Recommendation Number 2:
Super Omega-3 EPA/DHA with Sesame Lignans and Olive Fruit Extract

Ingest Plenty of Omega-3 EPA DHA Fatty Acids

The omega-3 fatty acids from cold-water fish have received an enormous amount of favorable publicity. One reason is that there have been more scientific studies to document fish oil’s multiple health benefits than perhaps any other nutrient.

Commercial fish oil comes in a wide range of purities and potencies. When evaluating the safety and potency of fish oil, the following three factors should be considered:

1. Stability: Fish oil can easily turn rancid, so a measurement of oxidative byproducts is a critical step to ensure that the omega-3s you swallow are fresh.
2. Purity: Cold-water ocean fish are rich in EPA/DHA, but are often contaminated with pollutants like PCBs, mercury, and arsenic. The fish oil you swallow should go through the purification processes needed to reduce contaminant levels to safe ranges.
3. EPA-DHA consistency: The primary active ingredients in fish oil is eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Assaying fish oil to make sure it meets label claim is important to ensuring you are ingesting the desired amounts of EPA/DHA.
   

In order to protect consumers against unsafe and ineffective products, the Council for Responsible Nutrition has proposed strict guidelines for all fish oil products. The good news is that a fish oil concentrate is available today that exceeds these proposed upgraded pharmaceutical standards.

The Gold Standard Fish Oil Extract

Super Omega-3 EPA/DHA with Sesame Lignans and Olive Fruit Extract is a fish oil concentrate that uses a patented extraction and purification process to improve stability, remove virtually all contaminants, and protect against oxidation and peroxidation of the delicate omega-3 fatty acids.

To obtain a fish oil this clean and stable, a patented method was developed to purify the oil with an intense two-step distillation process. By purifying the oil before the intense distillation process, the result is cleaner fish oil that has shorter heat exposure and prevents thermal (heat) degradation of the EPA/DHA.

These patented Pure+™ distillation processes remove other impurities that lead to reflux, burping, and regurgitation in some people. The Super Omega-3 EPA/DHA also smells better by virtue of these processes and is more tolerable to people with sensitive stomachs.

What Makes Super Omega-3 EPA DHA the Best Fish Oil Supplement?

Life Extension’s Super Omega-3 is the only fish oil concentrate that provides a full spectrum blend of fatty acids and synergistic nutrients to provide optimal effects in the body.

The addition of sesame lignans to fish oil enhances its beneficial effects.64 When fats are consumed, they are broken down into compounds that either promote or suppress inflammatory reactions. Specialized enzymes in the body determine which inflammatory pathway fats will follow.

Sesame lignans inhibit a dangerous enzyme (delta-5 desaturase) that causes DGLA (di homogamma linolenic acid) to be converted into arachidonic acid, a precursor to the toxic inflammatory factors prostaglandin E2 and the leukotrienes.65 (Refer to the chart on this page for a clearer understanding of these metabolic pathways).

Extending the Stability of Fish Oil in the Body

Sesame also functions as a powerful antioxidant, and its addition to fish oil lowers undesirable lipid peroxidation rates.66,65 Sesame suppresses the formation of free radicals from the DHA fraction of fish oil, which has extremely high oxidative susceptibility.68 A test of this effect was confirmed in rats fed a high DHA diet from fish oil. In the first part of the study, DHA alone lowered vitamin E levels and raised a measure of free radical damage. The addition of sesame raised plasma and liver vitamin E levels higher, increased concentrations of DHA, and completely suppressed free radical production from the DHA in tissues and serum.66

The combination of sesame and fish oil (as found in the Super Omega-3 formula) thus helps to suppress free radical production of fish oil by blocking lipid peroxidation and simultaneously boosting levels of beneficial fatty acids (such as DGLA and DHA).66, 69

Increased Burning of Blood Lipids

In order for cells to produce energy, they must burn fatty acids in their mitochondria. The failure of liver mitochondria to properly burn fatty acids can result in excess accumulation of triglycerides. Triglycerides not burned in the liver accumulate in the blood and contribute to arterial occlusion.

In one animal study, combining sesame lignans and fish oil caused hepatic fatty acid oxidation rates to rise much higher than fish oil alone.70 This shows that the synergistic combination of fish oil and sesame improves mitochondrial fatty acid energy utilization to facilitate triglyceride reduction and guard against the free radicals generated as an inevitable consequence of higher cellular metabolism.66,71,72

The Virtues of Olive Fruit Polyphenols

Published studies have shown that the olive fruit polyphenol—hydroxytyrosol—scavenges the dangerous free radical hydrogen peroxide and reduces LDL susceptibility to oxidation.73 The oxidation of LDL oxidation plays a significant role in the development of vascular impairment.

According to one study, as the polyphenol content of olive oil increases, the oxidation of LDL decreases. Polyphenol-rich olive oil also raises beneficial HDL levels. Both effects are associated with an improved cardiovascular risk profile.74

In another study, researchers also found that as oxidized LDL decreased, glutathione antioxidant activity increased, and beneficial HDL levels increased as well. These effects were proportionally greater as olive polyphenol content increased. All of these changes reflect improvements in surrogate markers of cardiovascular health.75

Super Omega-3 contains a standardized olive fruit extract to provide the full spectrum of benefits associated with the ingestion of fish and olive oils, including the potent hydroxytyrosol polyphenol.

Additional protection against platelet aggregation

When blood platelets that guard against excessive bleeding become over-activated, they can form clots inside arteries leading to acute circulatory disruptions. Fish oil EPA/DHA help protect against excess platelet aggregation.

An olive fruit polyphenol called oleuropein has also been shown to reduce blood platelet activity in humans,76 thus providing yet another explanation as to why those who consume a Mediterranean diet have such low rates of sudden vascular events.

Oleuropein from the olive fruit also has additional biological properties. When administered to human fibroblast skin cells cultures, oleuropein delayed the appearance of senescent (aging) structural changes and increased the lifespan of these cells by approximately 15%.77

In addition, oleuropein has been proven most effective in down-regulating HER2 expression.78 These findings help explain why those who consume a Mediterranean diet have such marked reductions in problems related to excess expression of the HER2 gene.

Super Omega-3 not only contains the finest omega-3 fish oil blend in the world, but also provides an olive blend standardized for hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein.

Premium quality at an affordable price

Despite the costly processes involved in making this superior fish oil concentrate, the low price of Super Omega-3 EPA/DHA with Sesame Lignans and Olive Fruit Extract enables consumers to obtain the broad-spectrum benefits of this omega-3 supplement that provides far more than fish oil alone.

Just four softgels of Super Omega-3 EPA/DHA with Sesame Lignans and Olive Fruit Extract provide:

Warning
If you are taking anticoagulant drugs, use only under the supervision of your physician. Blood tests that measure clotting time can be used to ensure these nutrients are not reducing the clotting factors in your blood to abnormal levels.

More Info on Omega-3 Fish Oil