"Fish oil"

[TRITON]

Yesterday I was talking to my neighbour...and he asked me what's that big weird thing in my bag.I told him that's my monofin and I use it for freediving...bla bla bla...
It turned out he was professionaly involved in football and after his short career he continued to study physiology,medicine,sport diets,etc...
I told him that besides pool training I do aerobic training ....cycling,runing and I go to the gym.He told that I should take one spoon of "fish oil" every day and that that will improve my performance in my training and also in freediving.He mentioned some OMEGA 3 acids...and that that's good for my cardiovascular system.
So my question is what implications does this "fish oil" have on my metabolism and will it really improve my performance in freediving?

 

[maytag]

Hi Triton,
That's really interesting. I did a quick Google search -
http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/77/90373.htm

I used to take flaxseed oil capsules to prevent arrhythmias. I also did some other things, too, so I can't say it was the flaxseed that helped. Fish oil also does the same thing, but I would rather take a capsule of flaxseed oil than to deal with the fishy afterbreath. If you go with the fish oil, store it someplace cool.

Both promote cardiovascular health generally... probably not a bad thing to do as long as there you have no contraindications...

Sorry this probably wasn't too helpful... Interesting post though!

Cheers, to you, Maytag

 

[Fondueset]

Fish Oil has more of the omegas and also vitamin D. If you go the veg route it's best to combine flax with borage and one other one I can't think of just now but there are some formulations out there. Amazingly - they've managed to take the fishy out of fish oil. You can even get it flavored lemon. From the research I've done fish oil is much superior to flax alone - some even argue that by itself flax oil can be harmful.

 

[TRITON]

THanks Maytag i've read the article and it's very interesting.
Now if someone could tell us how does it affect our freediving....

 

[pkotik]

I know that virtually every (Western) male over the age of 40-50 with whom I'm acquainted has been encouraged by his physician to use fish oil supplements. It seems to be common knowledge that this yields significant health benefits viz. the cardiovascular system. It is thought to help prevent or delay heart attacks, at the bottom line.

I don't know the research in this area, and don't know whether this is true, but if it is it seems to me that not having heart attacks could be very helpful to one's freediving performance.

 

[Fondueset]

Paul, I share your ostensibly implicit skepticism on the 'heart attack question'. These days people advocate not having heart attacks as a cure for everything from depression to sexual impotence. While the arguments seem well-founded I remain skeptical. After all; look at Dick Cheney - he has heart attacks all the time yet he's just a heartbeat away from ruling the world.

Omega 3s are also known to act as mood stabilizers and are generally happy brain substances.

 

[GreekDiver]

I take fish oil and flatseed oil every day. Its a great supplement. I workout in the gym quite often and flatseed helps with recovery. I'm a vitamin whore though rofl

 

[pkotik]

I'm not at all skeptical about cardiovascular disease. Many of my peers have had heart attacks already, and/or coronary bypass surgery, and so I've become acquainted with a few practicing cardiologists, surgeons, and researchers. It's quite astounding how many relatively young people have significant cardiovascular pahtology. Perhaps even more surprising (to me, at least) is the incidence of CV pathology in health-conscious, athletic types - including high-end athletes.

People have heart attacks, and some survive and continue to function at some level. The evidence of my senses, however, assures me that these events are extremely unpleasant, and that recovery is often very partial.

I don't have much interest in mood stabilization - don't really understand what that means - but I take a fish oil supplement because there's no known cost, other than the small monetary one, and there seems to be very widespread conviction in the professional community that it's an effective prophylaxis. It's one of several fairly conservative steps I take to ward off cardiovascular diseases, another of which is taking a low-dose aspirin every day.

I'd like to delay and moderate my eventual - if I'm lucky enough to live so long - cardiovascular disease. So far, so good ! At age 55 I test great in every way, all the high-end tests. Some of my school mates are dead of this already, others have survived heart attacks but are not able to live the way you all and I want to live. The prospect of a life in which I can all I can do is talk, walk around a little, sit at a desk, do a little TV - not appealing. You all, and I, want much,much more out of life than just that, right?

 

[GreekDiver]

Vitamins are the cheapest insurrance

 

[pkotik]

Vitamins are the cheapest insurrance

Sounds about right to me!

 

[maytag]

P.S. A good, brief summary of the evidence base for fish oil supplements can be found here: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fish-oil/NS_patient-fishoil. I was somewhat surprised the evidence grade for many of the standard marketing claims for consuming fish oil is relatively weak; at the same time, the low risk of adverse effects and low cost of the oil would seem to be offset by its potential benefits by a good margin in most cases.

That said, here's a theoretical question: given the blood thinning and antiplatelet properties of fish oil, could it potentially lower the threshold for bleeding from lung squeeze or mask squeeze and prolong bleeding? This is just curiosity asking a hypothetical question - one would have to consume a lot of the stuff to increase the risk of bleeding (or less, depending on what else one is ingesting)... everything in moderation...

Fondueset - thanks for letting us know they've de-fishified current fish-oil products!

 

[Fondueset]

Unfortunately I have a pretty thorough knowlege of what mood stability means - and does'nt. Similar to your experience, Paul.
I've got to the point where I just knock back a swig of fish oil a couple times a day - de-fishified or not is just a question of mouthwash.

 

[pkotik]

Unfortunately I have a pretty thorough knowlege of what mood stability means - and does'nt. Similar to your experience, Paul.
I've got to the point where I just knock back a swig of fish oil a couple times a day - de-fishified or not is just a question of mouthwash.

It seems to me that when I was but a wee lad, it was common to require children to swallow a daily spoonful of cod liver oil.

Mmmmmmmmm...... c o d....l i v e r........o i l ...

 

[Fondueset]

Yeah, turns out that was pretty smart I allways thought it was some sort of left over penance type deal from the puritan days.

I think the strongest arguments for it are probably the cv and other health of cultures that traditionally consume it.

 

[ggarrett]

- some even argue that by itself flax oil can be harmful.

Just a note about flax oil: it may increase the risk or increase the spread of prostrate cancer.

See http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fla...tient-flaxseed
or http://www.google.com/search?client=...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Not totally conclusive. Maybe there's a risk. Why take the chance?

Now, apparently, whole, fresh flax seeds do not promote prostate cancer. Fresh flax seeds can be ground in a coffee grinder (also good for whole fresh wheat) and taken with juice. Ground flax seeds also have added benefit of fiber.

In peace,
Glen

 

[pkotik]

Just a note about flax oil: it may increase the risk or increase the spread of prostrate cancer.

See http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fla...tient-flaxseed
or http://www.google.com/search?client=...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Not totally conclusive. Maybe there's a risk. Why take the chance?

Now, apparently, whole, fresh flax seeds do not promote prostate cancer. Fresh flax seeds can be ground in a coffee grinder (also good for whole fresh wheat) and taken with juice. Ground flax seeds also have added benefit of fiber.

In peace,
Glen

I've gotten my flax seed for many.many years in my morning bowl of Uncle Sam's Cereal. Mmmmmm -good. A regular favorite since 1908.

 

[Fondueset]

Free Time Machine in every box!

 

[Groupermadness]

My Mother force fed me cod liver oil and a spoon full of malt stuff since i could swallow, both tasted disgusting , i still do it daily to this day albeit now its all in capsul form, plus i also pop1/2 an asprin every day since my old military days were over. wouldnt say im fit but my Doctor said my heart muscle could keep an elephant alive, so im happy.