Why do some companies concentrate their fish oils to increase either EPA or DHA ratios and claim this is best for certain age groups or for people suffering from certain illnesses like ADHD, Alzheimers, Depression, Heart Disease etc?
Well there are really two explanations for this. The most simple is MARKETING. The other is LACK OF KNOWLEDGE REGARDING RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND THUS INABILITY TO PROPERLY INTERPRET THE SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE (or purposefully interpreting it to suit your marketing claims).
Marketing: In the fish oil market there is a lot of competition. The choice is to either make the very best product possible by using expensive technology and materials or to make a unique product and make specific claims about it.
If you can market your product to a certain disease you can attract a lot of interest and revenue. Sadly this seems to be taking place more and more. The number of different “specific ratios” for the “specific treatment” of “specific diseases” seems to be increasing each month.
LACK OF KNOWLEDGE REGARDING RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND THUS INABILITY TO PROPERLY INTERPRET THE SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE (or purposefully interpreting it to suit your marketing claims).
The concentrate marketing strategy is scientifically invalid for several reasons. First, fish oil is a food containing the essential fatty acid nutrients EPA and DHA not a treatment for disease. All adding fish oil can do is address a lack of dietary EPA and DHA. The only illnesses it will help with are those caused by a deficiency of EPA and DHA. If someone is deficient in Omega 3 EPA and DHA they will eventually begin to express symptoms of illness. What they are really expressing is symptoms of fatty acid nutrient DEFICIENCY. What particular illness that manifests is NOT the critical issue. The issue is the deficiency, the cause of all deficiency related illness, not the treatment of any specific illness. This is why we created Innate Choice™ Omega Sufficiency™ – to allow everyone, regardless of condition, to become sufficient and healthy.
Second, it is scientifically illogical to claim that an individual is deficient in EPA but not in DHA or vice versa. How could this occur if the human diet always provides these nutrients together and in the average ratio of 18:12 EPA:DHA? It can’t happen from the diet because EPA and DHA don’t occur in nature in concentrated ratios whereby one could develop a deficiency in only one. Genetic disorders not allowing the absorption of only one or the other are not reported in the literature. Ironically those who suggest supplementing in unnatural ratios are the only ones developing ways for people to become deficient in only one or the other! How could it be logical to recommend any form of supplementation other than that which provides sufficient amounts of BOTH EPA and DHA?? This is why we created Innate Choice™ Omega Sufficiency™ – to allow everyone, regardless of condition, to become sufficient in both EPA and DHA. This is so allopathic and so absurd in terms of creating health that it is frightening. What should people do take a high concentrate EPA product until they begin to express symptoms associated with deficiency in DHA and then take a high concentrate DHA product??
Third, the people studied who consume NATURAL RATIOS of EPA and DHA like the Inuit, the Nordic Peoples, and Hunter-Gatherers did NOT suffer from any of the illnesses that people claim require special concentrated ratios to treat. Clearly the best way to avoid all illnesses associated with EPA and/or DHA deficiencies is to supplement with a product that ensures sufficiency in both. This is common sense doctors if we can just get ourselves out of the allopathic mindset of treating disease and into the wellness mindset of creating sufficiency and health. You know which is more logical and more effective.
Fourth, when we consume EPA and DHA we digest them into free fatty acids so that regardless of what “concentrated ratio” you ingest you will always absorb them as free fatty acids so that the EPA and DHA ratios become irrelevant. What is relevant is the gross or total amount of EPA and DHA that we ingest and absorb. This explains why studies that appear to support high concentrations of EPA or DHA are so misleading. All a high concentrate does is provide more total amount of EPA or DHA. You can easily and inexpensively achieve this amount by simply taking sufficient amounts of natural fish oil!! In fact, if you simply increase the amount of natural fish oil you consume you assure yourself that you are sufficient in both!! None of these studies “supporting high ratios of EPA or DHA” actually provide any scientifically valid data regarding the importance of high ratios at all. They simply provide data illustrating that the subjects benefited from higher doses of EPA and/or DHA. In other words they were highly deficient. Do you think they were highly deficient in only one or the other?? Of course not!! This is why it just makes scientific sense to supplement with a natural ratio fish oil that our genes and our cells have always required. This is why we created Innate Choice™ Omega Sufficiency™ – to allow everyone, regardless of condition, to become sufficient and healthy.
Fifth, the unnaturally, chemically concentrated fish oils are NOT fish oils. No fish or natural animal in the world contains such oil. These represent chemical pharmaceutical, man-made derivatives of fish oil NOT fish oil. Have we EVER improved on nature? Does it not make sense to consume what our bodies have used to create health for eons rather than what someone can come up with in a lab? Of course it does.
This is why we created Innate Choice™ Omega Sufficiency™ – to allow everyone, regardless of condition, to become sufficient and healthy.
We are not the best marketers, we are not the biggest company with the biggest advertising budget.
We are scientifically competent, we are honest, we are dedicated to providing you with the best product and the most honest, scientifically accurate information possible.
We appreciate your business and we appreciate you educating your patients about the truth. Supplements can be so confusing – for doctors and patients.
Our goal is to make supplementation simple. We will always create the most natural products possible, we will always create products that are for family wellness not disease treatment. All of our products will always be for Everybody – Everyday – For Life!
Stay tuned for further updates and feel free to send your questions to info@innatechoice.com
Yours in Health & Wellness,
Dr. James L. Chestnut B.Ed., M.Sc., D.C., C.C.W.P.
Research and Product Development – Innate Choice Inc.
