I am an aging specimen fighting the rampages of time on my body. Hair has redirected itself inward, reemerging from the ears. The tummy sags, joints ache. I work out three times a week, running ten miles total and lifting and pushing and grunting and observing all those young bodies – look away! Look away! Time and gravity are winning.
I take daily doses of glucosamine for the joints. I have no idea if it works. But it doesn’t hurt me, they say. And, I take what I call “Scrabble” pills. (They help me beat my wife at that game, sometimes. About half the time.) These are otherwise known as Omega 3 fish oil tablets. They are all the rage. And they taught me something about our Internet.
There are a wide array of sources for the pills, and the cost can be anywhere from a lot for a few to a little for a lot. WalMart wants $9.00 for a thousand. But what’s a good pill? Which of them do what they say they do? This is America, so only one thing is for sure: Everyone is probably lying.
I did some Internet “research”. I went to various sources who say they have “compared” all of the pills on the market, and found “one” that was better than all the others. One came from New Zealand and had to be ordered by mail. Others had special mumbo-jumble-hocus-pocus light saber magic done to them, and were very expensive – $16.00 for 60 pills. Still others warned that “cheap” pills might be rancid, made from fish that had sat on the dock for a week, like Mrs. Paul’s Fish Sticks.
All I wanted was an objective source that had done some testing and gave an honest and non-self-promoting opinion on the worth of the various pills. It turns out there are two: Consumerlab.com, and Consumer Reports. But both require that you join and pay them money for these opinions. They are worthy, no doubt – no problem. But I only wanted one opinion on one product, and was not willing to pay $30 for it.
The Internet started out as a wonderful source of freely-shared information, and so it was hostile to the American way where everything is for sale and everybody lies. Advertisers are yet to find a way to make a dishonest buck on a regular basis on anything other than porn and books, but they are trying. Any venture now in quest of objective information is like a walk down the concourse at the local carnival – hucksters and barkers yelling at you from every booth. My foray into the Omega3 pill market showed me that the Internet is not very useful anymore. Advertising is winning out, useful information is dwindling and getting harder to find.
Regarding Omega3 pills, there was scads of useless information and outright lies, much of it masquerading as medically sourced.
But someone committed a sin. Someone broke the code. Someone put up an excerpt from a Consumer Reports piece on the pills. It said they are all pretty much the same. None of them will hurt you. If there is any good to be had from them, all of them offer that good. So when shopping, just buy the cheapest one. It took about half an hour to find this piece of information.
And once again, the local Food Co-op, supposedly offering us alternatives to all of the corporate food scams going on, is doing a scam of its own. They want $26.59 for 250 Scrabble pills. They insult us with wholesome fervor.
Piece of Mindful 
Well, Mark, they’re all “kind of” the same. First, you need to be sure that the fish oil is “molecularly distilled” – to ensure there are no heavy metals or other toxins. Secondly, since fish oil is a fat and it oxidizes quite quickly (becomes rancid) – freshness is everything. If you eat oxidized fats you’re just pumping free radicals into you body which cause cell damage and defeats the purpose entirely.
The best bang for your buck is Costco. They are pure (molecularly distilled), very fresh due to the high volume they sell and at great price.
Since you have such an affinity for Canadian medicine you might be interested in knowing that the Canooks are doing ground breaking research with Omega-3 for depression (found to be as effective for may people as SSRIs.) This, on top of the fact that taking 3 grams per day will elevate most people’s HDL levels. Wonderful stuff.
Additionally, many nutritional anthropologists are beginning to establish high correlations with Omega-3s and heart health. Grass fed beef has almost as much Omega-3 as does wild fish and interestingly, the rate of heart disease has increased proportionality to our consumption of grain feed beef. There was very little heart disease in the U.S. when most beef consumption was from grass fed cows grown by family farms. Corn has high levels of Omega-6 fatty acids so, when beef comes out of a feed lot it has the same. Red meat the lives on green foliage all is high in Omega -3 so eat as much wild game as you can and you’ll get the benefit.
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That’s really interesting. Thanks. It isn’t just our beef that is made from corn – it’s our chicken and soft drinks and candy bars and chips – you know – our main courses. Have you read Omnivore’s Dilemma by Pollard?
My wife taught me the value of wholesome food – I made a comment about the Food Coop above, as they do use ideology to maintain monstrous prices. But a trip through there is a delight. Regular grocery stores are loaded with processed foods and not much of real value. It’s quite depressing.
I did read the Costco had a good product. We don’t belong since we don’t buy in such quantities as they sell. Maybe I’ll borrow my brother’s card for a trip. We look somewhat alike, though I am much handsomer.
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PS – I admire the Canadian medical delivery system.
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Yeah, I know your position on Canadian health care. Of course I’ve never said it was all bad either. One of benefits of systems with hard cost control measures is the search for alternative treatments. For example, in Cuba, where they can’t seem to afford – or may not have access to – Statin drugs they have done a ton or research on a sugar cane alcohol called Policosanol. Policosanol is cheap (relative to statins) and as been shown to be very effective in reducing LDL levels (although there are many, many, naturopaths who actually don’t think cholesterol is a risk.)
But you can get 400 grams of Fish oil (400 softgels) for $9.96 at Costco. Just have your brother pick them up for you.
I haven’t read the book to mention, but one of my best friends is an MD who practices “orthomolecular” medicine (nutrition based medicine.) He’s a psychiatrist but also is at the vanguard of this sort of thing. You can see some research he’s posted at:
http://weeksmd.com/?cat=49
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