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Charles Poliquin on the best supplement

Tatyana

Elite Mentor
The Single Best Supplement

Q: What's one supplement that every athlete, weekend warrior, and basically any active person should be taking daily?

A: Fish oil. I was first introduced to fish oil twelve years ago by my friend Mauro DiPasquale. I was over at his house and he had fish oil on the counter. I asked him what he used it for and he said, "Charles, this is the most important supplement ever."

He told me to go to Medline and punch in any disease known to man and the words "fish oil" beside it. He challenged me to find a study that didn't show how fish oil could benefit in the treatment of any disease. I gave up after 86 studies!

Why is it so beneficial? It's in our genes. Humans used to consume 300-400 grams of omega-3s per week. If we consume more than two grams a day now it's considered a lot.

There was a study published four years ago that showed that if the US government issued three grams of fish oil per day to American citizens, then the amount of cancer and heart disease would go down by 50% within one year. Most readers don't care about cancer and heart disease, but they may care about this: the biggest limiting factor in naturally training people to getting lean and adding muscle is the consumption (or lack thereof) of omega-3s.

Looking at the body structure of cavemen, they had a lot of muscle mass compared to modern man. They got their omega-3s through the meats they ate. Now, they often ate what the predators left. For example, a lion will eat an antelope from the gut on, so what's left is the skull and long bones. Primitive man would break the skull open and eat the brains. Brains are 60% fat, and 60% of that is DHA, the omega-3. What they've found is that the more brain-sucking was going in those populations, the faster the IQ went up.

"I've lost my appetite."

Primitive man would also break the bones of the prey and suck the marrow, also rich in omega-3, DHA particularly. DHA is the omega-3 most responsible for brain development while EPA is most associated with reducing inflammation.

My athletes would often recognize each other when sitting around a table because those I'd be training would break out the fish oil during the meal. That's how I got the nickname "the fish oil guy" among athletes. But that's also how I get people so lean so fast.

Anyone who wants to put on muscle and lose fat should be on 30-45 grams of fish oil per day. That's just three tablespoons of fish oil. It would be a pain in the ass with capsules though because that's around 45 capsules per day, but it's easy with a straight oil.

Flameout is also a great product. I like the addition of CLA to the EPA and DHA because most of the population is deficient in CLA. When I travel abroad I bring four or five bottles of Flameout instead of my liquid fish oil and take four or five capsules a day.

For those of us interested in positively and optimally altering body composition and maximizing our training efforts, fish oils offer thirteen possible advantages:

1. Cell membrane health: EPA and DHA insure that cell membranes remain healthy. This means that the membranes are flexible and contain larger numbers of insulin receptors that are more receptive and responsive to circulating insulin. This results in decreased fat storage in the adipocytes (fat cells).

2. Fish oils turn on the lipolytic genes (fat burning genes).

3. Fish oils turn off the lipogenic genes (fat storage genes).

4. Fish oils diminish C-reactive proteins, a newly identified risk factor associated with various inflammatory diseases, including atherosclerosis, angina, coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure, and diabetes. The DHA fraction of the fish oil seems to be one most responsible for that protective effect. DHA also has the best ability to reduce blood pressure.

5. Increase utilization of fat stores from the adipocytes.

6. Preferential utilization for energy production once stored in the adipocytes.

7. Reduced inflammation from physical training.

8. Pain management from the reduced inflammation.

9. EPA regulates blood supply to the brain which is essential in maintaining focus in weight training sessions. DHA is important in brain membranes, memory, and cognitive function.

10. Fish oils increase serotonin levels (the happy neurotransmitter). Therefore, fish oils will decrease incidence of depression, anxiety, panic attack, and reduce carbohydrate cravings.

11. Fish oils will improve your cardiovascular risk profile by lowering VLDL, triglycerides, homocysteine, fibrinogen, and increasing HDL levels. Combining fish oils with plant sterols will improve lipid levels even more than either alone.

12. Fish oils can also decrease blood pressure by several mechanisms. These include increases in the vasodilatory compound, nitric oxide, reducing vascular inflammation, blocking the constrictive elements in the vascular wall such as the calcium channels reducing blood viscosity, and inhibiting a blood vessel constrictor (thromboxane). Lipoprotein (a) is another CVD predictor that can be lowered by fish oils (a 19% reduction was seen with natural, stable fish oils and just 4% with a highly purified fish oil).

13. Fish oils are a great stress fighter. Supplementation with n-3 fatty acids inhibits the adrenal activation of steroids, aldosterone, epinephrine, and norepinephrine (catecholamines) elicited by a mental stress, apparently through effects exerted at the level of the central nervous system. Therefore, for the same amount of stress, one will produce fewer stress hormones if consuming fish oils on a regular basis.

In short, fish oil is my number one supplement recommendation!
 
A great supp and most important for heart health. (Charles had a heart attack a few years back so he's very conscious of getting enough Omega 3's. ) DHA caps are a good way to get a concentrated dosage. The problem with Fish oil is the fish breath it gives! Not great before dates.

I think oil in general is overlooked. You can't get enough. If you eat a lot of olive oil, you get the same benefits. Since I love Italian food I take in olive oil in abundance every day. (Along with some fresh fish). It's a great hair and skin moisturizer too! (Olive oil that is, not fish oil. That would stink :) )
 
It's not the same....if you eat a lof of olive oil you just eat...olive oil... The importance of fish oil is that it contains EPA and DHA, with the above benefits. The real problem with fish oil is that it can be rancid(Being a pufa is easily oxidized) and it can contain mercury.
 
What brand of fish oil do you guys tend to use? I know the Costco shit is cheap, but cheap isn't better...Better is better. I have been using the Carlson Finest lemon flavored liquid for a little while now. I have not had any "fish burps", and one tablespoon is almost 5 grams of fish oil.
 
hey what bout flax seed oil .. it has omega 3 ,6 & 9 in it ..
 
jijipuku said:
It's not the same....if you eat a lof of olive oil you just eat...olive oil... The importance of fish oil is that it contains EPA and DHA, with the above benefits. The real problem with fish oil is that it can be rancid(Being a pufa is easily oxidized) and it can contain mercury.

It's the same in regard to the Omega 3's and 6's. The EPA and DHA is why I recommend eating fish as well. Borage oil is good too.
 
I tried his method of 30g of fish oil a day for 30 days. A megadose trial. I really didn't see much from it. The weight gain I figured came from the extra fat I had in my diet. Fish oil is still a good health supplement and I take it everyday. There are places on the Internet where you can get 1000 caps for $25.
 
Ive been seeing alot about fish oil lately. I take a combination supplement that contains omega 3,6,9 in one dosage. Outside of getting these three fatty acids is there any other benefit to taking the fish oil or is it basically the same?
 
Bigtymer420 said:
Ive been seeing alot about fish oil lately. I take a combination supplement that contains omega 3,6,9 in one dosage. Outside of getting these three fatty acids is there any other benefit to taking the fish oil or is it basically the same?

The biochemistry of essential fatty acids is a bit complicated, and there are various forms of omega 3, 6, and 9s.

The ratios of the omega 3, 6 and 9 also can make a difference.

You want to see how much DHA and ?? E........(sorry slipped my mind, I will get back to you on this or I am hoping Simm will remember :) ).

I wouldn't stop taking your combination supplement, but it is thought that we need 500 mg of DHA and .......... for any health benefit.
 
Twinlab sells a mint-flavored liquid version....12oz for less than $10 on Ebay. Just ordered 3 bottles this morning for $35 with shipping included. I never realized how much more you get with the liquid version over the capsules, nor did I know there were flavored versions out there....gotta love this forum!
 
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