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Antioxidant/Omega 3 overdose?

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    Antioxidant/Omega 3 overdose?

    Is it possible to overdose on antioxidants and Omega 3? I'm currently taking 1,000 mg of acetyl L-carnitine, 200 mg of alpha lipoic acid, and eating 3 tablespoons of ground flax seed each day, which I know has a lot of antioxidants. I'm also taking an Omega 3-6-9 supplement, and I know that flax seed has a lot of Omega 3 as well.

    Is this too much of a good thing? If so, which should I get rid of?
    Joy is not the absence of suffering. It is the presence of God.
    Cut aspartame from my diet in 2012 and my symptoms have slowly disappeared. Interesting!
    Alpha Lipoic Acid (200 mg) + Acetyl L-carnitine (1,000 mg) = No more fatigue for me!

    #2
    I think Dr. Jelinek calls for 20 grams ( 20,000mgs. ) is the top of the intake range. I could be wrong but I think I read it on his overcoming multiple sclerosis site. Check it out.

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      #3
      I follow the OMS (Overcoming multiple sclerosis) diet by Professor Jelinek who recommends 20grams/day.

      From my understanding, there isn't a theoretical overdose of Omega3 - only an imbalance between Omega3 and Omega6. In practice and especially if you're not limiting sources of omega 6 (or even supplementing as Shahi does), it is very difficult to get too much Omega3.

      I eat 3 Tablespoons daily in salad dressing. Consider someone eating a quarter pounder, fries and a salad with dressing at macdonalds. That's more than 3 Tablespoons of Corn or Soy oil and Corn fed beef and milk which would be mainly Omega6 and you don't hear anyone asking if that's too much (which it is, as Omega 6 is inflammatory).

      In other words, if you're eating 20grams of Flax oil per day, you are getting Omega6 if you are eating almost any commerical product that has any grams of fat listed on the label.

      Here is the OMS recommendations:
      http://www.overcomingmultiplescleros...esources/FAQs/

      Here is a site talking about what too much Omega3 can do. I think you have to consume a lot to get here, but these are the risk factors and as they say, "anything strong enough to help is strong enough to hurt".

      http://www.livestrong.com/article/30...-much-omega-3/

      Comment


        #4
        possible miss write?? Big A
        flax oil is predominately an Omega3 fatty acid, not 6.

        I have some patients on 8-10grams/day...no issues.

        And 2 atrial fib patients who take coumadin (blood thinner) on I think about 2gams/day of omega 3s.
        Without a change in their protime - blood clotting time.

        That would be the only caution with large doses of Omega3 fatty acids.

        Need a lot of antioxidants with 20g/day......
        NutritionTara
        Eat better, feel better and be richer for it.

        Comment


          #5
          Yes, thanks.

          Is there s specific blood clotting test?

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by BigA View Post
            Is there a specific blood clotting test?
            You could try googling "blood clotting test" and see what comes up.

            Comment


              #7
              PT or PTT

              Protime and Partial thromboplastin time (PTT)
              are the most common lab tests.
              techie
              Another pirated saying:
              Half of life is if.
              When today is bad, tomorrow is generally a better day.
              Dogs Rule!

              Comment


                #8
                "Protime" is a shortened/medical slang term for prothrombin time (PT). Prothrombin is one of the blood clotting factors.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by techie View Post
                  Protime and Partial thromboplastin time (PTT)
                  are the most common lab tests.
                  techie
                  Thanks Techie - Since I supplement with a lot of flax oil and the Avonex has lowered my platelet count, I was wondering what Tara meant when she said protime. I wasn't aware there was a test for that.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Hi Sashi,

                    My husband is a research scientist that is working in the omega-3 field. He doesn’t have anything to say about the antioxidant questions (since this is not his area), but he has told me lots about omega-3.

                    You could stop taking the omega-3-6-9 supplements. Our western diet has made it hard for us to get omega-3 and omega-6 in the proper ratio. The challenge is increasing your intake of omega-3 while limiting your intake of omega-6. Taking an omega 3-6-9 is not really helping this, as it is increasing your omega-6 levels (it may be blended in an apprpopriate ratio, but you have to think about all the omega-6 that you get in your diet). The ideal situation is to take an omega-3 supplement to get that ratio more favorable. Note that omega-6 is inflammatory, so you want to limit your intake.

                    This next bit (flax vs fish) is debated among different groups. This is my husband's stance on the issue:


                    Also, you need to know that not all omega-3 is the same! With respect to the source of your omega-3; the omega-3 in flax is ALA (alpha-linolenic acid). The health benefits associated with omega-3 come from EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). ALA needs to be converted to EPA and DHA in the body, and the conversion rate is low (only about 0.3%). Since the benefits come from EPA/DHA, and the conversion rate of ALA to EPA/DHA is so low, it is easy to see that taking a source of omega-3 that contains EPA/DHA is a much better option.

                    The best source of EPA and DHA is oily fish (anchovy, sardine, mackerel, Tuna), or fish oil. Supplementing with fish oil is your best bet (let the fish do the hard work of converting ALA to the good stuff). It will give you the omega-3 intake that you need (current recommendations are 500mg per day of EPA/DHA).

                    Some numbers:
                    1g of flax oil will get converted to somewhere between 3mg to 50mg of EPA/DHA combined.
                    1g of fish oil will give you between 300mg to 6oomg of EPA/DHA combined, depending on the supplement.

                    I know this is a long post, and a lot to read, but I was trying to be helpful by providing all of this information so you could consider your options. The take home message is to consider changing your omega-3-6-9 supplement to a fish oil based omega-3 supplement. Supplementing with flax is also not necessary if you supplement with fish oil. Remember, neither of us are doctors, so take everything you read on here with a grain of salt.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Thank you, Nabean! That was very helpful! I'll pick up some fish oil and ditch the 3-6-9 and ground flax seed.
                      Joy is not the absence of suffering. It is the presence of God.
                      Cut aspartame from my diet in 2012 and my symptoms have slowly disappeared. Interesting!
                      Alpha Lipoic Acid (200 mg) + Acetyl L-carnitine (1,000 mg) = No more fatigue for me!

                      Comment

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