, wellness, and a whole lot more. Welcome to the Boost Your Biology podcast.

Should you be supplementing with fish oil? We'll explore why fish oil supplements may not be as beneficial to your health as you initially thought. So the first point I really want to emphasize when it comes to fish oil supplements is the ability for fish oil to become rancid. Now, this is a question that I really want you to ask yourself and actually have a look if you have any fish oil stored in your pantry or even in your fridge,

I want you to double check to make sure that it's not in fact rancid. So the research on fish oil shows extensive benefits for health, including blood pressure management, so hypertension, cardiovascular health, cognition, and neurodegenerative diseases.

However, the packaged consumer supplements vastly differ in quality. Now, fish oil is highly sensitive and susceptible to oxidation when exposed to light, heat, and oxygen, which is likely to occur during the lengthy chain of production, processing, and distribution.

Now, these rancid fish oil supplements are actually more harmful than beneficial. So it is absolutely critical to assess your product quality. Now, interestingly, a large scale study from 2023 analyzed 72 consumer fish oil supplement or omega-3 supplements sold in the US from 2014 to 2020.

They found that 68% of flavored and 13% of unflavored supplements exceeded the total oxidation values or TOTOX upper limit set by the Global Organization for EPA and DHA.

excess oxidation to be very common in stored purchase and supplements with 50% and 92% exceeding at least one of the recommended cut offs for peroxide value, and to mean value or total oxidation. So what they're demonstrating here is that there's a large percentage of fish oil supplements that actually once they're in your hands as a consumer,

They can indeed be rancid and actually be more harmful to your health than beneficial. So you're probably wondering now, how can you actually tell if your fish oil supplement is indeed rancid?

Well, number one, make sure you're checking the best before or expiration date. So do yourself a favor, you know, perhaps go have a look at the expiry date, the best before indications on the bottle, and just make sure that your you know, your product is within the, you know, expiration or best before date. Now looking at the color, darker and cloudier actually indicates rancidity. So if your fish oil capsule itself

is darker and cloudier, this can actually indicate signs of rancidity. Even with the odor, so it could be notably more fishy or foul smelling. That can be a sign that perhaps is rancid. Looking at the taste, so if there's a strong fishy flavor with really extreme burping, this can be a sign that perhaps it's rancid.

And then the storage component, this is really crucial to understand is how we actually store the fish oil. So it needs to be used or stored in a dark UV blocking glass and best kept away from sunlight.

Also looking at the compounding effects, it's best fortified with antioxidants such as vitamin E. And I'll actually share with you a biohack that actually makes your fish oil even more powerful for brain health, cardiovascular health, and also overall fitness. So I'll actually be sharing with you a golden hack that I actually applied myself

to my own biology when I was playing professional soccer. And then also looking at the environmental exposure. So noted exposure to heat or light that can also damage the fish oil and make it more rancid.

So what is actually making fish oil so popular? Well, I personally don't use fish oil supplements. I prefer to get my omega-3s from diet, specifically seafood. The plant sources of omega-3s are not as beneficial in my opinion to like seafood in general. But if we look at what's actually making fish oil so popular, it's actually

It's really touted as a compound or I guess like a superfood for lowering the risk of heart disease. There's quite a lot of research suggesting decreased risk of heart disease, reducing high blood pressure, reductions in triglycerides and cholesterol levels, improved cognitive function, reduced inflammation, improved health of skin and hair.

improved symptoms of depression, prevention of neurodegeneration, improved bone health, improved exercise performance, metabolism, and also muscle mass. So we've seen some prominent experts and health educators like Dr. Andrew Huberman and also Rhonda Patrick

from Found My Fitness. She advocates the use of fish oil supplementation and they see a lot of benefit in terms of supplementing. This is just a personal opinion and I'll get to the reasons why I don't supplement with fish oil personally. So looking at a fish oil meta-analysis review of beneficial effects in healthy individuals,

These studies here, we're looking at the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on muscle mass, muscle strength and muscle performance among the elderly. And they noted improvements in walking speed and also muscle mass and preventing muscle wastage. This next study here was titled fish oil derived N3 PUFA therapy increases muscle mass and function in healthy older adults. So they're looking at how

Omega-3s can actually support muscle growth. This next study was titled Effects of N3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation in the prevention and treatment of depressive disorders, a systematic review and meta-analysis. And they noted that there's improvements in mental health, mental health scores with a higher intake of omega-3s.

Now, with the rancid side effect, this is something that the rancid or oxidized fish oil supplements have been researched and found to have deleterious effects or at the very least reduced benefits compared to less oxidized forms.

Now, mild side effects are a fishy aftertaste, a foul breath, heartburn, indigestion, nausea, or even diarrhea. Potential implications include worsened blood lipid profiles, dangers to pregnant women and their babies, increased metabolic risks such as insulin resistance, increased risk of diabetes, and exacerbated cardiovascular disease. So these studies here, we're looking at

So they're titled high quality fish oil has a more favorable effect than oxidized fish oil on intermediate density, lipoprotein and LDL subclasses, a randomized controlled trial. This next study here was titled effective omega-3 dietary supplements with different oxidation levels in the lipidic profile of women, a randomized controlled trial. And they said that the ingestion of the lipid

Less oxidized omega-3 supplements reduced circulating triglycerides and cholesterol levels as opposed to the highly oxidized omega-3 capsules, which had a negative effect on cholesterol levels.

So isn't that ironic? We're looking at a supplement that's been touted to support cholesterol levels and improve overall metabolic health. But if you're taking an omega-3 supplement that is in fact oxidized or rancid, this can actually worsen your cholesterol parameters and your cholesterol scores. So just another reason why you wanna make sure you're checking your fish oil supplement.

This next study was looking at oxidized fish oil in rat pregnancy causes high newborn mortality and increases maternal insulin resistance. So that's obviously not a human study, but it's looking at how that can affect these female rats. So that's really important information to take note of. The next side effect is not really related to whether or not it's rancid or oxidized.

What I'm referring to here is the excessive levels of acetylcholine that builds up in your brain if you're consuming fish oil. Now, this applies to individuals who are sensitive to high levels of acetylcholine. And so this is usually an issue when they're combining fish oil supplements with like

like eating a lot of egg yolks or perhaps a lot of liver or perhaps even supplementing with choline sources such as alpha-GPC, CDP choline or choline bitartrate. Look at these anecdotal reports. Bad reaction to supplements raising acetylcholine. I started taking an omega-3 supplement in hopes to counter symptoms of brain fog, lacking motivation and overall fatigue. Turns out I reacted badly to it in a way I never would imagine.

gave me mild depersonalization and anxiety paranoia on the second day of taking the 1000 milligram dosage, but I didn't link it to the new supplement. On day nine, the buildup was too much and I got the same symptoms again, only worse. Never experienced something like this before. This next user said, what could be causing the fish oil negative then positive reaction?

So I had the fish oil to try for my mood given that I don't eat any foods that contained EPA, DHA. The balance is 360 to 300 respectively.

I take it one to 1.5 hours later, I have a huge surge in anxiety. My jaw clenches, brain fog, I feel sleepy. I also feel indifferent towards everything, no mental anxiety. I think, wait, I know this feeling, but I couldn't figure it out. Quick search, I discovered it raises acetylcholine. It's the exact same feeling that I get from nicotine. I felt Nick sick.

"I can only enjoy nicotine while drinking, no sober, "otherwise I get this reaction within about 20 seconds." This next user was describing how the omega-3s can affect anxiety and OCD. And so basically looking at how can I exacerbate symptoms of OCD, which is pretty crazy. This next person was describing

It's such a relief reading these comments. I literally took one teaspoon of cod liver oil and a couple of days later, I had the worst anxiety I've ever experienced in my life. It was mostly me.

It was mostly me all of a sudden obsessing over my kids' health and possible things that could go wrong in the future. I had the worst stomach pains and had the same feeling I used to have when I did public speaking in college. It's been over 10 days and I still feel a bit traumatized by it. I also felt depressed and that nothing in my life was going good anymore. The intrusive thoughts would not go away. It literally made me feel suicidal."

I was thinking, man, I can see why people with severe anxiety might want to escape these feelings. At first, I thought, oh, maybe it's just bad PMS, but I don't usually get anxious before my cycle. I suspect I have the MTHFR mutation, but need to do genetic tests. I also eat eggs every day and cook with flaxseed oil, so maybe too much omega-3s.

I only took it once and I still feel the lingering anxiety at times and it's been a week or more. Hopefully I feel back to myself by the end of the month. This next person said, hello, just wondering if others felt depressed after fish oil as I was. I had taken a smaller dose and started feeling depressed. I never thought it might be the supplement as it's so good for you in other ways. Then I bought a higher dosage omega-3 and it literally felt an absolute

and literally felt sullen and suicidal. I felt like it was holding me back and I needed to call a suicide hotline. Then I started suspecting the fish oil omega-3. I don't ever want to feel like that again, just wondering, could this be true? What I really wanna outline is the fact that yes, it's possible to get excess acetylcholine if you're supplementing with omega-3s, combining it with

CDP, choline or alpha GPC, other supplements. If you're combining them all and eating a lot of eggs and other choline rich foods, yes, you can experience excessive acetylcholine and that's not a nice place to be. So now let's look at how to actually properly store fish oil supplements. Now, fish oil is a supplement that is always best consumed before the expiration date, which is typically in 90 days of opening. So after 90 days of opening the actual bottle.

Now to reduce the progression of the inevitable oxidation process, you should store the bottle below room temperature, preferably in the refrigerator, in a dark glass bottle and completely out of light exposure. So this is important to understand. We wanna be avoiding storing these fish oil products around light environments.

Furthermore, always validate the brand and quality of fish oil supplement that you are purchasing and taking. It is best to assess peroxide value, parrot and synodine value and total oxidation values found in your supplement and compare it to the upper limits set by the Global Organization for EPA and DHA. So the GOED organization.

The final biohack I really want to share here is actually combining your fish oil supplement with a compound known as astaxanthin. So if you combine astaxanthin alongside your fish oil, this can actually protect it from the oxidization or the oxidation that can occur. In addition, astaxanthin potentiates the beneficial effects of the EPA and DHA. And so it actually...

it's very unlikely that we're seeing oxidation when we're combining these EPA with EPA, DHA and astaxanthin.

Consider adding in astaxanthin if you're susceptible to the DHT blocking effects, then maybe you might wanna avoid astaxanthin because it can lower DHT quite potently, but it definitely has endurance enhancing effects and it can make you feel more energized. So that wraps up today's podcast. If you did find this episode helpful, please consider leaving a review. Thank you very much for tuning in. I look forward to seeing you in the next podcast. To everyone else, this is a task, but to you,

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