There is no doubt that omega-3 is an effective tool in keeping you healthy. There have been countless studies about its benefits, and Dr. Martin shares 5 new studies that came out in the last week!
He also shares 3 ways to increase your omega-3 intake. Although supplementation is effective, Dr. Martin reminds listeners that he wants you to eat your vitamins!
Listen to today’s episode to learn more reasons why you need omega-3, and especially DHA!
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
Announcer: You're listening to The Doctor Is In Podcast, brought to you by MartinClinic.com. During the episode, the doctors share a lot of information. As awesome as the info may be, it is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease. It's strictly for informational purposes.
Dr. Martin: Good morning, everyone, and once again hope you're having a great start to your day. We sure enjoy meeting with you, folks, in the morning. I got to bring to you, I think there's 5 different studies that came out in the last week. It's almost like they were reading my mind, talking about DHA omega-3. Let me give you one of them. Higher levels of omega-3... So you can actually have your cellular level of omega-3 measured. It's not a routine test; should be. When all we know about what omega-3 does to you, should be routine testing. It's like vitamin D, because this test talked about life expectancy. If your levels of omega-3 are higher than normal, your life expectancy, they're adding five years to your life. Studies like this have been done with vitamin D and it's the same. The higher your levels of vitamin D, the better off you are.
Now, in terms of life expectancy, I'm more interested in, one, your quality of life. I don't want to be 95 years old and I can't move or my mind's not working. So when I see a study on life expectancy, I'll read it, but generally what it means is that you can't go wrong by elevating your levels of omega-3. This, again, like I said, has been proven with vitamin D. So when people tell me they want to live till 110, well, good for you. I would rather be healthy and three score and ten, and if by grace, another 10... And, look, I mean, if you're healthy and you're 85, good for you. Okay, good for you and I mean that. I'm not so interested in life expectancy as quality of life, and here at the clinic, we do everything we can to inform people how to be as healthy as they can be.
One of the tools to keep you healthy, there is no doubt about it, is omega-3. Now, again, let me differentiate. Omega-3 is fantastic. You get omega-3 in the animal kingdom. You get omega-3 in the plant kingdom. You can eat eggs that have good levels of omega-3 in it. All omega-3 is good. When it is in the plant kingdom, mostly it will be ALA. So there's really four. Okay, so let me just teach this to you so that you'd have it in your mind, okay? Generally, plants like flaxseeds; seeds, hemp seeds; and your nuts, your seeds, there's omega-3 in there. Generally, it is in the form of ALA. What does that mean? Well, they're short-chain fatty acids. Are they good? They're very good and you guys know what I think about flaxseed in particular, and it's not the omega-3 in it. As a matter of fact, I don't recommend flax oil. I recommend the seeds because they have a high, high levels of what we call lignans, and lignans block estrogen, extra estrogen. They're famous for it and they're really only found in flaxseeds. Flaxseeds have a hundred times more lignans than any other seed that you can think of. This is why I recommend it and it's why I even allow it on The Reset. I don't allow any plants at all for 30 days. Why do I do that? Well, there's a lot of reasons, okay? Lots of reasons, and I mean it. They're good reasons. But I allow flaxseed because I really want to get that estrogen down. I like that. Okay?
So, in the plant kingdom, your seeds, your nuts, you get generally a small chain fatty acid, ALA, okay? In the animal kingdom, you have two groups. One is dairy, and remember, if you haven't heard this one, you can get it on our podcast. Look for the podcast, Don't Ditch Dairy. Don't ditch dairy, switch dairy. I think that's a book don't you? Don't ditch dairy. People want to ditch dairy. I tell people don't ditch dairy, switch dairy. There's a reason that you don't want to ditch dairy because of CLA. So you have ALA, now you have CLA.
What's CLA? Conjugated linoleic acid. Now, what is that? It's a longer chain than the ALA; the longer, the better. Why? Because your body can absorb it better and that's why I don't want you to ditch dairy. You need CLA and CLA is actually good for a lot of things. It's very good for weight loss in terms of a good, healthy oil that is in dairy. It's a longer chain fatty acid. Don't ditch dairy, switch dairy. Get rid of milk. You know me, I don't like milk unless you have a cow in the backyard. Get rid of it. You know what? You can't make me like it. I'm not big on almond milk. I don't like that stuff. You don't see a farmer out milking the almonds, do you? I don't like that, I'm not big on it. Now, you get coconut, real coconut milk in a can. Yeah, okay. I'm not big on plant drinks, okay? I'm not big on it. So don't ditch dairy, switch dairy.
Now, the third one is DHA and EPA. Where do you find that? In the animal kingdom; in meat, fish. That's where you find EPA and DHA, okay? And why are they so good? Because they are the longest chain fatty acids, and your body loves that stuff. The longer it is, the better it is, and EPA, excellent and the king of the castle. The one that your body adores is DHA. It's the longest chain fatty acid. It is on the throne. It is the king of the castle. Your brain actually is made up... When you look at brain, when you look at a brain, your brain is actually made up of about 20% of it, is actually made up of that DHA. There's nothing in an oil that is better than DHA and I've taught that to you. The studies are confirming. Like I said, I flagged five of them. All omega-3s are good, all of them. Do you need omega-6? Omega-6 is found in the peanut oils and this and that. Are they good? You got to be careful because those are vegetable oils generally and our ratio between omega-3 and omega-6 is so out of whack, so out of whack, that it creates inflammation in the body. A silent thing. You don't see it. You don't feel it necessarily, but your body is responding to that imbalance between omega-6.
So in the plants, and especially bad seed oils, what we call seed oils, the canola oils and the soy oils and all this and that, those are found in your middle aisles of your grocery stores. They're crappy, crappy oils. You go to McDonald's, you go to fast food chains, and you get your chicken nuggets and your fries. What are they cooked in? Omega-6, bad oil, and especially those oils become rancid because they re-cook them. You can run your car on those oil, guys. They're highly synthetic and they use names like canola. Oh, canola, must be good. Eeh, no, you can run your car on that. If you want to run your body properly, you need omega-3. You need omega-3, and the worst oil of all oils is soy oil. It's highly, highly processed so try and avoid that. If you're going to cook, cook with butter, cook with olive oil... I like olive oil... lard. Okay?
So the DHA, one study showed, you want to increase your lifespan then get your omega-3 levels up. You can always ask your doctor to test them or pay a private lab to do it. But I take so much oil, guys, I slide out of rooms. I am well-lubricated with DHA. People ask me if I like fish. I wish I liked fish, but I take it every day in a capsule. I'm just not a big fish eater. Now, I'm a big steak eater. See, when the cows eat grass, and a lot of people got this upside down. Ladies, you're not supposed to eat grass, okay? Salad is glorified grass, but cows eat salad all day long. You ever seen a cow out in the field? What are they doing? They're chewing, mulching, regurgitating grass, but they got four stomachs. But that grass that they eat turns their meat into omega-3. I mean, it gives you protein, gives you all the other things, gives you B12, gives you that. But them eating grass, a cow eating grass is making omega-3, and especially the longest chain fatty acid, DHA.
Now, fish do that too. If you love your fish, it is so good for you because of the oil in it. Of course, protein and all that. But the oil, you need lubrication. I don't know anything about my car. Nothing. If I didn't have a key, I wouldn't know how to start it. I know where to put the gas in and I know that I got to get my oil changed every whatever it is. That's all I know. I don't know anything else, but you better change the oil. I have a motorcycle. You know what it tells me? Change the oil. A motorcycle mechanic, "Change your oil. Every couple of thousand miles, change your oil." Okay. I don't ask why. I just trust them. They're a mechanic. They know how that motorcycle works. Oh, it's a small engine, better change that oil. You got a car, change the oil. Guys, you need DHA. You better change that oil. Top it up. Don't get low on oil, the good stuff.
So when a cow eats grass, they're making oil for you, when you eat their meat. Again, I hate to pick on my vegan and vegetarian friends, okay? I love you. I do. You have to know me. I love you, but you're wrong. You can't get that oil. So if you insist on eating strictly from the vegetable kingdom, nuts and seeds, they're good, you're missing out on what your brain needs, what your heart needs. As I go through some of these studies, I hope you understand that. So, that, guys, is teaching on your oils, okay? You change an oil and they ask you, "What kind of oil do you want in your car?" I said, "Well, what does the manufacturer want? I don't know." What is the manufacturer who made that car, what are they recommending? "Oh, okay." Yeah, I mean don't ask me, I don't know. But if you want to know what kind of oil your body wants and your body needs, the manufacturer put it in nature so that you eat your oil, okay? You eat your oil. You better get it.
Now, listen to these other studies. The first one is higher levels of omega-3 increase your life expectancy by five years. Okay. Not too many things can give you an increase in your life expectancy. That is significant. Thousands of people measured their omega-3, watched them for years, and then they came to these conclusions. Well, that's good. I like that. Obviously, it's anti-aging. Here's another one. Tufts University says that, in pregnancy, lot less complications when taking high DHA oil. So they got very specific. It was high DHA and babies. I used to tell my ladies that were pregnant, "What do you suggest, doc?" Well, look, you got to do your prenatals and all that. I understand all that. Vitamins, yup, absolutely, absolutely. But if I was you, probiotics. Probiotics are essential during pregnancy. Vitamin D is essential during pregnancy and DHA because you want... Remember what I said earlier. Your brain is made up of DHA. Baby's brain is made up of DHA. They need that fat. They need that oil, and I'm big on that. Mommy takes DHA, and Tufts University agrees. Less problems, less pregnancy problems, smarter baby, okay?
Here's another one, in migraine headaches. Here's what I found over the years in migraines, but I'll talk to you about this study in a second. Here's what I found deficiency, because I used to look at, clinically, when they came in to the office I would do all these tests. Here's what they found they were low with. Well, first of all, they were very high usually in estrogen. If a woman was getting migraines, estrogen. Usually, without them knowing it, they were dehydrated. Not enough salt and not enough electrolytes, not enough water. There were low. Most. Low in magnesium. Remember, magnesium, relax. Relaxes the blood vessels. They were very low in nitric oxide, very low in nitric oxide. Nitric oxide opens up your blood vessels. It's an explosion in your blood vessels, and a lot of them were constricted. They didn't have enough nitric oxide. One of the biggest factors in nitric oxide is B12. Where do you get B12, guys? The same place you get DHA, in steak, Vitamin S. Very, very, very, very important.
So this study is showing that migraines really respond to high DHA oil, getting that fat up into the brain. By the way, the study also showed, especially in combination with curcumin, okay? So you know what curcumin is, that's that Indian spice, and curcumin is an extract of turmeric and turmeric is wonderful. Problem with turmeric is you don't absorb it very well. Curcumin, especially the high potency curcumin, is what you absorb better. But, anyway, they put the two together and they showed that migraine sufferers do really well with that, okay?
Here's another study, came out again this week. Now, they've done this in the past, but now another study confirming. What they did is they did a study and they put up DHA, high DHA, against Prozac. Prozac is an antidepressant; Zoloft, antidepressants, SSRIs, whole class of medication, Prozac being a huge seller. They put up high DHA and they put up Prozac, and they compare the results. They were very comparable, almost identical, in terms of bringing a person out of depression. Of course, with the high DHA, guess what? The headline was with no side effects. Now, you're not likely, unless you are really scouring the internet, you're not going to see that because nobody's got a patent on the DHA, when you can eat it, okay? When you can eat it. It helps in depression.
Listen to this one, I like this. High DHA study, again, three things: it decreases insulin resistance. It decreases blood pressure. This is a major study guys, BP, blood pressure, oil, put oil. Not only in your joints, not only in your skin, put it inside your blood. Put it inside your cells. Put that good oil, and you are going to lower your insulin resistance. Now, you'll never out-supplement a bad diet. So you just can't take high DHA and then eat all the crappy carbs you feel like and sugar, and expect to get results. I just got to tell you that. You are not going to out-supplement a bad diet. You know me, I'm food first. Even with DHA, I want you to eat your omega-3. I supplement because I don't eat enough fish. I want DHA because, guys, I want to lubricate that brain. I love my brain, guys, and never mind what DHA does for your eyeballs and your skin and all that.
But this study is showing... This is metabolic syndrome, guys... it lowers your insulin resistance. It helps. Remember what I told you about insulin resistance? Your cells at the cell wall, insulin out-does its welcome. It's always around because we're eating crappy carbs and your cells, they develop a resistance to it. They can't stand that bad neighbor. But insulin will come around and come around depending on what you eat, but it helps. It helps insulin resistance. It helps to lower blood pressure. It lubricates the inside of those blood vessels, guys. You want your blood vessels to be very slippery, don't you? I think there was a song, "Slip sliding away." You want to slip slide inside your blood vessels, guys. Oil.
Here's another one. This is really important too. The third thing they saw in this study, so lowered insulin resistance, it helped at the cellular level. Helped to get less resistance to the insulin so you need less insulin. That's really important because what does insulin do? It creates inflammation if it's a bad neighbor. And two, blood pressure. Three, it elevates so high, DHA oil elevates cholesterol, HDL. So when you send me blood work, don't get insulted. Don't take it personally. If I don't comment on your total cholesterol, your HDL and your LDL and this and that and the other thing, I don't care. You can't make me care. I'm looking at two numbers. I want to know what your triglycerides are. Those are bad lipids. Those are bad, bad boys. Triglycerides, three fat balls, those are terrible, terrible blood-coagulating, clot-forming triglycerides. You, guys, should be able to do a teaching on this. That you understand that the higher your HDL is, the more wagons that you have running around in your bloodstream that are going to hook themselves to bad fats, which are called triglycerides.
Please, two things you need to remember in blood work when it comes to your lipids. Triglycerides come out of the liver when your liver's parking lot is full of carbohydrates, sugars. Bad fat inside your bloodstream confirms sugars and carbs, not from fat. Fats don't go into your blood as fats. They go into your blood as oils. Different. Lubrication. So you want high HDL, guys. You want high. You want it higher than your triglycerides. Some people like a one-to-one ratio. I like a two-to-one ratio. But if it's higher, if your HDL is higher than your triglycerides, you're in good shape. That's a good sign. Most people are upside down. It's part of metabolic syndrome. But high DHA oil helps to elevate your HDL. Now, EPA, I like EPA, too, EPA helps to lower your triglycerides. So does DHA. But DHA specifically elevates your good... I hate the word good cholesterol because all cholesterol is good, but you know what I mean. What they call the high density lipoprotein. You want that to go up, guys.
Okay. Ain't that exciting? Good studies, my word. Put oil. Put the good oil guys, it's important. It really is. Okay, tomorrow, Question and Answer Friday so send me those questions, okay? Send me the questions. If you want me to pontificate tomorrow, you've got to send in your questions. The private Facebook Group, thank you, thank you, thank you. What a great group. Keep it up. We love it. Post, guys, don't be shy. Post. Post some recipes if you want. Ask questions if you want. A lot of times, I see them, but I don't even have to answer. You guys did. I like that, okay? Again, The Reset, the book, numero uno seller in the healthcare field. What a great blessing that has been, that we just appreciate that. Tony Jr. and I, we thank you for that, okay? Okay. We love you guys and we'll talk to you soon.
Announcer: You've reached the end of another Doctor Is In Podcast, with your hosts, Doctor Martin Junior and Senior. Be sure to catch our next episode and thanks for listening!