Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net and Ponsulak

Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net and Ponsulak

The Ugly Truth About Fish Oil

I sat in on a radio show today between breast cancer coach/blogger Elyn Jacobs and Prof Brian Peskin, a scientist specializing in parent essential oils — termed PEOs — and their relationship to both cancer and cardiovascular disease.  He’s just written a book, “PEO Solutions”, which will be available for purchase in November 2013.

It was an interesting discussion, Prof Peskin is an animated and passionate speaker who believes we are being misguided and conned by the health food industry (among others) into thinking that fish oils are good for our health.  It sounds as though this couldn’t be farther from the truth, there are real problems with fish oil, not the least of which is the fact that so many of our fish are now polluted by the waters they swim in.

We Don’t Die From Breast Cancer, Typically, But From Cardiovascular Disease

Prof Peskin’s arguments against fish oil have a great deal of merit and I wanted to share them with you because I’ve been reading that people who have had breast cancer don’t generally die from that, but from cardiovascular disease.  If you are taking fish oil to prevent cardiovascular disease, you’d better keep reading (and keep an open mind)!

According to his website, www.BrianPeskin.com, “First reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, a very large well-done study in Italy showed that fish oil was completely ineffective in preventing heart disease for a very large group of high risk patients.  Soon after, Dr. Eric Topol, renowned cardiologist from Scripps Health (La Jolla, California) and editor-in-chief of Medscape, recommended discontinuing all fish oil supplementation for the prevention of heart disease. It doesn’t get any more main stream than Dr. Topol, so I gladly accept the designation of an advocate for a rational, now mainstream approach for combating heart disease.”

What Are Parent Essential Oils?

According to Prof Peskin, there are only two parent oils we should be consuming – LA (parent omega-6), also known as linoleic acid, and ALA (parent omega-3), also known as alpha-linolenic acid.  These oils must come from food and to work properly in our bodies, they must not be heated, must be chemically unprocessed, organically raised and processed in such a way as to guarantee full physiologic functionality.

All other essential fatty acids, notes Prof Peskin, are termed “EFA derivatives” and these are made in the body already – AA, DHA, EPA.  Derivatives are made in the body from the parent oils, LA and ALA.  Thus, by taking these supplements we are actually overdosing on oils we already have in our bodies – and generally the oils we are supplementing with are rancid and actually promoting disease, not health!

Since our diets contain many oils that do not follow the above standards (think about that fried chicken or french fries you had last week), we are setting ourselves up for cancer and cardiovascular disease.

100 Trillion Cells Need Parent Oils

To properly understand how crucial parent oils are in our bodies, think about the fact that we have 100 trillion cells, and every single cell has a double layer of fats (known as a lipid bi-layer) comprising the membrane.  Of these fats in each cell’s membrane, 25-33% are parent oils.  If we don’t consume the healthy parent oils in our diet, our cells don’t have the building blocks they require for proper functioning and could very well lead us down the garden path to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and many other disease processes.

The Best Parent Oils Are…

Prof Peskin apparently is developing his own plant-based proprietary formulation of parent oils.  Until that becomes available, the best ones come from organically grown sunflower, safflower, pumpkin, and evening primrose seed oils, as well as coconut oil.

I recommend you go to his website, www.BrianPeskin.com, and download some of the PDFs he has available on parent essential oils.  My favorite is Cancer: A Complete Overview With PEOs to the Rescue.

I send my love to everyone taking this journey right now. If you would like my help with getting through breast cancer in an inspiring and ultra-healthy way, please sign up for my free e-newsletters on the right, or “like” me on Facebook (MarnieClark.com) and I’ll do my utmost to keep you informed and empowered on your healing journey… and beyond.