Seal oil research languishing?

Rhys Toogood

- December 15, 2011 at 15:22:49

This is part of a petition I put to the European Parliament regarding the annulment or amendment of Regulation 1007/2009 the ban on the trade in Seal Products. The passage of text concerns the benefits of Omega 3 Seal Oil against other sources. I welcome any comments. The health benefits of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids — DHA and EPA omega-3 were discovered in the 1970’s by researchers studying the Greenland Inuit. These people consumed large amounts of fat from seafood, but displayed virtually no cardiovascular disease. The high level of omega-3 fatty acids consumed by the Inuit reduced, triglycerides, heart rate, blood pressure, and atherosclerosis. On September 8, 2004, the U.S. gave "qualified health claim" status to EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids, stating that "supportive but not conclusive research shows that consumption of EPA and DHA omega-3 [n-3] fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Omega 3’s can be obtained from plants and animals, they differ, a fact not recognised by the EU in its labelling system. Some plants contain a-linolenic acid (ALA), the human body can use this to synthesise DHA and EPA omega-3 fatty acids. Some ALA is converted to omega six fatty acids and about an equal amount to omega three . The ideal ratio of Omega six to Omega three for your body is somewhere between four to one and equal. A typical Western diet will produce a ratio between ten to one and thirty to one. Adding one to each of Omega six’s and Omega three’s will improve the ratio, but only slowly, if you started unbalanced you will always bee unbalanced. The conversion of ALA to EPA and DHA has an efficiency of approximately 5% for men, but it is better in women. For both sex’s, whilst eating vegetables containing ALA will help towards a healthy diet, they are limited to what can be achieved. An alternative is to eat food that contains DHA and EPA and absorb it directly. This will not add to the bodies omega 6 so the improved ratio is directly proportional to the amount taken, rather than being skewed by adding additional omega six as well. Fish oil capsules are one such food. However fish are top feeders and absorb environmental toxins such as mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, in there tissue, which contaminates the capsules. The amount depends on where in the world the capsules are made and this information is not on the label. Whilst taking tiny quantities of toxins may not be harmful, I prefer to take the least amount possible. Seal Oil Capsules are much lower in total toxins than fish oil capsules. Researchers believe that seal oils are a superior source of omega-3 fatty acids due to location of EPA, DHA and DPA in the are in the -1 and -3 positions of the triglyceride molecule (the same as humans) while in fish oil they are in the -2 terminal positions of the triglycerides molecules. This makes it easier to absorb EPA and DHA from seal oil than from fish oil. Seal Oil is much more expensive than Fish Oil but the beneficial results for your body are nearly twice as good with Seal Oil . DPA another omega-3 fatty acid, is only readily found in human breast milk and Seal Oil, small traces are in some fish oils. DPA has the property of preventing plaque and keeping the arteries soft and elastic. Since writing this I have become aware of the COWI report to the European Parliament. COWI are a Danish consultancy. They stated that Seal Oil is produced using a sophisticated distillation process that is good at removing contaminates.

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