When the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – the university that has produced 78 Nobel Prize winners, 52 National Medal of Science recipients and 45 Rhodes Scholars – adds a PhD program you know it’s important.
I’m talking about MIT’s partnership with the famous Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to offer the Applied Ocean Science degree.
Why do I mention this? Because one of the main areas of study is a tiny crustacean that may be the most important living thing on earth.
In fact, the National Science Foundation is sending biologists from Woods Hole and MIT just to study this little creature. Because nearly every animal in the Antarctic – whales, penguins, fish, sea birds, squid and seals – relies on it to survive.1
The nutritional content and power of this little animal is absolutely astonishing. It’s the basis for energy for almost all marine life in the world’s oceans!2
These tiny, shrimp-like creatures are also the original source of Omega-3s. They eat phytoplankton, the algae which synthesize omega-3 fatty acids, and are then consumed by other marine life.
I’ve been studying health and nutrition almost my entire life, and even I didn’t know about the power of these sea creatures at first. For years, no one knew much about them.
They’re called krill, and they are a more potent source of protective omega-3 power than fish.
You see, the omega-3 fatty acids in krill oil are stored in a different biochemical form than fish oil.
Krill store most of their fatty acids as phospholipids. These are much simpler to digest than the triglyceride form you find in fish.
That means krill delivers more omega-3s directly to your cells, especially brain cells. The reason is attached to each phospholipid is an antioxidant called astaxanthin. I’ve written to you before about this carotenoid because it may be the strongest antioxidant we know of.
And I bring it up here because astaxanthin can cross the blood-brain barrier. That means krill oil can deliver its benefits directly to the cells of your brain.
Krill oil is very high in DHA, the omega-3 that’s essential to brain health. DHA is very hard to get enough of. The few omega-3s that are in our food have mostly EPA, the other omega-3 that’s more important for heart health.
But DHA is what your brain uses to stay sharp and accurate. People with higher levels of DHA have more plasticity, which means they can learn faster and retain memories more easily. In fact, when children increase DHA supplementation, they learn faster than children who don’t get extra DHA.3
And, krill oil delivers the DHA to your brain faster and better than fish oil. I read an unpublished study where people got either krill oil or fish oil. The people who got krill oil had much higher levels of DHA than the fish oil group.4
Even better, krill oil has a little-known omega-3 called DPA.
DPA has its own benefits, including helping you maintain a normal inflammatory response, and reducing the amount of fat in your liver to help you have normal triglycerides and cholesterol.5
DPA also helps protect your brain by keeping the fatty protective layer that covers the nerves and cells of your brain intact. This fatty layer is called myelin, and DPA helps maintain its integrity and strength throughout your lifetime.6
And a new study that just came out this week shows that the DPA in krill oil also has the unique ability to make you feel better and maintain a better outlook.7
Now, here is the thing about krill oil… it’s very powerful, and works very well. What that means is that the word is starting to get out about the value of krill oil to your health.
The important thing to remember here is that once the word really starts to spread, I expect fly-by-night companies will be looking to get in on the “action.” That means there will be a lot of cheap “krill” products out there.
In other words, this is the time to make sure you get a pure source of krill oil, before the imitators start bombarding every outlet you can think of. Those who find the best source the soonest will undoubtedly reap the best results for their health.
So, if krill oil interests you, I strongly recommend you consider it carefully, but act swiftly.
Here’s exactly what you need to know…
There are a lot of mass-manufacturers out there that cut corners. So when I wanted to design an omega-3 product for my patients and readers, I was very careful.
What I ended up doing was designing a product that is at least three generations ahead of fish oil, and certainly head and shoulders above any omega-3 supplement you will find anywhere.
I used:
- pure krill oil farmed from the crystal clear and frozen waters of the Austral-Antarctic Circumpolar Ocean – possibly the purest place on earth.
- calamari oil, also an incredible source of DHA and DPA that I’ll tell you more about soon
- omega-3s cold pressed from wild coldwater Alaskan fish, the best source of EPA you can find
My new omega-3 product called Ultra Omeganol isn’t officially available to the public yet. But if you’d like to try it, I’ve arranged for you to get it first, as a loyal reader.
I think it’s the finest omega-3 supplement you can get. The truth is, it’s just one of the supplements I’ll be bringing to you in the near future. But considering that “fish oil” is the most popular supplement in the world, and that this is a full three generations ahead of anything out there, I think you’ll want to at least try it for yourself.
1. “The role of krill in the Antarctic food web.” Lighthouse Foundation. www.lighthouse-foundation.org. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2013.
2. Siegel V, et. al. “Effects of sea-ice extent and krill or salp dominance on the Antarctic food web.” Nature 1997;387, 897 – 900.
3. Kuratko C, Barrett E, Nelson E, Salem N. “The relationship of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) with learning and behavior in healthy children: a review.” Nutrients. 2013;5(7):2777-810.
4. “Notification of GRAS Determination for Krill Oil.” FDA Office of Food and Safety. www.accessdata.fda.gov, Dec. 14, 2010. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2013.
5. Kaur G, Sinclair A, Cameron-Smith D, Barr D, Molero-Navajas J, Konstantopoulos N. “Docosapentaenoic acid (22:5n-3) down-regulates the expression of genes involved in fat synthesis in liver cells. Prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and essential fatty acids.” 2011;85(3-4):155-61.
6. Peters B, de Haan L, et. al. “Polyunsaturated fatty acid concentration predicts myelin integrity …” Schizophr Bull. 2013;39(4):830-8.
7. Hamazaki K, Hamazaki T, Inadera H. “Abnormalities in the fatty acid composition of the postmortem entorhinal cortex of patients …” Psychiatry Res. 2013;210(1):346-50.