Our diet is always a point of a major conversation around cancer prevention and control. This is no different for prostate cancer prevention and control. Many of us have made a serious attempt to add fish oil (omega-3 oils) to our diet to fight inflammation, a major no-no in cancer fighting. That’s got to be a good thing, right?

Not so fast! Fish oil capsules, although high in the targeted omega-3 oils are manufactured from large predatory fish that are often contaminated with dangerous toxins. Predatory fish are high on the food chain so they consume and store in their fatty tissue a combination of all the toxins eaten by all thefish lower down on the chain. Their fatty tissue is full of concentrated toxins.

It is possible that with every fish oil capsule, you could be getting a dose of PCBs, mercury and other heavy metals. This potential contaminates will undo any possible positive effect from the increased dosage of omega-3 oils, maybe even provide you with an over-all negative result.

There does seem to be a better alternative to those fish oil capsules, Krill oil. Krill are tiny shrimp like creatures that abound in the pure waters of the Antarctic Ocean. They are at the very lowest point in the food chain (they are the main staple for many whales), consuming only plankton, which means their tissue and the oil from them is nearly 100% toxin-free, a better alternative to the traditional fish oil capsules.

    The Background

There are two types of fat, omega-3 and omega-6. Both are essential for human health. However, the typical American consumes far too many omega-6 fats in their diet while consuming very low levels of omega-3. Nutritionists tell us that the ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats is 1:1. However, in most American’s diets, the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 averages from 20:1 to 50:1.

Our primary sources of omega-6 oils are corn, soy, canola, safflower and sunflower oil; these oils are overabundant in the typical diet, which explains our excess omega-6 levels. You should make an effort to avoid or limit these oils in your diet. Omega-3, meanwhile, is typically found in flaxseed oil, walnut oil, and fish (also Krill).

The best type of omega-3 fats are those found in the fish and krill category. Fish and krill omega-3 oils are also high in two fatty acids crucial to human health, DHA and EPA. These two fatty acids are pivotal in preventing heart disease, cancer, and many other diseases. The human brain is also highly dependent on DHA – low DHA levels have been linked to depression, schizophrenia, memory loss, and a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

As I mentioned before eating most fresh fish, whether from the ocean, lakes and streams, or farm-raised, is no longer recommended, at least on a regular basis. Toxins, including mercury levels, in almost all fish, have now hit dangerously high levels across the world, and the risk of this mercury to your health now outweighs the fish’s omega-3 benefits. In addition to being mercury-free, krill oil is loaded with omega-3 along with EPA and DHA.

Keep adding the omega-3 oils to your diet, but consider getting them from krill.

Joel T Nowak MA, MSW