(NaturalNews) A California lawsuit is accusing several fish oil supplement manufacturers of selling fish oils that contain unsafe levels of polychlorinated biphenyl compounds, also known as PCBs. The state's Proposition 65 requires products that may contain toxic ingredients above safe levels to have warning labels for consumer safety.
Five supplement companies, CVS and Rite Aid drug stores, and Omega Protein, Inc., the world's largest producer of omega-3 fish oil, are all named in the suit, which the plaintiffs hope will bring light to fish oil contamination problems. They also hope to see more accurate labeling of fish oils that includes specifics about contaminants like PCBs; that way, consumers will be able to make better decisions about which kinds are safe to buy.
The PCB chemical family consists of 209 different chemical compounds, all of which were tested for in the lawsuit by a California lab. That same lab also tested each of the product samples for 12 of the most toxic PCB compounds. It then evaluated each sample in terms of daily exposure to PCBs overall, and daily exposure to PCBs in terms of toxicity.
The brands tested included Nature Made, Twinlab, Now Foods, Solgar and GNC. Each brand included various types of fish oil, including cod liver, shark liver and salmon. Those that tested the lowest for PCBs contained one-70th the amount of those with the highest levels, indicating a significant difference in contamination among various brands, and types, of fish oil.
According to David Roe, the man who filed the lawsuit in San Francisco's Superior Court, the oils that tested highest exceed California's daily limit for PCBs by a factor of ten in terms of cancer risk. On the same token, some of the oils tested very low, and are not of particular concern to consumers.
Both Nature Made and Twinlab issued immediate responses to the lawsuit in defense of their respective brands' safety. Erin Hlasney from the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), a supplement industry trade group, also came to the defense of fish oils in general, explaining that they have been used safely for decades.
But the plaintiffs contend that it is not enough to simply say that a product meets guidelines; consumers have a right to know how a product actually tests for contaminants once it arrives on store shelves. Many brands claim that their fish oils have been purified and treated to reduce or remove contaminants, but few actually explain to what extent these toxins have been removed.
For complete details about the case and to view the fish oil test results, please visit www.fishoilsafety.com.
Sources for this story include:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14501...
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/ConsumerN...
Showing posts with label fish oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fish oil. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Mental illness breakthrough: fish oil prevents psychotic disorders
(NaturalNews) NaturalNews has already reported on the amazing array of health advantages linked to a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a "healthy" fat found in certain foods such as salmon and walnuts. For example, researchers have documented that omega-3s can help prevent heart arrhythmias and treat depression (http://www.naturalnews.com/027285_o...). These fatty aacids also appear to have an antiaging effect on cells (http://www.naturalnews.com/028046_o...). Get ready to add another remarkable benefit to the list of omega-3 benefits: now scientists have found fish oil supplements containing omega-3s may stop people at high risk for severe mental illness from becoming psychotic.
Psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia are devastating forms of mental problems in which people lose contact with reality and can end up, in worst case scenarios, hurting themselves and others. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a psychosis is usually characterized by delusions and seeing or hearing things that aren't there (hallucinations). The treatment is primarily heavy duty, side effect riddled psychiatric drugs and/or institutionalization.
But what if people a high risk for this mental illness could be prevented from having a psychotic disorder in the first place? That may be possible, thanks to omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-3s prevent psychotic disorders
According to a report just published in the February issue ofArchives of General Psychiatry, people at extremely high risk of developing a psychosis were found to be less likely to develop psychotic disorders after just 12 weeks of taking fish oil capsules containing omega-3 fatty acids. The study authors pointed out that omega-3 supplementation may be effective because individuals with schizophrenia have an underlying dysfunction in fatty acid metabolism."Early treatment in schizophrenia and other psychoses has been linked to better outcomes...intervention in at-risk individuals holds the promise of even better outcomes, with the potential to prevent full-blown psychotic disorders," the authors wrote in their article.
G. Paul Amminger, M.D., of the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, and Orygen Youth Health Research Center in Melbourne, Australia, headed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial to test whether omega-3s could influence the risk of progression to psychosis in 81 individuals considered to be at extremely high risk for the disorder. The research subjects had displayed a decrease in their ability to function and they also had already developed mild psychotic symptoms, transient psychotic episodes and/or they had a family history of psychotic disorders. Those criteria, the researchers stated in their study, are used to identify individuals whose risk of becoming psychotic may be as high as 40 percent over the course of a year.
For about three months, 41 of the research subjects were given daily fish oil capsules containing 1.2 grams of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The other 40 participants were given a placebo. When the study ended, about 94 percent of the subjects were still in the study and two taking the omega-3s, or only 4.9 percent, had developed a psychotic disorder. On the other hand, 11 in the placebo group (27.5 percent) had become psychotic. The difference between the two groups was extraordinary -- 22.6 percent.
What's more, supplementation with the fatty acids significantly reduced mental illness symptoms and improved overall functioning, too. Not surprisingly, there were virtually no side effects associated with the fish oil pills.
"The finding that treatment with a natural substance may prevent or at least delay the onset of psychotic disorder gives hope that there may be alternatives to antipsychotics for the prodromal (early symptomatic) phase. Stigmatization and adverse effects -- which include metabolic changes, sexual dysfunction and weight gain -- associated with the use of antipsychotics are often not acceptable for young people," the scientists wrote in their study. "Long-chain omega-3 fatty polyunsaturated fatty acids reduce the risk of progression to psychotic disorder and may offer a safe and efficacious strategy for indicated prevention in young people with subthreshold psychotic states."
For more information:
http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/co...
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/...
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Fish oil supplements prevent mental illness; safe and effective alternative to antipsychotic drugs
(NaturalNews) An important new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry reveals that fish oil supplements beat mental illness. The study involved 81 people deemed to be at high risk for psychosis. The randomized, placebo-controlled study provided fish oil supplements to half the study subjects for just 12 weeks (the other half received placebo supplements). The results? While 11 people in the placebo group developed a psychotic disorder, only 2 in the fish oil group did.
Although the study was relatively small, it helps demonstrate the wide-ranging benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, which are thought to be the key nutritional factor in fish oils. We already know that omega-3 fatty acids / polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) help protect people against cardiovascular disease. We also know they can play a role in preventing diabetes and cancer. It's little surprise that they also protect against mental illness, given the importance of healthy fatty acids for the functioning of the nervous system.
As the BBC reports, Alison Cobb, from the mental health charity Mind, said in response to this study: "If young people can be treated successfully with fish oils, this is hugely preferable to treating them with antipsychotics, which come with a range of problems from weight gain to sexual dysfunction, whereas omega-3s are actually beneficial to their general state of health."
She's exactly right: Antipsychotic drugs actually cause diabetes. They promote blood sugar disorders and weight gain, among other problems. Some psychiatric drugs have also been linked to school shootings and violent outbursts (suicides, murders, etc.). They're also expensive and they pose an environmental hazard, since many of the chemicals used in those drugs pass right through the body and end up in waters downstream.
Fish oils have none of these negative side effects. In fact, they have positive effects throughout the body. That's why fish oils are such a remarkable solution to replace antipsychotic drugs: They're safer, cheaper and they work better!
Because, let's face it: For (virtually) every popular pharmaceutical on the market, there's a nutritional supplement that works better (and that's also safer and more affordable). Antipsychotic drugs can be replaced with fish oils. Cholesterol drugs can be replaced with B vitamins. Anti-cancer drugs can be replaced with vitamin D and medicinal mushrooms. Diabetes drugs can be replaced with a healthy plant-based diet and targeted supplements. The list goes on and on...
Nutrition works so well that in this study, subjects experienced a protective effect from fish oils for an entire year even though they only took those fish oils for 12 weeks! Imagine how much better the outcome might have been if they continued on the fish oils for the entire year...
Make sure your supplements are free from heavy metals, pesticides and other residues. Make sure they are harvested in a truly sustainable way, and make sure you can trust the source to provide consistent quality.
Fish oils can provide astonishing health benefits. If the medical industry were truly honest about researching what works for patients rather than what makes money for drug companies, they would have openly prescribed fish oils long ago (and abandoned many of the antipsychotic drugs they still push).
But as you already know, the pharmaceutical industry isn't interested in what works for people unless it's something they can sell at monopoly prices. They don't want people to know about natural remedies, nutritional cures or healing foods. They would much rather see people stay ignorant about those things while pumping their minds full of advertisements and propaganda that ridiculously suggests the human brain is somehow deficient in Big Pharma's patented chemicals and that the only way you'll ever be truly healthy, happy or sane is to keep swallowing their pills for the rest of your life.
The real insanity in the world is not in the minds of mental patients; it's in the evil plans of the FDA, the WHO and the pharmaceutical cartel -- all of whom conspire to peddle dangerous medications when far safer, more natural and more effective alternatives are readily available.
http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/co...
A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial
G. Paul Amminger, MD; Miriam R. Schäfer, MD; Konstantinos Papageorgiou, MD; Claudia M. Klier, MD; Sue M. Cotton, PhD; Susan M. Harrigan, MSc; Andrew Mackinnon, PhD; Patrick D. McGorry, MD, PhD; Gregor E. Berger, MD
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010;67(2):146-154.
Context: The use of antipsychotic medication for the prevention of psychotic disorders is controversial. Long-chain omega-3 (omega-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may be beneficial in a range of psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia. Given that omega-3 PUFAs are generally beneficial to health and without clinically relevant adverse effects, their preventive use in psychosis merits investigation.
Objective: To determine whether omega-3 PUFAs reduce the rate of progression to first-episode psychotic disorder in adolescents and young adults aged 13 to 25 years with subthreshold psychosis.
Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted between 2004 and 2007.
Setting: Psychosis detection unit of a large public hospital in Vienna, Austria.
Participants: Eighty-one individuals at ultra-high risk of psychotic disorder.
Interventions: A 12-week intervention period of 1.2-g/d omega-3 PUFA or placebo was followed by a 40-week monitoring period; the total study period was 12 months.
Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome measure was transition to psychotic disorder. Secondary outcomes included symptomatic and functional changes. The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids in erythrocytes was used to index pretreatment vs posttreatment fatty acid composition.
Results: Seventy-six of 81 participants (93.8%) completed the intervention. By study's end (12 months), 2 of 41 individuals (4.9%) in the omega-3 group and 11 of 40 (27.5%) in the placebo group had transitioned to psychotic disorder (P = .007). The difference between the groups in the cumulative risk of progression to full-threshold psychosis was 22.6% (95% confidence interval, 4.8-40.4). Omega-3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids also significantly reduced positive symptoms (P = .01), negative symptoms (P = .02), and general symptoms (P = .01) and improved functioning (P = .002) compared with placebo. The incidence of adverse effects did not differ between the treatment groups.
Conclusions: Long-chain omega-3 PUFAs reduce the risk of progression to psychotic disorder and may offer a safe and efficacious strategy for indicated prevention in young people with subthreshold psychotic states.
Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00396643
Author Affiliations: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria (Drs Amminger, Schäfer, Papageorgiou, and Klier); Orygen Research Centre, Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia (Drs Amminger, Cotton, Mackinnon, and McGorry and Ms Harrigan); and Department of Research and Education, The Schlössli Clinic, Oetwil am See, Switzerland (Dr Berger).
Other sources for this story include:
BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8...
WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...
Although the study was relatively small, it helps demonstrate the wide-ranging benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, which are thought to be the key nutritional factor in fish oils. We already know that omega-3 fatty acids / polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) help protect people against cardiovascular disease. We also know they can play a role in preventing diabetes and cancer. It's little surprise that they also protect against mental illness, given the importance of healthy fatty acids for the functioning of the nervous system.
As the BBC reports, Alison Cobb, from the mental health charity Mind, said in response to this study: "If young people can be treated successfully with fish oils, this is hugely preferable to treating them with antipsychotics, which come with a range of problems from weight gain to sexual dysfunction, whereas omega-3s are actually beneficial to their general state of health."
She's exactly right: Antipsychotic drugs actually cause diabetes. They promote blood sugar disorders and weight gain, among other problems. Some psychiatric drugs have also been linked to school shootings and violent outbursts (suicides, murders, etc.). They're also expensive and they pose an environmental hazard, since many of the chemicals used in those drugs pass right through the body and end up in waters downstream.
Fish oils have none of these negative side effects. In fact, they have positive effects throughout the body. That's why fish oils are such a remarkable solution to replace antipsychotic drugs: They're safer, cheaper and they work better!
You're supposed to keep taking drugs, says Big Pharma
The drug companies, of course, are terrified that people might learn this truth. They want to keep patients on expensive, patented antipsychotic drugs while discrediting "natural remedies" like fish oils or nutritional supplements. The entire war being waged against nutrition and supplements is, of course, nothing more than the pharmaceutical industry trying to protect its own turf by destroying the competition.Because, let's face it: For (virtually) every popular pharmaceutical on the market, there's a nutritional supplement that works better (and that's also safer and more affordable). Antipsychotic drugs can be replaced with fish oils. Cholesterol drugs can be replaced with B vitamins. Anti-cancer drugs can be replaced with vitamin D and medicinal mushrooms. Diabetes drugs can be replaced with a healthy plant-based diet and targeted supplements. The list goes on and on...
Nutrition works so well that in this study, subjects experienced a protective effect from fish oils for an entire year even though they only took those fish oils for 12 weeks! Imagine how much better the outcome might have been if they continued on the fish oils for the entire year...
Get quality fish oils
Of course, when it comes to fish oils, don't settle for just any cheap fish oil supplement. Many of the cheaper store-bought brands are largely made of olive oil filler combined with a tiny amount of fish oil extract. Search out quality supplements or oils from companies like Moxxor, Nordic Naturals or Carlson Labs.Make sure your supplements are free from heavy metals, pesticides and other residues. Make sure they are harvested in a truly sustainable way, and make sure you can trust the source to provide consistent quality.
Fish oils can provide astonishing health benefits. If the medical industry were truly honest about researching what works for patients rather than what makes money for drug companies, they would have openly prescribed fish oils long ago (and abandoned many of the antipsychotic drugs they still push).
But as you already know, the pharmaceutical industry isn't interested in what works for people unless it's something they can sell at monopoly prices. They don't want people to know about natural remedies, nutritional cures or healing foods. They would much rather see people stay ignorant about those things while pumping their minds full of advertisements and propaganda that ridiculously suggests the human brain is somehow deficient in Big Pharma's patented chemicals and that the only way you'll ever be truly healthy, happy or sane is to keep swallowing their pills for the rest of your life.
The real insanity in the world is not in the minds of mental patients; it's in the evil plans of the FDA, the WHO and the pharmaceutical cartel -- all of whom conspire to peddle dangerous medications when far safer, more natural and more effective alternatives are readily available.
Abstract of study from the Archives of General Psychiatry
Long-Chain Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Indicated Prevention of Psychotic Disordershttp://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/co...
A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial
G. Paul Amminger, MD; Miriam R. Schäfer, MD; Konstantinos Papageorgiou, MD; Claudia M. Klier, MD; Sue M. Cotton, PhD; Susan M. Harrigan, MSc; Andrew Mackinnon, PhD; Patrick D. McGorry, MD, PhD; Gregor E. Berger, MD
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010;67(2):146-154.
Context: The use of antipsychotic medication for the prevention of psychotic disorders is controversial. Long-chain omega-3 (omega-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may be beneficial in a range of psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia. Given that omega-3 PUFAs are generally beneficial to health and without clinically relevant adverse effects, their preventive use in psychosis merits investigation.
Objective: To determine whether omega-3 PUFAs reduce the rate of progression to first-episode psychotic disorder in adolescents and young adults aged 13 to 25 years with subthreshold psychosis.
Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted between 2004 and 2007.
Setting: Psychosis detection unit of a large public hospital in Vienna, Austria.
Participants: Eighty-one individuals at ultra-high risk of psychotic disorder.
Interventions: A 12-week intervention period of 1.2-g/d omega-3 PUFA or placebo was followed by a 40-week monitoring period; the total study period was 12 months.
Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome measure was transition to psychotic disorder. Secondary outcomes included symptomatic and functional changes. The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids in erythrocytes was used to index pretreatment vs posttreatment fatty acid composition.
Results: Seventy-six of 81 participants (93.8%) completed the intervention. By study's end (12 months), 2 of 41 individuals (4.9%) in the omega-3 group and 11 of 40 (27.5%) in the placebo group had transitioned to psychotic disorder (P = .007). The difference between the groups in the cumulative risk of progression to full-threshold psychosis was 22.6% (95% confidence interval, 4.8-40.4). Omega-3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids also significantly reduced positive symptoms (P = .01), negative symptoms (P = .02), and general symptoms (P = .01) and improved functioning (P = .002) compared with placebo. The incidence of adverse effects did not differ between the treatment groups.
Conclusions: Long-chain omega-3 PUFAs reduce the risk of progression to psychotic disorder and may offer a safe and efficacious strategy for indicated prevention in young people with subthreshold psychotic states.
Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00396643
Author Affiliations: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria (Drs Amminger, Schäfer, Papageorgiou, and Klier); Orygen Research Centre, Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia (Drs Amminger, Cotton, Mackinnon, and McGorry and Ms Harrigan); and Department of Research and Education, The Schlössli Clinic, Oetwil am See, Switzerland (Dr Berger).
Other sources for this story include:
BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8...
WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...
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