A team of international researchers recently declared “inflamm-aging” the leading cause of death worldwide.1
What took them so long to figure this out?
In 2002, I showed compelling evidence in my book The Doctor’s Heart Cure, that chronic inflammation is the number one cause of accelerated aging and the diseases related to it… like Alzheimer’s, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.
Unlike acute inflammation where your body responds immediately to a specific injury, chronic inflammation can be more subtle, creeping up on you over a period of several months, or even years.
And it will continue forever… unless you take action.
New research by Tufts University confirms what I’ve been saying for decades: There’s a natural solution to chronic inflammation.
Caused largely by overly processed foods loaded with sugar and starchy grains, the solution to chronic inflammation is the same nutrient that allowed humans to evolve into the people we are today.
I’m talking about docosahexaenoic acid – or DHA.
Industrial Age Foods Deplete DHA
In our ancient ancestors’ time, the best source of DHA was red meat, specifically organ meat. But when we started feeding cattle an unnatural grain-based diet, we destroyed their fat content…
And today’s meat is loaded with omega-6s – and almost no DHA.
Studies show excessive omega-6 fatty acids and the out-of-balance omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in today’s Western diet triggers the COX-2 enzyme.2 That’s an enzyme that increases inflammation, resulting in premature aging, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and autoimmune diseases.
Unfortunately, today’s fish are also full of pro-inflammatory omega-6s and little DHA. Like beef, the majority of fish are farm-raised on a grain diet and have less than half the overall fatty acids they had just a few decades ago.3
And as a new study shows, DHA is vital in suppressing
the slow-burning fire of chronic inflammation.Important New Study Confirms DHA Lowers Inflammation
In a recent clinical trial, Tufts University researchers followed a group of adults with chronic inflammation. The participants were randomly assigned to receive either EPA or DHA supplements twice a day.
After 34 weeks, the researchers discovered:
- DHA lowered the genetic expression of four types of pro-inflammatory proteins
- DHA lowered white blood cell secretion of three types of pro-inflammatory proteins
- DHA also reduced levels of a specific anti-inflammatory protein
To reduce the inflammation that causes premature aging, you need between 600 mg and 1,000 mg of DHA daily. It’s impossible to get what you need from our food today. So you’ll need to supplement.
But as we discussed recently, most fish oils don’t have nearly enough DHA.
I recommend getting DHA from squid. Sometimes called calamari oil, it contains more DHA than fish and squid oil combined. But be sure your oil comes from squid that live in the pure water off the South America coast.
3 Simple Steps to Mega DHA Power
Take it at the right time. Standard advice is to take your DHA first thing in the morning. I disagree – especially if you practice intermittent fasting. I suggest taking it with your meal that has the most amount of healthy fats. This increases absorption.4
Store your softgels in the FREEZER. By the time the supplement starts to break down and release its liquid, it’s further down in the gastrointestinal tract, which aids digestion and absorption.
Take your DHA with vitamin E. Taking vitamin E protects the oil from undergoing potentially damaging oxidation in the body.
1 Furman D, et al. “Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span.” 2019. Nat Med. 25;1822–1832.
2 Patterson E, et al. “Health implications of high dietary omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids.” J Nutr Metab. 2012; 2012: 539426.
3 Sprague M, et al. “Impact of sustainable feeds on omega-3 long-chain fatty acid levels in farmed Atlantic salmon, 2006–2015.” Sci Rep. 2016. 6(1); 21892.
[iv] Lawson L and Hughes B. “Absorption of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid from fish oil triacylglycerols or fish oil ethyl esters co-ingested with a high-fat meal.” Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1988 Oct 31;156(2):960-3. doi: 10.1016/s0006-291x(88)80937-9.