Continuing the foundational five series. The last video I did was on multivitamins. If you didn't catch it, look around wherever you're seeing this video and you'll find it. Today. I'm talking about the second component of the foundational five, and that's ul. So it as a recap, the foundational five generally supplements that I think everybody would benefit from. Same disclaimers I did on the last video. I'm not giving you medical advice. Take notes on what I'm telling you. If some of this is of interest or you think you want to take one of these, if there's any question about whether it's relevant for you or not, or safe for you or not, speak to your functional medicine practitioner, um, your nutritionist, somebody that understands supplementation. Alright? If you ask your regular family doctor about supplements, they may or may not have any knowledge at all about supplements in the information yet may be less relevant than what you're getting here, even though I don't know your history.

(00:54)
So be aware, speak to someone that understands what they're talking about. Now, number two on our list was fish oil. Fish oil is omega-3. It's important for us to get, um, I believe it's important for us to get our omega-3 fats from fish oil. Okay? Getting 'em from plants is, is difficult. Uh, for example, flax seed oil has some omega-3 in it, but it's not the kind of omega-3 we're talking about. We're talking about D H A and EPA A. And for d h A and epa A, uh, you have to convert the linolenic acid in the, um, flaxseed oil into the epa and D h a. It's a multi-step process. And research indicates maybe you convert 1%. Most of the research says it's a half of a percent. It's just not an efficient conversion. And, and the powers that be who I normally don't listen to, um, have kind of agreed that they can't call that a reliable source of omega-3 fats because most people, um, don't convert that well enough.

(01:57)
Now, certain genetic types can convert it great, but knowing whether or not that's you is pretty difficult. So anyway, we're gonna talk about actual fish oil because I think that's the most meaningful way to go about it. Um, I've got a couple of options here. I'm gonna share with you. Other doctors use other stuff. I'm not saying this is the only thing on the planet that's any good, right? So the first one, the one I, it's my go-to. If anybody needs omega-3 fads, I start with this. If there's a reason I can't do it, then we move to the others. But number one, by and large cod liver oil, okay, these are in capsules, don't worry, you don't have to taste cod liver oil, but cod liver oil. Now the standard process cod liver oil is a little bit different, um, than some in many cod liver oils. The manufacturer is kind of forced to strip out the vitamin A and vitamin D that's naturally occurring in there and replace it with a synthetic, more controlled form of vitamin A and D so that they can then put on the label exactly how much

Is in there. And it's always the same because they're putting it in there. Not necessarily bad, but the form of vitamin A and D changes when you do that. Uh, in the actual cod liver, it is in a, what's called a triglyceride form that's very easy for us to incorporate and use. Um, for example, vitamin D in the triglyceride form is probably three or four times as valuable as vitamin D in a regular supplemental form. So even if you're supplementing with vitamin D, which we will get to in a future video, um, having a small amount of triglyceride form vitamin D is really beneficial. It helps round it out and make it more usable. Um, so anyway, there's, there's gonna be some vitamin A and vitamin D in the cod liver oil. Um, the vitamin A in some cod liver cod liver oil is enough to kind of be your daily supplement of vitamin A.

(03:48)
Um, vitamin D is probably not gonna be enough for you to rely on that, but like I said, it rounds it out fairly well. Um, it's got a good amount of E P A and D h A in it. I'm not gonna go into all the details on it that we'll do that in a different video. Um, but it's a really good source. The downside of the standard process called liver oil, um, the capsules are large and so they can be difficult for some people to swallow. Now they are gel caps so that makes it easier. Um, but they can be a little bit difficult for people to swallow, but if they can get it in, it's a really, really good form of fish oil. Great to be taken on a daily basis. Um, for an average size adult, three capsules a day. Um, for someone my size, I'm pushing 200 pounds.

(04:31)
So I do four capsules a day. Uh, for teenagers or younger kids, if they can swallow the capsule, just dose it down for them one or two a day, you're not likely to overdose somebody on fish oil and there's not really enough vitamin A in here that at three or four or five or six a day that you're gonna overdose anybody on that. I mean if, I guess if you took half the bottle you might get too much. Um, but, but really, really good quality fish oil. Um, we do some high dose fish oil in people who have, um, concussions in some of our autistic kids that we see in the office. We'll do higher doses with them. Um, but it's not always in this form. Many of them can't swallow the pills like this. So I'm gonna go over a different one for them in just a second.

(05:16)
But anyway, con liver oil, really good whole food. Um, E P A D H A heavy, um, omega-3 supplement. Okay, good for anti-inflammation, great for the brain, good for um, H D L and heart issues. Um, some of it gets incorporated in the cell membranes. Uh, and then you've got the A and the D which are obviously important. So that's cod, liver oil, great option. Next, if they can't swallow the pills cuz they're just too big, um, then the next thing we do is we go to a tuna omega-3. Now I know what a lot of you are gonna say. Tuna's a big fish, right? You've been told not to do big fish

For your omega-3 because big fish live longer and they tend to concentrate toxins in the water. God knows our waters are kind of toxic. I don't disagree with that. That's where something like krill oil would come in. You're doing a very small, um, animal to get your fish oil so it doesn't live long enough to concentrate much. I get it. Um, the TAL oil's tested, it's free of toxins. They ensure that before they package it, send it out. They've been doing this a long time, they know what they're doing. So anyway, I don't worry about the TAL oil here, but these are smaller capsules so they're much more easier to swallow. However, you're not getting the vitamin A and the vitamin D in this. You're just getting the omega threes with the EPA and D hha. Um, so very good source of of fish oil, EPA and D hha.

(06:44)
You're just not going to get the vitamin A and D that you would get out of the comp liver oil, but much easier to swallow. These are much smaller pills or probably half the size, if not a little bit less, um, than the collard liver oil. They're also gel caps, so very easy to swallow. Um, not as small if from standard process, they have kind of three sizes, four sizes of gel caps. Um, they're not as small as the wheat germ oil, um, or black current seed oil. Those are very small. Um, these are kind of middle of the road. Uh, and then the, obviously the collar liver oil is the largest that they have, I think. All right then third option, and this is for people that can't swallow pills at all. So a lot of times it's gonna be children or it's gonna be someone who's had damage to their mouth or throat.

(07:32)
They've had surgery, they've had radiation for whatever reason. Um, they can't swallow pills, but they need omega-3 fats. So for that we use the calamari oil. Okay? Um, it's got a very nice blended EPA in D h a kind of, uh, little heavier on the epa. Um, but really good for brain function and brain health. So we use this a lot. Um, in our autistic kids. It's kind of citrus flavored. Um, but more often than not, parents will just mix it with a little bit of apple sauce and it goes in just fine. Um, but you can also mix it with juice, you can pour it in a smoothie, whatever. Um, I, I will say, and this bottle's a decent size considering, you know, the way you dose this, um, you don't want a giant bottle of fish oil when it's liquid because every time you open that cap, you let air into the bottle and you will slowly start to oxidize the fish oil. Oxidized fish oil is number one, is no fun to take. It starts to taste fishy and kind of rancid. Um, but it's also not great for us if you're gonna go through this bottle. And I, nobody has really given me a good timeframe. I'm sure it depends on atmospheric conditions and how often you open the bottle, whatever. But I would look at finishing a bottle like this probably within a month or six weeks. If you take this off and on and it's been open several times and three or four

Months later you're still taking doses out of that bottle, I'd be a little concerned that air has been in there that long and it's, it's making the fish oil rancid, it's oxidizing it in things like the cod liver oil and the tuna omega because they're encapsulated. If you open and close that bottle all the time, the air gets in there. But the fish oil is inside those gel caps. It's sequestered, it's protected against oxidation, so it tends to stay much more stable. Um, and so when I can, I like to use encapsulated fish oil, I like that just cause I think it's more stable. Um, but for liquid fish oil, this is a great, great option. Um, what else do I need to say on fish oil? Eating fish? Nothing wrong with eating fish to get your omega three s. You're not likely to get enough of it that way.

(09:46)
Um, unless you're really serious about eating your fish. And then you can do the calculations and if you're getting enough of it, great. How do you know if you're getting enough fish oil enough Omega three s, uh, EPA and dha, there is a test that we sell at the office. Lots of offices have it, it's called an Omega quant test and it's a finger stick test. You prick your finger and you fill a couple circles on a business card, let it dry out and mail it to the lab, and then you get a report back that explains your three, six and nine fat ratios, your epa, A and DHA levels. And it will tell you whether or not you're getting enough omega-3 relative to the other fats, um, that you have. So that's a great test to do. It's not terribly expensive. You can call our office and we can set you up with that.

(10:35)
You can also get it, I'm sure through other practitioners if you ask about it. Um, or if you google omega quant, you may even be able to buy your own online. Uh, I think the one that we have, the practitioner version comes with a few extra, um, bits of information compared to the consumer one. But, uh, you'll, you'll still get the basic information out of it. Um, but that will tell you whether or not you need extra fish oil or omega-3. And then once you start taking omega-3, take it for 90 days or so and then retest and see if the omega-3 supplement you're using is actually doing the job. And we've had patients over the years that have, um, insisted on using flax, flax oil, flax meal, you know, several different forms. And so we tell 'em, good, do it for 90 days, let's retest and see where we are. I, I've never seen it really resolve the issue. Um, and typically once we get 'em on, um, an actual fish oil, uh, an animal-based one, um, they usually resolve very quickly. Um, so, and pretty predictably. So anyway, part of that's from my experience, part of that's from the research that says that you just don't convert that to omega-3 very well. Flax has its benefits, don't get me wrong. Um, but if you're doing it to get omega-3, it's just not likely to be as effective as you have probably been told. Um, but

Do your own research, you'll be able to find the same numbers, uh, that I found. So any questions on fish oil, let me know. Uh, again, as usual, you can call the office if you want the OmegaQuant test. Uh, if you want some of these products, that's fine. Um, uh, oh, lastly, some people will tell you that fish oil is an anticoagulant, it's a blood thinner. And so if you're taking blood thinners, you have to be very careful about taking fish oil and all of this technically, yes. Um, but the blood thinning effect of fish oil is so mild it, it pales in comparison to what a pharmaceutical blood thinner would do. Like if you think you're gonna get off your Plavix by taking fish oil, I wouldn't advise that, right? I did. I just, I don't think you're going to get nearly the same effect, uh, out of the fish oil that you would get out of something like the Plavix.

(12:43)
It's also difficult to measure because now, uh, most of the, uh, blood thinners they're using are not easily measurable by a blood test like the Coumadin and Warfarin used to be. Um, and, and so first of all, don't think you're gonna replace those. Second of all, in my opinion, it really doesn't pose much of a risk to put a normal nutritional dose of fish oil into your regimen if you're taking blood thinners. Um, if you're maxing out, like if you're taking, you know, 30 capsules a day, could it have an impact on it? Yeah, I suppose it could. Um, but if you're doing a regular supplemental dose or if you're following the OmegaQuant test and getting your levels up to where they should be anyway, you shouldn't have any problem taking these with blood thinners. And if your doctor tells you, oh my God, you can't take fish oil with that, that's probably, um, over cautious and misinformed.

(13:36)
Do something like the OmegaQuant, get your levels into the normal range and you, you won't be creating, uh, a risky situation in that sense. You just won't. Okay? Um, so anyway, quick note on that. Um, so call the office. We can set you up with what you need or go to the website, dr krupka.com. D R K R U P K A. Uh, and in the upper right corner there's a menu item that says store. You can click on that. There's a link to standard process. You can buy these fish oils if you like. Just remember, cod liver oil capsules are large tuna omega capsules are mid-range and much easier for everybody to take. And then if you just can't swallow capsules, calamari oil's the way to go. All right, hope that helps you guys out. Let me know if you have any questions.