EPA & DHA: Are you getting too much?
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Originally Posted by Amy Fitzpatrick, MS, RD
They have recommended a minimum of 500 mg of DHA and EPA combined daily, with an ideal daily intake of 650 mg of the two omega-3 fatty acids combined.13. International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL). Recommendations for intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids in healthy adults. Available at: http://www.issfal.org.uk/Welcome/PolicyStatement3.asp. Accessed July 8, 2006.
52. Simopoulos AP, Leaf A, Salem N Jr. Workshop on the essentiality of and recommended dietary intakes for omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. J Am Coll Nutr. 1999;18:487-489. |
I’m glad this has come up. Too many people are getting in way too much EPA/DHA which is actually detrimental to hypertrophy. While too much inflammation is not ideal nor is too little. Those guys taking in their 10-20 fishoil caps a day are actually limiting their gains because of excessive DHA/EPA content.
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Originally Posted by in10city
I wonder if either of you could comment on this…I was discussing the comsumption of fats post-training and someone opined that it would be a good time to consume Omega-3’s to help combat inflammation, to assist in fat loss, etc … then I said, maybe not - since Omega-3’s influence prostaglandin production (PGF2a) which in turn is related to protein synthesis, would or could this lead to less of an impetus for protein synthesis post-training?
And we sort of left it open-ended there … It might seem like splitting hairs but everything I’ve read points to that conclusion … Any thoughts on this? |
I think this would heavily be contingent on what the actual fat source is. I’m eating about an ounce of almonds PWO with eggwhites. The O3 content in almonds is primarily ALA which as mentioned will have a poor conversion and thus not effect inflammation because of digestion primarily of the fibrous nature of almonds. When it does get converted and in circulation I’m sure the inflammation response to eccentric motion would have subsided already so the effect would be limited greatly if it even existed.
On the other hand, if I was drinking fish oil PWO it would effect the inflammation response greatly. As mentioned before, the inflammation response is necessary for muscle growth and immune response:
| As described earlier, resistance exercise causes trauma to skeletal muscle. The immune system responds with a complex sequence of immune reactions leading to inflammation (3). The purpose of the inflammation response is to contain the damage, repair the damage, and clean up the injured area of waste products.The immune system causes a sequence of events in response to the injury of the skeletal muscle. Macrophages, which are involved in phagocytosis (a process by which certain cells engulf and destroy microorganisms and cellular debris) of the damaged cells, move to the injury site and secrete cytokines, growth factors and other substances. Cytokines are proteins which serve as the directors of the immune system. They are responsible for cell-to-cell communication. Cytokines stimulate the arrival of lymphocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, and other healer cells to the injury site to repair the injured tissue (4).
The three important cytokines relevant to exercise are Interleukin-1 (IL-1), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). These cytokines produce most of the inflammatory response, which is the reason they are called the “inflammatory or proinflammatory cytokines” (5). They are responsible for protein breakdown, removal of damaged muscle cells, and an increased production of prostaglandins (hormone-like substances that help to control the inflammation). http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article…pertrophy.html 4. Pedersen, B. K. Exercise Immunology. New York: Chapman and Hall; Austin: R. G. Landes, 1997. 5. Pedersen, B. K. and L Hoffman-Goetz. Exercise and the immune system: Regulation, Integration, and Adaptation. Physiology Review 80: 1055-1081, 2000. |
