Momma's Omegas

[Scott Kustes]

My mom has been having some problems with her eyes (as in dry and irritated, not being old and unable to see) and has been seeing a doctor. She wrote me with this question today.

The eye doc says I really have some dry eyes. I’m to taper off the steroid drops and continue on the artificial tears and gel at night until I see him in a month. And, the dry eyes may not be connected to the allergies – we’ll just have to wait and see on that. He is still mulling over whether to put me on the prescription of Restasis which induces the eyes to make more tears, but takes up to 3 months to kick in.

So….here’s the question – I keep reading that omega 3’s and omega 6’s in flax seed oil and fish oil can give a lot of relief from dry eyes. I have not been able to find any recommended amounts per day to take. At this point I take 1,200mg of fish oil once a day and 1,000 flax oil twice per day – both in softgel form. Can you check with your friends to see if they know whether I should take more and if so, how much?

I told her that I take 3g of the oil or 5g of the pills (depending on whether I'm at home or on the road) daily and to dump the flax in favor of more fish (due to inefficient flax n3 conversion). I recommended 5g/day. She eats fairly decent...not alot of processed stuff. Vegetables with dinner every night. Doesn't eat grassfed and has no intention of starting. Has cereal for "the fiber" daily. We wouldn't approve of her diet, but compared to the "average American", she's on the ball. So given that she's probably not going to make dietary changes in the near term and I'm not planning to preach dietary change to her, how much fish oil should I tell her to take initially and what should she taper down to? I know I've seen Robb recommend 10g/day...what type of intervention would call for that? And should we be doing CLO or fish oil? Does it matter other than the vit. A&D?

Thanks

[Ben Kaminski]

I take 10g of fish oil per day everyday, on top of a 15oz can of salmon that purports to provide 7g of straight-up omega3s per can. My recommendation to people who ask is to take 10 fish oil caps per day. I get the lowest price brand, buy them on sale, and they typically cost about 6 cents each on average.

CLO is good for "natural" vit A&D, but they say that cheaper brands filter out the vitamins during processing and later insert artificial vit A&D. CLO has a little omega3 but not as much as fish oil.

I think the biggest improvements would be seen with fish oil. Store bought meat and grains both have lots of omega6 and little omega3. Balancing that out is a good idea.

[Scott Kustes]

I hadn't really noticed the differences in EPA/DHA content between fish oil and CLO. CLO has a total of ~950mg/tsp (Carlson's) and the fish oil is ~1300mg/tsp. Thanks for the info. She seems ready to jump on 10g/day, so I'll push her that way. We just got a CostCo in Louisville, so she may be able to get Kirkland's (Costco shoppers, is that the brand?) pretty cheaply....I seem to recall Robb saying that's a good brand quality and price-wise.

[Jeremy Jones]

I get the Kirkland Brand (Costco's brand).

I get the 'eneric' coated ones. They are more expensive (still only $12 for 200) but they keep down the fish burps.