 What's up, guys? Today we are talking about Omega-3s, and if you'd like to know how to get more of them in your diet, definitely check out my carnivore diet meal plan over at frank-tifano.com. So Omega-3s are polyunsaturated fatty acids. Our bodies do not produce them. The major ones being alpha-linoleic acid, ALA, icosopentanoic acid, EPA, and docosahexanoic acid, DHA. Before we go into this, there has been the idea that these Omega-3s, specifically fish oils, are toxic, popularized by Ray Pete. Now, Ray Pete is right in the sense that most fish oil supplements are oxidized and do cause stress in the body by the studies he referenced. Another context is that Americans have a lot of polyunsaturated fats in their diet in general, and even though Omega-3s are good compared to Omega-6s, both of them are incredibly prone to oxidation, therefore they are stressing the body with too much polyunsaturated fat. Basically, in a standard American diet where you're consuming these rancid, oxidized fish oil supplements and have high levels of polyunsaturated fat consumption from Omega-6 seed oils, you can stress certain metabolic processes, especially vitamin E stores in the body. The first issue can be addressed by using a quality fish oil or just eating seafood. Why else could a fish from minimally polluted waters be one of the healthiest things you can eat? The second is alleviated by not over-consuming supplements or heavily oxidized fish oils, and of course, you know, fishing your diet in general to more healthy whole foods whether they're animal or plant-based. So, eat all the quality fish and sashimi you want, but don't take those $10 a bottle fish oil pills as they are likely doing more harm than good. And keep in mind, guys, certain groups of people are adapted to fatty fish consumption, like the First Nation Alaskans, aka the Inuit Eskimos, as well as Norwegian people, you know, whoever settled like colder bodies of water and subsisted a large percentage of their calories from fatty fish. So, we have the re-peat stuff out of the way. Let's move on to alpha linolenic acid, which is found in higher concentrations in plant foods, but animal foods contain it as well. Its primary purpose is energy. The body can store it and use it for energy production. Alternatively, it can be used in a limited fashion to form other long-chain fatty acids. Studies have demonstrated that ALA converts into EPA at rates of approximately 4%, but there has never been a study showing that alpha linolenic acid can increase blood levels of DHA. The reason for this is likely that foods which contain ALA are also very high in omega-6, nuts and seeds, which impairs DHA synthesis through some enzymatic processes. There is no indicator that we need to specifically get ALA from plant foods, as animal foods do have more than adequate amounts. By reducing omega-6, it might be possible that you can convert some ALA into DHA, but that is incredibly unrealistic on a vegan diet. So if you don't want to take a toxic algae supplement and be a vegan, just go have a few bites of fish. They can't feel it. Moving on to EPA, the primary function being to produce icosinoids that have anti-inflammatory mediating properties in the body. A subset of icosinoids being prostaglandins, some of you may have heard, same thing, overarching anti-inflammatory effects. And this is why we see omega-3s, or at least part of the reason that we see omega-3s having anti-inflammatory benefits in studies. And these pharmaceutical companies have actually started developing drugs that are simply concentrated omega-3. And it's interesting that you'll see drugs for both EPA and DHA separately, as well as some of them combined. So altering the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio in the diet, these fatty acids, can alter the ratio of prostaglandins leading to dysfunction. Too high omega-6, for instance, can lead to arthritis, whereas too much omega-3 can lead to stroke. Could be part of the reason that the First Nations Alaskans do suffer from stroke. DHA makes up 8% of our brain weight and is extremely important for normal brain development and function. Our brains actually require 4.6 milligrams per day of DHA. Doesn't seem like a lot, but most people aren't getting any. And that's not necessarily optimal. Makes sense why vegans feel like their brains reboot when they eat fish. One interesting metric is that DHA levels in human breast milk vary over 20-fold. From 0.05% to 1.5%. Do you want to nurse your child on breast milk loaded with DHA, or do you want to nurse your child on an angry vegan that has puffs coming out of their nipples? Like I don't know. Maybe that's why my head isn't as big. I wasn't fed a soy formula. Frankie has a tiny brain, but he's still smarter than everyone else. Okay, so some of you may have been noticing I'm going up and down. I'm actually standing on my tiptoes because I put my board too high and my legs are kind of getting tired. So what are you going to do? So these two fatty acids, EPA and DHA, are our bread and butter. EPA for regulation of cell function and DHA for brain health, as well as nerve cell structure and function. Essentially, what we need to focus on in getting in our diet as the other fatty acids, ALA, as well as the omega-6s, which we will talk about next week, are inherently obtained once you obtain the EPA and the DHA, just how it goes with food synergy. DHA is most commonly obtained through eggs and fish, including shellfish, especially fattier shellfish like oysters, uni. It is also in the brain tissues of ruminant animals. DHA in brain tissue as well as fish eggs occurs in the phospholipid form, which can be absorbed into the brain easier. You guys might have heard Dr. Ron DePachec talk about this in the past and the research wasn't conclusive, but it's fairly convincing. Now there are plenty of studies you can bring up to demonstrate the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, and this is through supplements as well as seafood consumption. Benefits such as lowering heart disease to better blood pressure markers. One thing you may have heard is that the blood of First Nation Alaskans, the Inuit Eskimos, takes longer to clot because of their high omega-3 consumption. I believe this was from the book The Fat of the Land by William R. Stephenson. Eight to nine minutes to stop bleeding versus the average of four minutes in an American. That's because of platelet adhesiveness as well as the concentration of fibrinogen in the blood. Their fish-eating habits made their blood flow smoother and as we spoke about those pharmaceutical companies, those drugs are being used to treat high blood pressure, all of these issues as opposed to aspirin. I mean, maybe these drug companies should open up a fish market, maybe give Frankie some of that sweet drug money so I can be Frankie fish fingers. We spoke earlier about oxidation concerns of fish oil supplements and it's why I recommend fresh or canned seafood infinitely better, especially frozen seafood. Go to your local Asian market, meet a cute little Japanese or Korean girl or boy if you're into that. We actually just launched fresh cod liver oil on Frankie's free-range meat and hope to do fresh fish oil in the future. I'm going to have to figure out how to get oil out of a mackerel. Unfortunately, most oils do have preservatives added and have been on shelves oxidizing for months. By extracting the fish oil fresh and keeping it very cold, we're able to minimize the oxidation and other companies don't have this ability so they add preservatives and hope for the best. It's why I don't think I've ever recommended a fish oil supplement and I have mentioned rosita cod liver oil in the past, but it's probably still oxidized to some degree and they do have to add vitamin E in the form of rosemary oil as a preservative. He will ship you cod liver oil, affordably fresh, frozen, whatever you wish so you can feel and smell like a fish. So meat boy, tell me what are the takeaways? Make sure to remove omega-6 vegetable seed oils from your diet. We didn't really touch on that, but over years on a proper diet, you will balance the omega-6 to omega-3 ratios and generally speaking, a lot of becoming healthier is removing negative things, not necessarily adding positive things. Consume as much omega-3 as you are comfortable with. You know, for some this might be a tablespoon of salmon roe once per day, for others, they might feel great eating pounds and pounds of fatty fish like mackerel, herring and sardines, but as an Italian, that stuff kind of grosses me out. There is a huge variation in omega-3 tolerance from person to person, so you will have to do some experimenting on your own and keep in mind, these omega-3s are most critical during developmental stages of life. Prenatal, pregnancy, nursing, childhood, teenage years, as most of you watching are adults, your omega-3 needs are nowhere near that of a developing child or pregnant or nursing mother. You know, I believe we mentioned like the First Nation Alaskans and the Norwegians being adapted to a high omega-3 consumption. More is not better here guys. You know, I said I'm Italian and we were probably eating leaner fish from the Mediterranean and substituting our energy source with carbohydrates, not fatty fish oil. That being said, you know, if you feed your kid mackerel instead of bronzino, he'll be a tall Nordic person as opposed to a Hobbit Italian. So thank you guys for joining me. If you could please like the video, definitely subscribe and hit that bell icon. And guys, please share the video so I can get a decent studio set up. Frankie Boy is suffering, trying to keep his voice down. You guys can go to, as we said, frankdestofano.com for the carnivore diet meal plan. We have Frankie's syringe meat, cod liver oil launched last night. We might be sold out already, but we're making more. We're doing Frankie's Naturals as always. Minimal ingredients, minimally processed hygiene and cosmetic products. Thanks for joining me guys. As I said, we're gonna do omega-6 next week.