Fish Oil Weight Loss: Part 2
Who doesn’t love a rat story?
I still watch ‘Ratatouille’ every time I see it on TV.
So what do rats have to do with Fish Oil Weight Loss?
This rat story is a little bit spookier.
Scientists fed rats a typical American diet. And waited to see which one got fat.
Here’s what they did:
Rat Group 1: A typical American diet, low in Omega-3 fats
Rat Group 2: A healthy diet high in Omega-3 (ideal diet)
Both groups got the same calories, carbs, protein and fat. The only difference was the difference in Omega-3.
RESULT – Fish Oil Weight Loss:
The low-omega-3 diet rats were 38% heavier.
Not only that, the low-omega-3 rats had enlarged hearts and fatty livers, both serious indicators of poor heart health.
The nuts-and-bolts of the study are pretty gruesome. Check out the pictures of the rats yourself – it’s a bit too much for this blog.
The study found that lack of Omega-3 actually turns off many genes responsible for keeping you thin.
Thin may be nice. But the paper says the ‘downstream events’ of a low-Omega-3 diet are dangerous.
And by ‘downstream’, they didn’t mean a few years down the road…they meant a few generations down the road.
If a few generations of rats ate low-Omega-3 diets, by the 3rd or 4th generation, there were permanent changes to the rats’ brains, anxiety levels and their social ability.
Of course, the hint is that if this can happen to rats, it is likely to happen to us.
Fish Oil Weight Loss: Study #2
In an Australian study, the scientists proved that combining fish oil supplements with exercise make you thinner than just exercise by itself.
The scientists gathered 4 groups of people (no rats this time, sorry):
- Vegetable oil group
- Vegetable oil plus exercise (45 mins of cardio 3x per week)
- Fish oil
- Fish oil plus exercise (45 mins of cardio 3x per week)
Vegetable oil was chosen because that’s what most of us use to cook.
Unfortunately, most vegetable oils (corn, soy, safflower, sunflower) are high in Omega-6.
Omega-6 fats are more likely to turn into belly fat.
That’s not good.
RESULT – Fish Oil Weight Loss:
Both the fish oil group and the fish oil plus exercise group lost weight.
The vegetable oil plus exercise group, surprisingly, did not lose weight. Why? Because of the high Omega-6 content of vegetable oils.
Easy Fish Oil Weight Loss Tips…
Eliminate the following oils from your diet:
And avoid foods with these oils. Switch to Olive oil. Make sure you check your salad dressing – a healthy salad drenched in corn oil-based dressing is totally counter-productive. |
OK – back to rats.
Fish Oil Weight Loss: Study #3
This time a group of Japanese scientists found chubby mice.
They prefer to be called ‘obesity-prone mice.’ Oops. That’s mice faux-paw.
They then fed one group of them a high-fat diet. And another group got the same high-fat diet plus fish oil supplements.
RESULTS: The fat, ahem, obesity-prone mice gained less weight when they ate fish oil supplements.
Dr. Takuya Mori, the lead scientist says the study shows that there is an anti-obesity effect from fish oil. He calls it ‘upregulation of intestinal lipid metabolism.’
Fish Oil Weight Loss: Study #4
Our final rat study showed that DHA Omega-3 also has anti-obesity effects. The researchers claim that Omega-3 actually kills fat cells and dissolves fat.
Again, to quote the researchers, ‘Omega-3 promotes pre-fat cell apoptosis and lipolysis.’
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
References
- Hanbauer, I. et al. The Decrease of n-3 Fatty Acid Energy Percentage in an Equicaloric Diet Fed to B6C3Fe Mice for Three Generations Elicits Obesity. Cardiovasc Psychiatry Neurol. 2009; 2009: 867041.
- Hill AM, Buckley JD, Murphy KJ, Howe PR. Combining fish-oil supplements with regular aerobic exercise improves body composition and cardiovascular disease risk factors. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 May;85(5):1267-74.
- Mori T, Kondo H, Hase T, Tokimitsu I, Murase T. Dietary fish oil upregulates intestinal lipid metabolism and reduces body weight gain in C57BL/6J mice. J Nutr. 2007 Dec;137(12):2629-34.
- Kim HK, Della-Fera M, Lin J, Baile CA. Docosahexaenoic acid inhibits adipocyte differentiation and induces apoptosis in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. J Nutr. 2006 Dec;136(12):2965-9.
About the Author: Vin Kutty is OmegaVia’s Scientific Advisor and Chief Blogger. He is a nutritionist, author, and Omega-3 expert with over 20 years of experience. Email him.
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