Vitamins are supposed to be good for you, but sometimes their benefits are well... fishy. Nutritionists tell us to get more fish oils in our diets because they contain omega-3 substances that are supposed to be good for us. Great, so you listen to the experts and you do that. Great.
But now we are being told fish oils are not that good for you. Why? Well, mostly because our oceans are now sewers with all sorts of chemicals thrown into them that the fish pick when they swim and eat other fish. One such family of toxic compounds are called PCBs, short for polychlorinated biphenyl compounds - a word that no one wants to pronounce even if they want to show off, so they call them PCBs.
PCBs are related to birth defects, but fish oil is supposed to be good for pregnant women, because they contain a compound called DHA, which is short for... uh.... DHA, which is necessary for preventing autism and ADHD (short for ADHD) in babies. So you see the problem.
A random study of 10 top vitamin brands found some PCBs in the fish oil. It didn't seem to matter how much you paid for the brand. I know some companies distill their product to remove fish oil impurities (such as methylmercury, which is really really toxic and can affect your baby's brain and nervous system) so they may have less PCBs than other companies, but apparently all the products still have some PCBs in them.
One reason medicine changes constantly is because medicine is constantly making mistakes. In the past, Dr. Sigmund Freud used to prescribe cocaine for depression. 7-Up was developed by a pharmacist and used to contain lithium. What you are told today is good for you may turn out later on to be bad for you. This is disappointing since you probably would never have taken it in the first place (or so much of it) if the doctors hadn't told you to do so.
What to do? Well, you need the omega-3s. So, for the fish oil issue, since it seems that the older the fish, the more PCBs they contain, pregnant women should probably concentrate on fish oil that comes from younger fish sources such as anchovies. Also, some fish such as salmon and catfish have less mercury. Flax seed also has omega-3s, but the FDA thinks those are the wrong kind of omega-3s. Yes, there is more than one kind of omega-3 - didn't I mention that? The types that are healthy are DHA and EPA. The rest of them – not so much. Walnuts also contain a beneficial type of omega-3s called ALA, which is good for bone health, reducing cholesterol and games of Scrabble. That is, unless you are allergic to nuts.
You can now buy eggs in the supermarket that have omega-3s, but their "heart-healthy" claims are suspect, because eggs also have a lot of saturated fat and cholesterol (which is short for heart attack). Additionally, some eggs have the wrong kind of omega-3s because they feed flax seed to their hens to boost the omega-3 numbers. Not to mention that ordinary eggs also have some omega-3 content without anything special being added to their diet. What kind of omega-3? Beats me.
To sum up, omega-3s are good for you, except when they are not. That's pretty clear, isn't it? The prescription seems to be to balance the dose of poison you take so you get benefits without getting sick. Of course, this strategy might lead to short-term health benefits and long-term health problems, when medicine turns out to be wrong again. Who knows? Certainly, not me. So, I give up. I'll just go out and get my usual dose of Vitamin P (which is short for "pizza"). No omega-3s there.
Marvin Wolf is a Newark consumer and bankruptcy law attorney who is a regular contributor to LocalTalk. This article provides legal information, news and individual opinion, and not legal advice. Mr. Wolf can be contacted through his office at (973) 735-2740 or his website www.wolfprotect.com.
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