Exciting evidence that provides a potential mechanism for how fish oil exerts its protective influence.

Remember though that fish should NOT be consumed. You should obtain your fish oil from supplements.

One important factor to remember about taking fish oil is: Since most fish of all varieties have high levels of mercury -- a tasteless but toxic heavy metal -- it's vital you find a FISH OIL source free of impurities.

How do you know which fish oil is best for you? Here are three quick tests:

1. Make sure that your brand is free of mercury and PCBs. This will not be on the label so you will need to:

• Contact the manufacturer for their analysis
• Review an independent third party that has analyzed the product
• Hire a company to test the product yourself

2. Confirm that there are very low oxidation products in the fish or cod liver oil.

It is important to understand fish oil and cod liver oil have long-chain unsaturated fats (primarily EPA and DHA) and they are very susceptible to oxidation or damage. If the oil is not processed properly damage will occur. Many years ago nearly all the fish oils were oxidized. That is why when you mention cod liver oil to most anyone they turn up their nose in disgust. Typically, they only taste bad when they are oxidized.

3. Make certain that your fish oil or cod liver oil has therapeutic levels of vitamin E in it.

Nearly all manufacturers insert a small amount of one unit per teaspoon. This is sufficient to prevent oxidation of the fish oil in the bottle. However, after you consume it this is woefully inadequate. Your body will tend to oxidize the fish oil and much larger doses of vitamin E are needed to prevent the fish oil from going rancid in your body.

There are several high-quality fish oils on the market, but most of them are not and you are playing Russian roulette with your health unless you do your homework. Do your own test as I have described above or select Carlson's fish or cod liver oil. You can purchase them in nearly any health food store or you can support our work and all the free information we provide you and purchase it in our store.

If you already have significant sun exposure, as many of us do during the summer, then you should not take cod liver oil, as you will run the risk of overdosing on vitamin D.

You will also need extra amounts of the "fourth and unforgotten" oil-soluble vitamin, vitamin K. If you are juicing plenty of green vegetables and taking the cod liver oil or fish oil with the juice you should absorb the vitamin K in the vegetable juice. However, if you have osteoporosis or osteopenia, you may want to consider adding a high-quality vitamin K2 supplement to your diet.

Generally our diet contains far too many omega-6 fats. Experts looking at the dietary ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids suggest that in early human history the ratio was about 1:1. Currently most Americans eat a dietary ratio that falls between 20:1 and 50:1. The optimal ratio is most likely closer to the original ratio of 1:1. For most of us this means greatly reducing the omega-6 fatty acids we consume and increasing the amount of omega-3 fatty acids.

Please recognize that we get ALL the omega-6 and omega-9 fat we need from food. We do NOT need to take any supplements for these fats. Many of the omega fat supplements you see in health food stores will only serve to worsen your health, not improve it. They contain omega 6 fats, which will worsen your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio.

I strongly recommend avoiding sunflower, corn, soy, safflower, canola, or products that contain these oils. In other words, no hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats including margarine, vegetable oil and shortening. These oils are chock full of omega-6 fats and will only worsen your omega 6:omega 3 ratio.

Acceptable oils will be a high-quality, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, and organic butter, or better yet grass-fed organic butter.

Another way to improve your omega-6:3 ratio is to change the type of meat you are eating. You could consume more game meat like venison, or other game animals that are raised exclusively on grass type foods. However, these are hard to find and generally more expensive than beef.

Since nearly all cattle are grain-fed before slaughter, eating most traditionally raised beef can worsen you omega-6:omega-3 ratio. Normally a good ratio for omega-6:3 in fish is 2 or 3 to 1. The lower the better. Grassfed beef from Grassfed Organics is much higher in omega-3 than fish, with a 6:3 ratio of 0.16 to 1. This information is from a study done at Iowa State University in August 2001.

To get the necessary omega-3 fatty acids, you should consider eating meat that is allowed to "free-range," or in the case of cattle, to be grass-fed. Unfortunately, you cannot buy this grass-fed beef at most local grocery stores.

You must also be careful as many stores will advertise grass-fed beef but it really isn't. They do this as ALL cattle are grass-fed, but the key is what they are fed the months prior to being processed.

Most all cattle are shipped to giant feed lots and fed corn to fatten them up. You will need to call the person who actually grew the beef, NOT the store manager, to find out the truth.

The least expensive way to obtain authentic grass-fed beef would be to find a farmer you can trust and buy a half a side of beef from him. This way you save the shipping and also receive a reduced rate on the meat.

An inexpensive, yet effective, way to determine if the meat is really from a grass-fed animal is to purchase the ground beef. Slowly cook the beef till done and drain and collect all the fat. Grass-fed beef will be relatively thin compared to traditionally prepared ground beef.

Another inexpensive option would be a national chain called Trader Joe's, which also has free-range poultry with prices very similar to Costco.

However, most of us live in large urban areas and do not have the time for this process. Just as it would be ideal to have an organic garden and grow your own vegetables, most of us elect not to do that for time or space reasons.

I used to have an organic garden, but my schedule just would not allow me to have that luxury anymore. So, if you are convinced, like I am, that grass-fed beef is better for you and you would like the convenience of being able to order it over the Net, you can buy grass-fed beef online, shipped overnight to your door, at Grassfed Organics.

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