Some years ago we ran an article series in Ironmag called “Supplements worth your money”, and since there seems to be a lot of confusion on this subject, I thought I’ll revamp the series with some blog posts.

Fish oil, or Omega-3 capsules, ranks at the top of my must have supplement list. Since the late 1990s when large clinical trials were published supporting the cardiovascular benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, fish oil has been one of the most sought after supplements. If you do a search for fish oil supplementation at PubMed, you’ll get more than 1800 studies, and that number is steadily increasing. Besides its cardiovascular benefits, fish oil has shown to reduce risk of and/or treat psychiatric disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and aggression/hostility. And as little as three or more servings of fish/week or one fish oil capsule has been associated with 50% decreased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. However, for us gym-goers, the really interesting pieces are the metabolic and anti-inflammatory properties of fish oil.

Fish oil and the metabolic rate
A study by E.E. Noreen showed that 3g a day of concentrated fish oil supplying about 900 mg EPA and 600 mg DHA increased resting metabolic rate by 199 kcal to 488 kcal a day after 28 days of supplementation. That’s a huge metabolic boost!
Also, fish oil increases the levels of fat burning enzymes and decreases the levels of fat-storage enzymes. And if that’s not enough, omega-3 fatty acids allow the body to burn fat at times when fat burning is normally inhibited by insulin release, like after a carbohydrate meal.

Omega-3 and inflammation
Inflammation is associated to a host of human conditions such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, joint pain, obesity and even neuropsychiatric conditions (as mentioned earlier). The biggest contributor to inflammation is a diet high in trans- and saturated fats and by an excess of dietary sugars. In addition, an over consumption of omega-6 fatty acids (such as corn, safflower, sunflower and soybean oils) has been shown to promote inflammation.
Now, on a cellular level, inflammation is mediated through eicosanoids. Eicosanoids are built from 20-carbon long chained fatty acids. Inflammatory cells typically contain high proportions of arachidonic acid (AA) and low levels of other 20-carbon fatty acids (EPA), thus making AA the usual substrate for eicosanoid synthesis. Consumption of Omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) results in increased uptake of these fatty acids into cell membrane; and cells with higher DHA and EPA contents, as opposed to AA, produce fewer inflammatory eicosanoids, thus decreasing local and systemic inflammation.
Most inflammatory conditions could probably be improved and/or treated by supplementing omega-3 fatty acids.

This is only a small piece of the tip of the omega-3 iceberg. There are a lot of other conditions where omega-3 supplementation has shown improvement, including cancer.
When it comes to dietary recommendations for omega-3 fatty acids, it is still a matter of debate among scientists (depending on desired disease prevention). However, to cover all the bases and to get a metabolic increase, I would recommend about 1000mg EPA and 600mg DHA. This would probably sum up to about 4g (or 4 capsules) of fish oil daily (depending on concentrations).

Finally, you should be aware of that there are several other nutrients that influence your body’s Omega-3 status. Zink, at 25 mg, has been shown to increase omega-3 status significantly in our cell membranes at the expense of saturated fats. Selenium deficiency has been shown to increase the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio and can also interfere with the conversion of omega-3 into EPA and DHA. A deficiency in folic acid has also shown to decrease omega-3 status, but will increase your omega-3 status when supplemented. Also, a diet low in antioxidants has shown to lower the levels of essential fatty acids within the bloodstream.

Not so long ago I held a small seminar about eating healthy. One of the topics that emerged was gut health, autointoxication and that bizarre colon cleansing fad a lot of people buy into today.

Intestinal autointoxication refers to the scenario where some diseases arise from toxins produced within the gastrointestinal tract. Today it’s widely known in the scientific community that a poor diet and stress wreaks havoc upon the digestive system by promoting a decline in beneficial and healthy bacteria. The common norm of most illnesses, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia (FM) are an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine (small intestinal bacteria overgrowth: SIBO). Symptoms of SIBO include bloating, constipation, abdominal pain, diarrhea, gas and fatigue. It also interferes with absorption of nutrients, which may not only cause malnutrition but may interfere with your mental wellbeing. And an overgrowth of certain types of bacteria may contribute to obesity by enhancing the uptake of calories from fibers and increasing storage of energy into fat cells.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of other stressors such as heavy metals, pesticides, medications and food dyes that interfere with our intestinal health. But it’s not a reason undergo time wasting colonics or embark on some unhealthy juice fast or bulking up on laxatives. All you need to promote normal bowel movements and to detoxify is fiber from vegetables and whole grains. And to keep the gut healthy with friendly bacteria such as Lactobacillus, nothing beats plain old yogurt. Also, the beneficial bacteria have a working relationship with Omega-3 fatty acids, so make sure you supplement with some fish- or flaxseed oil.

In the end, eating a healthy diet containing of lots of vegetables, vegetable- and fish oil, lean meat and some fruit and berries is still your best insurance against any kind of disease or stressor.

Unless you’re an advanced and competing bodybuilder you probably train through your body twice a week or more; or at least you should.
When doing full body- or half body workouts, one important thing to take into consideration is unloading your spine. If you do barbell squats or deadlifts in your first workout, doing dumbbell split squats or step-ups in the second workout will make a huge difference in your recovery (since the load on the back is reduced by 50 percent). Also, since most of life’s activities occur unilateral (single limb), most people in general need to focus more on unilateral movements instead of bilateral (both legs) for their lower body workouts.