It’s Saturday afternoon. You have a bunch of errands to run and decide to make a quick stop into GNC. You heard on Dr. Oz that there’s a new fat loss supplement on the market getting people incredible results.
You have seen claims saying all you have to do is take a pill. You can eat whatever you want, not exercise, and lose up to 20 pounds in 2 months.
As you’re standing there, you look at the massive wall containing hundreds of supplements. You begin to wonder, “How could this little pill produce those incredible results?”
Well, the bad news is it can’t. Any company that claims a single pill can cause significant change in a short amount of time without doing anything else is usually being dishonest. We are actually starting to see some of them being punished for deceiving people out of their hard earned money (1).
The good news is that there are some supplements worth taking. I want to highlight one of them in particular.
First, let me preface by saying that a supplement is just that, a supplement. It should never be used to replace real food. However, they can be valuable especially if you do not eat certain foods often.
Fish oil is one of those supplements that are worth taking and it has been shown to have many health benefits. I want to outline 3 in particular that not only have an impact on your health, but on your body composition as well.
Photo Credit: http://russianchicagomag.com/dr-vlada-korol-fish-oil-get-the-best-catch/
1. Fish oil can help you decrease body fat
Each cell in your body is outlined with the fat that you consume on a daily basis. If this fat is good like the Omega-3 found in fish oil then your body becomes more sensitive to insulin. If it is bad like Trans fats then you could easily become resistant to insulin, which I have talked about here.
If your cells are sensitive to insulin, your muscles will be able to store your blood sugar and use it for energy. If you are resistant, your body will instead store more of this sugar as body fat. Obviously, if you want less body fat your cells need to be receptive to insulin.
One study had 44 men and women supplement with fish oil for 6 weeks to see if it impacted their resting metabolic rate, body composition, and cortisol (2). The subjects were divided into two different groups.
One group supplemented with 4 grams per day of safflower oil, while the other group took 4 grams of fish oil. After the 6 week period, the results showed that the fish oil group increased fat free mass and lowered fat mass when compared to the safflower group.
That is an awesome result considering the participants were not given any exercise intervention. Like I mentioned above, you will not get any magical results from taking a supplement. The results the people got in this study did not drastically change their bodies.
It did however, help them becoming a little more efficient at burning fat and building muscle. If the subjects would have changed the way they ate and exercised, the results would have been even better. There are never any shortcuts to getting the body you want, only tools to help you get there.
2. Fish oil can help lower cortisol
Another thing that happened in the study above is the fish oil group experienced a decrease in cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone and it can break down muscle tissue if it is secreted more than normal.
Cortisol is an important hormone, but it shouldn’t be chronically elevated. That is when bad things can happen.
A second study showed similar results (3). The researchers took 42 patients diagnosed with major depression and divided them into two groups. One group took fish oil only and the other group took fish oil with the anti-depressant Prozac.
The researchers wanted to see if it had an effect on their cortisol secretion. They found that both groups experienced a significant decrease. This result is very impressive because lower cortisol can lead to decreased stress, reduced body fat, and increased muscle mass.
3. Fish oil can help reduce inflammation
Inflammation is a natural response in the body. When you are injured or sick, this is how our bodies fight. The problem is when it becomes chronic.
When this happens, you become more susceptible to disease and injury, your immune system weakens, you lose muscle mass, and you gain fat much easier. This is often caused by the highly processed food people eat.
Inflammation is a very bad thing, and something we want to keep at bay. It seems that fish oil may be able to help with that.
One study looked at three groups of elderly people (4). The researchers gave two of the groups different doses of fish oil, while the other was given sunflower oil. They wanted to see if certain inflammatory markers changed.
The findings showed that the two fish oil groups had the expression of 1,048 genes changed while the other group only had 298. These genes were involved in inflammatory regulation.
This basically means that they were altered to a more anti-inflammatory state, which results in less inflammation throughout the whole body. Big difference between the two, right? This is great for those battling diseases like diabetes and obesity.
Recommendations
So there are three basic benefits to taking one simple supplement. If you are eating wild caught, cold water fish a few times a week you shouldn’t have to take additional fish oil.
If you don’t, the oil is a great option. Follow the guidelines given by Precision Nutrition.
They suggest to:
- “Take 6-12 grams of total fish oil (about 3-6 grams of EPA + DHA) per day”
- “Use liquid fish oil so you do not have to take so many pills”
- “Look for small-fish-based formulations (e.g. herring, mackerel). Small fish are lower on the food chain and less likely to accumulate environmental toxins.”
- “Add up the amounts of EPA & DHA listed on the back of the product and make sure the total is at least 300 mg per 1000 mg capsule. This will make it easier to get the suggested dose.”
As far as which fish oil to take, I like Genuine Health. I found this brand through Precision Nutrition and it works well.
Fish oil has many more benefits that weren’t covered in this post today. Just know that it can be a great aid to lowering body fat and building muscle mass when combined with proper nutrition and exercise. Both of these things will have a very positive impact on your health and body.
If you are looking for a personal trainer in Savannah, contact me to set up a consultation.
And if you found any of this information helpful, or know of someone it could help please share with others!
References:
- http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2014/01/sensa-three-other-marketers-fad-weight-loss-products-settle-ftc
- Noreen EE, et al. Effects of supplemental fish oil on resting metabolic rate, body composition, and salivary cortisol in healthy adults. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2010 Oct 8;7:31.
- Jazayeri S et al. Effects of eicosapentaenoic acid and fluoxetine on plasma cortisol, serum interleukin-1beta and interleukin-6 concentrations in patients with major depressive disorder. Psychiatry Res. 2010 Jun 30;178(1):112-5.
- Bouwens, M et al. Fish-oil supplementation induces anti-inflammatory gene expression profiles in human blood mononuclear cells. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Aug:90(2):415-24.
