Dhru Purohit Show
The Mind-Blowing Science of Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Heart Health, Brain Health and Longevity (Rebroadcast)
18 Dec 2024
This episode is brought to you by BiOptimizers, Levels, and Air Doctor. What if there was one key nutrient that could boost your health, increase longevity, reduce chronic inflammation, and lower your risk of Alzheimer’s? You’ve probably heard of it: omega-3! But here’s the surprising part—over 90% of the population has suboptimal omega-3 levels. Today on The Dhru Purohit Show, we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes with Dr. Bill Harris, a world-renowned researcher, to dive into decades of research on omega-3s and their powerful impact on health. Dr. Harris explains the correlation between optimal omega-3 levels and longer life spans, reduced rates of depression, anxiety, and Alzheimer’s, as well as their role in lowering chronic inflammation. As one of the most researched nutrients—and among the top three that can drastically improve health—omega-3s are essential. In this episode, Dr. Harris shares insights on choosing quality fish and supplements, understanding optimal omega-3 levels, and testing your levels through the OmegaQuant Institute. If you’re looking for inspiration to prioritize omega-3s in your diet, this conversation is a must-listen! William S. Harris, PhD, FASN, has been a leading researcher in the field of omega-3 fatty acids for 40 years. He has authored over 300 scientific papers on fatty acids and health, served on the faculty of three medical schools, and received five NIH grants to study omega-3s. Dr. Harris co-authored three American Heart Association (AHA) statements on fatty acids and heart health. As the co-inventor of the Omega-3 Index and other omega-3 blood tests, as well as the founder of OmegaQuant Analytics, Dr. Harris has been ranked among the top 2% of scientists worldwide for the impact of his research. In this episode, Dhru and Dr. Harris dive into: Higher levels of omega-3’s lead to a longer life (00:00:35) Omega-3s are in the top three nutrients that can improve our health (3:00) Mindblowing research on smokers and the protective nature of omega-3s (5:25) The link between low omega-3s, depression, mood, and anxiety (16:12) High levels of omega-3s and their correlation to reducing the risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s (20:21) The research behind omega-3’s and reducing chronic inflammation (28:32) The average omega-3 levels versus optimal levels (30:45) What has led to omega-3 deficiencies and the rise in ultra-processed food consumption (31:10) Reducing triglyceride levels with fish oil and the impact on our cells (32:43) What are EPA, DHA, and ALA, and the sources of each (36:35) How much fish consumption is optimal, and what kind (44:40) Testing your levels via the Omega-3 index and optimal ranges (49:40) Choosing the right fish oil and general dosage (59:10) Testing pregnant women and children (1:22:40) Why the omega-3s aren’t being tested for and prescribed by every doctor (1:26:00) Also mentioned in this episode: Testing via OmegaQuant Fatty Acid Research Insitute For more on Dr. Harris, follow OmegaQuant via Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. This episode is brought to you by BiOptimizers, Levels, and Air Doctor. Go to bioptimizers.com/dhru now and enter promo code DHRU10 to get 10% off any order and up to 2 travel-size bottles of Magnesium Breakthrough for a limited time. Right now, Levels is offering my listeners an additional 2 FREE months of the Levels annual Membership when you use my link, levels.link/DHRU. Make moves on your metabolic health with Levels today. AirDoctor is offering my community $300 off. Just go to dhrupurohit.com/filter/ to clean up your home’s air and feel better today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Dr. Bill Harris, welcome to the podcast. You know, we were chatting, I was sharing that a lot of my listeners are very interested and it's their goal to live to 100 and maybe beyond, but it's not just about lifespan, it's about healthspan. They wanna be healthy along the way.
And something mind-blowing that I've learned from following your work over the years is that getting enough omega-3s in our diet is a huge part of that. In fact, you've shared previously that people that have higher levels of omega-3s in their blood are less likely to die an earlier death. To me, that's mind-blowing. I'd love for you to expand on that.
Sure. Great to be on your show. Thanks for the invitation. Yeah, that particular finding, we were part of a large collaboration of a bunch of what we call cohort studies. A cohort is just a group of people that gets recruited in a certain area, like in Boston or in London or whatever. And
The investigators will draw blood samples at the beginning of the study and then they just keep in touch with these people over the years to see how they do, the diseases they develop. Then we look backwards and we look at omega-3 levels in the blood from when they started the study and see what diseases happened, who died, who didn't die, things like that.
the paper you're talking about, we looked at omega-3 levels in something like 150,000 people, 18 different cohorts, and we put it all together and we looked at the people at the highest omega-3 levels, the highest 20% versus the lowest 20%, and those that had the highest 20% were like 10 to 15% less likely to die during that period of time that we followed them up.
Obviously, you wait long enough, everybody dies.
Just so everybody's clear.
Just to be clear on that. Right. We are not, this is not immortality we're talking about, but it does seem to make you live on a higher omega-3 is associated. I have to be careful. I'm not saying the effect of omega-3 is to make you live longer because we haven't. done that intervention study, supplementation study, and nobody ever will do that study.
But all the evidence is pointing to the association between high omega-3 and longer life, healthier life, better health span, as you said.
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