The Eskimos Are On to Something

Many people are constantly looking for a magic pill that’ll endow them with a long, healthy life.  Wouldn’t that be nice, if we could just pop a pill and not worry about anything else?  While the “fountain of youth in a bottle” doesn’t exist, there certainly seem to be a few supplements that will improve your life odds substantially.  These few are mixed among a morass of pills with misleading advertising that have little evidence of doing anything and may well be harmful to you.  From time to time I plan to discuss various popular supplements and help you differentiate the beneficial from the useless and dangerous.

Probably my favorite popular dietary supplement of them all is “fish oil,” which really refers to omega-3-fatty acids, found in high concentrations in fatty fish like salmon/tuna, and in lower concentrations in certain plants like flax seed and soy.  This remarkable oil may provide you with a bigger improvement in your odds of living a long, healthy life than any other supplement.

The benefits of fish oil came to light after researchers noticed that Eskimos have a much lower incidence of cardiovascular disease (such as heart attacks and abnormal heart rhythms) than the average American or European.  They began studying the dietary difference between these groups, and found that since a large percentage of an Eskimo’s diet is comprised of seafood, their intake of omega-3-fatty acids is between 5-50 times higher than the average American.  This subsequently led to a (more…)