James Sears - The Omega-3 Effect: Everything You Need to Know About the Super Nutrient for Living Longer, Happier, and Healthier

In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the authors intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the authors rights.

This book is intended to supplement, not replace, the advice of a trained health professional. If you know or suspect that you have a health problem, you should consult a health professional. The author and publisher specifically disclaim any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

Copyright 2012 by William Sears, MD

Cover design by Ploy Siripant

Cover 2012 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the authors intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the authors rights.

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The book you are holding has been written by a doctor who shares with you his joy in good health and his love for his family and patients. Dr. Bill Sears wrote this book to reach the most readers with the best science in the simplest way. During the past year, I saw him tirelessly work to develop stories and lessons that would help people understand how they might prevent and reverse habits that cause untold damage to their health and the health of their families.

As an experienced author, Dr. Bill knows to keep it simple, make it fun for his readers. As an experienced physician who has seen the tragic results of bad health habits and guidance, he knows that he must keep it scientific, make it factual, he must avoid telling entertaining but misleading fantasies. You will enjoy seeing how he succeeds in giving science-made-simple explanations.

Although we have vast biomedical knowledge about disease, more than 80 percent of U.S. health care dollars are spent on issues caused by preventable lifestyle behaviors. Something is missing. The Omega-3 Effect makes us aware of what we need to understand and do to prevent this problem.

I happened to be a professor of biochemistry in 1964 when an article first reported that our bodies convert vitaminlike omega-3 and omega-6 fats into a complex set of powerful hormones. The next several decades were years of exciting discoveries, as hundreds of scientists uncovered even more important news about omega-3 and omega-6 hormones, including that they act on selective receptors located on nearly every cell and tissue of the body. As a result, these hormones affect nearly every physiological and pathological aspect of our lives. They play a role in many conditions, including atherosclerosis, thrombosis, arrhythmia, heart attacks, immune-inflammatory disorders, asthma, arthritis, psychiatric disorders, depression, suicide, oppositional behavior, unproductive workplace behaviors, cancer proliferation, and length of stay in hospitals.

The scope of the omegas effects on our health is amazing. Although it has become common biomedical knowledge that omega-3 and omega-6 hormones are powerful enough to help prevent and treat many health problems, the incidence and prevalence of preventable diseases has not diminished. Enter Dr. Bill, who, like a patient Zen scholar, searched for simple metaphors that would shock the mind into awareness and lead readers to experience an enlightened or awakened state. He creates fresh views of how omega-3 nutrients help your heart, build smarter brains and better moods, help childhood learning and behavior, make pregnancies healthier and baby brains brighter, help balance inflammation, aid weight loss, keep you young, help you heal, and more. He helps you understand how the interaction between omega-3 and omega-6 fats is a key to good health. The Omega-3 Effect will make you aware of, and alive to, what you can do for your family and friends.

Bill Lands, PhD

Author of Fish, Omega-3 and Human Health

Fellow AAAS, ASN, SFRBM

A big helping of thanks to my board of advisers, who collectively have authored more than fifteen hundred scientific articles on health issues:

Tom Brenna, PhD. President of the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL) in 2012; professor of human nutrition and chemical biology, Cornell University. His research mostly deals with studies on fatty acids and brain health.

Jrn Dyerberg, MD. One of the worlds leading authorities on the health benefits of omega-3 fish oils. In the early 1970s he led a research team that studied the association between fish oil and heart disease in the Inuit population of Greenland.

William Harris, PhD. Omega-3 index coinventor; American Heart Association author; research professor, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota; senior scientist, Health Diagnostics Laboratory, Richmond, Virginia; president, Omega-Quant LLC.

Bruce Holub, PhD. Professor emeritus, Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Scientific director, DHA/EPA Omega-3 Institute, www.dhaomega3.org.

Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD. Distinguished professor of nutrition, Department of Nutritional Sciences, Pennsylvania State University. Her research includes over twenty years of clinical studies evaluating the role of diet on risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Bill Lands, PhD. Author of Fish, Omega-3 and Human Health, second edition (AOCS Books, 2005). His website www.FastLearner.org discusses the omega balance scores of many foods. Professor Lands is credited with discovering the benefits of balancing the effects of excess omega-6 fatty acids with dietary omega-3 fatty acids, and he is widely regarded as one of the pioneering omega-3 researchers.