The Energy Balance Podcast EB. 105: Challenging The Idea That Increased Omega-3 Consumption Lowers Mortality
- Whether the research suggesting that omega-3s decrease mortality is valid
- Omega-6 intake as a major confounding variable when looking at omega-3 research
- The dramatic lifespan-lowering effect of omega-3s and total PUFA across all species
- How omega-3s increase susceptibility to oxidative stress and damage
- Looking at the Masai diet as an example of a low-omega-3 diet with high omega-3s in the red blood cells
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Click here to check out the show notes:
Timestamps:
0:00 – intro
1:35 – why we’re discussing omega-3s and lifespan
8:10 – the studies showing an association between omega-3 content in phospholipid and reduced mortality
16:48 – conflict of interest as a confounding variable in these studies
18:12 – healthy user bias as a confounding variable in these studies
20:46 – omega-6 consumption as a confounding variable in these studies
29:04 – problems with using RBC phospholipids and serum fatty acids as markers of fatty acid composition of the diet
30:35 – a low omega-6 diet will increase omega-3 content in the RBC phospholipids and serum fatty acids
36:35 – the effect of heritability on RBC phospholipid and serum fatty acid composition
43:58 – the effect of oxidative stress on RBC phospholipid and serum fatty acid composition
52:57 – why it’s important to consider interventional studies and other research to determine whether we should increase omega-3 consumption to reduce mortality
55:30 – research looking at the relationship between composition of phospholipids and lifespan across species
1:07:33 – research looking at the relationship between composition of phospholipids and lifespan within species
1:23:30 – increased consumption of omega-3s increases omega-3 content in phospholipids and therefore the peroxidizability index
1:28:53 – looking at the Masai diet: low omega-6 intake increases omega-3 content in RBC fatty acids