If you've been following my advice for a while, you should know that I'm a big believer in the benefits of fish oil. Supplementing with fish oil just got a lot easier. Way better omega-3 amounts, way fewer pills to swallow and—get this—less expensive...How? Omega JYM.
Omega JYM Ingredient Breakdown
Chances are, your diet is lacking in omega-3 fatty acids. Here's the lowdown on these essential fats and why, when it comes to omega-3s, Omega JYM is the best choice.
Fish Oil is a Must-Have for Overall Health
If there's one supplement that I recommend for everyone and anyone to take, it's fish oil.
And I do mean everyone—your grandmother, your father, your sister, your nephew, and even your kids. Fish oil provides far too many health benefits to miss out on. The major components in fish oil that provide all the benefits are essential fats known as omega-3 fats.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids are Essential in More Ways than One
Don't be confused about what type of fatty acid supplement to take. Between omega-3s, omega-6s and even omega-9s, the choice is clear.
One question I've fielded a lot over the last few years is whether it's better to take a straight-up omega-3 supplement, such as fish oil, or an omega-3-6-9 supplement. After all, it would seem to make sense that getting a variety of healthy and essential fats in one supplement is better than one that's limited to just a single type of fat.
As you can probably imagine from my fish oil product Omega JYM I prefer to stick with just an omega-3 supplement. Let me explain why.
“Essential” means that our body cannot produce these fats on its own and must get them from our diet. The two types of omega-3 fats in fish oil are known as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). DHA is thought to be the real MVP here, providing the majority of benefits of these omega-3 fats.
Fish Oil for Fat Loss
In fact, EPA gets readily converted into DHA in the body. DHA then does its magic, such as producing healthy inflammation response hormones. However, new research is now showing that both DHA and EPA work to turn on beneficial genes.
A recent study from the National Taiwan University using transgenic mice expressing porcine PPARG, found that the omega-3 fats from fish oil turned on genes that may help regulate fat burning in mammals, while turning off genes that led to fat storage.
In addition, they found that these fats also turned on genes that aided in glucose uptake and storage in the muscles of these particular mice.
Omega-3s May Support Brain Health*
While the brain supporting benefits of the omega-3's were thought to work mainly by reducing the degeneration of the brain with excessive age, new research shows benefits to those in middle age.
University of Pittsburgh researchers recently reported that in adults aged 35-54, the higher their blood levels of DHA, the better their performance on tests of nonverbal reasoning and mental flexibility, working memory, and vocabulary. These same researchers found in an earlier study that young adults consuming the highest amounts of omega-3 fats had greater volume in healthy areas of the brain.
Added Benefits of Taking Omega-3s
Strangely enough, the omega-3 fats may even benefit your oral health.Japanese researchers followed 55 people over the course of five years and discovered that the average number of dental disease events was 1.5 times higher in those with the lowest intake of the DHA.
The researchers suggested that while they don't know exactly why the intake of omega-3 was associated with lower dental disease, but that it is likely due to the anti-inflammatory effect of the omega-3 fats.
If that weren't strange enough, the anti-inflammatory benefits of the omega-3's may also lead to better sperm quality. Iranian researchers found that fertile men had significantly higher blood and sperm levels of omega-3's than infertile men.
Fish Oil May Support Muscle in Older People
While all this discussion on the health benefits of fish oil is important, I know the main reason you follow my advice is to get bigger, stronger and leaner. And yes, fish oil may possibly help you there, too.
As I already discussed above, in rodent models, we observed that the omega-3 fats from fish oil can turn on genes that increase fat burning, while turning off genes that increase fat storage..
Another single study found that not only did supplementing with fish oil aid in fat mass loss, but it simultaneously fat-free mass.
Researchers from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, found that subjects taking 4 grams of fish oil per day (1600mg of EPA, 800mg DHA) for six weeks lost 1 pound of fat mass, while simultaneously gaining 1 pound of fat-free mass, despite not changing their diet and not engaging in systematic exercise. This may not seem like huge changes, but imagine if they were following a proper diet and exercise program like you are.
Although the researchers weren’t sure why the subjects gained fat-free mass with fish oil supplements, they did find lower cortisol levels with the fish oil group. Since cortisol can break down muscle and interfere with testosterone, this could lead to greater muscle growth.
Now there is some research to suggest that fish oil may help to support lean mass.*
Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis gave healthy men and women aged 25-45 years old either 4 grams of fish oil or corn oil every day for 8 weeks.
They reported in a 2011 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that older adults (>65 in age) receiving fish oil supplement experienced a an in muscle protein synthesis—the process of building up muscle protein from amino acids—when they ate protein and carbs when compared to placebo.
Omega-3s May Improve Healthy Lung Function
Another way that fish oil may help you is through its ability to help you train harder for longer.
One study, by Iranian researchers, reported that male wrestlers supplementing with fish oil for 12 weeks while training experienced a statistically significant improvement in lung function and capacity. The better the lungs work and the more air they can take in, the greater the oxygen delivery to your muscles. This could allow for better endurance and recovery between sets, potentially leading to better results in the gym.
Speaking of endurance, another way that fish oil may boost it, is by increasing levels of nitric oxide (NO).
NO widens blood vessels, which allows more oxygen and nutrients to get to your muscles.
Additionally, all that extra glycogen that gets stored in your muscles makes for bigger, fuller muscles. That's because glycogen pulls water into the muscles, filing them up much like a water balloon. That places a stretch on the membranes of the muscle cells
References
Do You Need Omega-6 and Omega-9? Yes—But Not from Supplements
Clearly the omega-3 fatty acids are without a doubt the most critical of the omega fatty acids. The fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are the two omega-3 fats that provide all the health benefits of the omega-3s.
Like omega-3s, omega-6 fats are essential in the diet, and they provide numerous health benefits. However, because omega-6 fats are commonly found in vegetable oils, they're rarely a fat that Americans are deficient in.
Like the omega-3 and omega-6 fats, the omega-9 fats may also provide health benefits—. But unlike omega-3 and omega-6, the omega-9s are not essential fats. This means your body can produce omega-9 fatty acids on its own.
Plus, omega-9 fats are found in olive oil and mustard seed. So, if you use olive oil in your diet—and you should—you're likely getting adequate amounts of omega-9 fats.
My advice is to skip the omega-9 supplements and focus on supplementing with an omega-3 supplement like fish oil. In addition, use olive oil on a regular basis for cooking and in salad dressings. If you do this, you'll be getting in a proper ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats and getting in adequate amounts of omega-9. Plus, you'll be getting all the benefits that come with these fats.
Your best bet is to go with a straight-up omega-3 supplement, such as fish oil capsules. That way you're getting ample amounts of the omega-3 fats. Omega-3-6-9 supplements have only 10%-20% the amount of omega-3 fats as fish oil supplements.
Down to Details – How Much Omega-3s Do You Need?
Obviously, I recommend using Omega JYM as your fish oil supplement of choice. Two servings per day give you 1,500 mg of DHA and 1,500 mg of EPA. Yet before Omega JYM was released, no other fish oil product contained these amounts in a daily amount. In fact, I used to have to take 10+ fish oil capsules a day to reach these levels of DHA and EPA. With Omega JYM, it only takes four capsules.
Fish oil supplementation appears to support health brain and heart function. As I’ve said, these benefits are due to the omega-3 fats found naturally in fish oil: DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid)—as well as DPA (docosapentaenoic acid).
I cover DPA below and explain why it’s important to use a fish oil product that includes it—like my Omega JYM fish oil, which provides about 300 mg of DPA per day. Here I’ll focus mainly on DHA and EPA, which play the most critical role in health.
DHA and EPA Dosing – Are You Getting Enough from Your Fish Oil?
It used to be that fish oil recommendations were based on the total amount of fish oil. In the past, I simply recommended taking 2-3 grams of fish oil with meals two to three times a day—for a daily total of 4-9 grams of fish oil. However, the research on fish oil and omega-3 fats over the last few years now allows us to make more specific recommendations.
Two studies in both males and females—young and old—suggest that supplemental fish oil may support muscle protein synthesis. This may lead to greater gains in fat free mass.*
it appears that DHA and EPA may play a direct role in activating enzymes involved in catalyzing the reactions that result in increased muscle protein synthesis.*
This is precisely why Omega JYM provides 1,500mg each of DHA and EPA in just four capsules. That’s 375mg of DHA, and another 375mg of EPA in every capsule. Omega JYM is currently the only fish oil that delivers that much DHA in one serving.
Many fish oil and other omega-3 supplements don’t even list the amount of DHA and EPA in the product. That’s right—even fish oil supplements can be proprietary blends! And the fish oil products that do list the amounts of DHA and EPA typically provide such a small amount of DHA per capsule that you have to choke down more than 10 a day to reach 1,500 mg.
Not only is that a lot of capsules to take, but it’s also a lot of extra fat to consume just to get sufficient DHA and EPA. Plus, if you have to take 10 or more capsules per day, you’ll be going through so many bottles of fish oil that it will become cost prohibitive to get sufficient DHA and EPA amounts.
Highlighting DHA
Add one more crucial health benefit of omega-3 fatty acids to the growing list: minimizing the harmful effects that fructose has on the brain.
I've long discussed minimizing fructose intake—particularly after workouts—especially for those trying to maximize fat loss. Why? Because while fructose is a sugar, its structure is one that can't be used by the body—the liver must first convert fructose into a usable sugar form.
So fructose offers little in the way of post-workout glycogen recovery. Plus, it's quite easy for the liver to turn fructose into fat instead of sugar. The fructose that does make it into the cells of the body such as muscle cells and nerve cells essentially "gunks" things up and interferes with the cells' normal functions. In my opinion, fructose is the trans fats of the carbohydrate family.
That's right: Fructose—be it from processed high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in soda or naturally occurring fructose in fruit—is harmful to the body.
New research suggests that fructose negatively alters genes in the brain. Previous research has suggested that fructose destroys communication between nerve cells in the brain. And a long-term high-fructose diet has been shown to diminish the brain’s ability to learn and remember information.
In a recent study to test the effects of fructose on the body, UCLA researchers trained rats to complete a maze. The rats were then divided into three separate groups. For six weeks, one group drank plain water with their food; a second group drank water with fructose—an amount equivalent to a human drinking a liter of soda a day. A third group drank water that contained the same amount of fructose as the second group—but their diet was rich in the omega-3 fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).
After six weeks, the researchers had the rats run the maze again. It took the rats consuming fructose in their water twice as long to complete the maze as it took the rats drinking plain water. This suggests that the fructose impaired the rats' memory.
The rats drinking fructose water plus a DHA-rich diet had times similar to the plain water group. This suggests that the DHA prevented the impairment in memory that the fructose caused.
The rats consuming the fructose water also had higher blood levels of glucose, triglycerides, and insulin compared to the rats drinking plain water. Yet the rats getting DHA in their diets did not experience these negative changes—despite consuming the same amount of fructose.
This suggests that DHA helped prevent the negative changes in metabolism that fructose instigated, which could lead to the development of diseases like obesity and diabetes.
The researchers also examined gene activity in the rats' brains. They discovered that the fructose negatively impacted over 900 genes, the majority of which are comparable to genes in humans and are among those that regulate metabolism, cell communication, and inflammation.
Alterations to those genes could lead to serious health issues. However, the rats consuming the DHA-rich diet had none of these negative gene alterations.
This evidence suggests that fructose negatively alters genes by altering the nucleotide cytosine. This basically turns genes "on" or "off." DHA is also directly influence genes, but in a positive manner. It appears that DHA prevents the negative changes that fructose makes to those genes.
Be sure to get ample omega-3 fats in your diet—particularly DHA—to offset any negative changes from fructose in your diet. The best way to ensure you're getting adequate DHA is to use Omega JYM fish oil—as I’ve said, it's the only fish oil supplement on the market that provides 1,500 mg of DHA..
Omega JYM is also the only fish oil product that also supplies 300 mg of DPA (docosapentaenoic acid). This somewhat newly discovered omega-3 appears to be very critical to the benefits that the omega-3 fats provide.
References
Reinders I et al. Association of serum n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids with C-reactive protein in men. Eur J Clin Nutr. 1–6.
Akiba S et al.. Biol Pharm Bull. 2000; 23(11):1293-7.
Kanayasu-Toyoda T, Morita I, Murota S. Docosapentaenoic acid (22:5, n-3), an elongation metabolite of eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5, n-3), is a potent stimulator of endothelial cell migration on pretreatment in vitro. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 1996; 54(5):319-325.
Kaur G et al. Short-term docosapentaenoic acid (22:5n-3) supplementation increases tissue docosapentaenoic acid, DHA and EPA concentrations in rats. Br J Nutr. 2010; 103(1):32-37.
Lim SN et al.. Neurobiol Dis. 2013; 51:104–112.
Mozaffarian D et al. Plasma phospholipid long-chain omega-3 fatty acids and total and cause-specific mortality in older adults. Ann Intern Med. 2013; 158:515-525.
Norris PC and Dennis EA. Omega-3 fatty acids cause dramatic changes in TLR4 and purinergic eicosanoid signaling. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2012; 29,109(22):8517-22.
Smith, G.I., et al. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids augment the muscle protein anabolic response to hyperinsulinaemia-hyperaminoacidaemia in healthy young and middle-aged men and women. Clinical Science 121(6):267-278, 2011.
Liu, Y., et al. Fish oil increases muscle protein mass and modulates Akt/FOXO, TLR4, and NOD signaling in weanling piglets after lipopolysaccharide challenge. J Nutr 143(8):1331-9, 2013.
Kamolrat, T., et al. Fish oil positively regulates anabolic signalling alongside an increase in whole-body gluconeogenesis in ageing skeletal muscle. Eur J Nutr 52(2):647-57, 2013.
DPA – The Missing Piece to the Omega-3 Puzzle
By now you are familiar with omega-3 fats and their health benefits.
Now it appears that DPA may be the one most important for supporting heart health. In other words: it’s not enough to just get adequate amounts of DHA and EPA. You need sufficient amount of all three major omega-3 fats, DPA included.
Although scientists have been well aware of DPA for some time, no one could confirm its major role. Now, new research is uncovering just how important this third omega-3 fat is.
DPA is an elongated form of EPA. The latest science suggests that it plays an important role in supporting cardiovascular and brain health.
Although some of the EPA you consume will be converted into DPA, the conversion can be inhibited by many factors. Plus, some research suggests that even in optimal conditions, a good amount of EPA is lost during the conversion to DPA. This means to help ensure you're getting adequate amounts of DPA is to supplement it.
The fish oil you choose should not only provide DPA, but a sufficient amount of it. At this time, I recommend 200mg-300mg of DPA per day. Just one problem—very few fish oil/omega-3 supplements will tell you whether they contain DPA, let alone specify how much of this important omega-3 fat is in the product.
But that all changes with my Omega JYM fish oil supplement. Omega JYM provides 75mg of DPA per capsule, which means the suggested four-capsule daily amount of Omega JYM delivers 300mg of DPA in addition to 1,500 mg of DHA and 1,500 mg of EPA in two recommended serving per day. No other fish oil product delivers that much of all three critical omega-3 fats per serving.
Omega JYM – The Best Choice for Omega-3
With so many fish oil supplements on the market today, it’s hard to know just where to turn. Hopefully by now you realize that not all fish oil supplements are created equal—you not only need the right ingredients, but to avoid the wrong ones—and get the ones you want in the right amounts. With three critical omega-3 fatty acids—DHA, EPA, and DPA—provided at 1,500mg, 1,500mg, and 300mg per 2 servings respectively—when it comes to choosing the best omega-3 supplement to help promote and maintain heart health, and brain function*—and possibly even physique and athletic enhancement*—the choice is pretty simple: Omega JYM.
