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Saturday, May 11, 2002“..that supplementing the Zone diet with omega-3 fatty acids commonly found in fish is the key to wellness. He adds that his book can reveal the status of your immune system and that fish oil can be used to correct any imbalances, fight disease and shed excess pounds. One of Sears' key claims, for example, is that fish oils can be used to control hormones, an important factor in attaining wellness. "Wellness has really been defined as hormonal balance," says Sears. "The better you can balance your hormones, the better well we are."” Omega-3 fatty acids are helpful in lowering cholesterol and may also be of benefit in arthritis, but there is no reason to believe that they are the miracle substance Dr. Sears seems to think they are. Quite frankly, we have very little knowledge about the role of hormones in “wellness,” if that wellness is defined as an overall sense of well-being. Our belief that the dysphoria of menopause or premenstrual syndrome is caused by “hormone imbalance” is largely just supposition and doesn’t rest on any hard scientific proof of the effect of hormones on the brain. We also have absolutely no idea how ingesting omega-3 fatty acids influences those hormone levels. That, too, rests on supposition. Sears is just hypothesizing. There’s nothing wrong with that, but he makes absurd conclusions on the basis of that hypothesis: “Sears maintains that through individual interpretation of blood tests — finding the ratio of fats called triglycerides to levels of "good" or HDL cholesterol, for example — one can determine how much fish oil they should be taking to obtain hormonal balance.” That’s just so much hooey, but then fiction always sells better than nonfiction, doesn’t it? posted by Sydney on 5/11/2002 07:59:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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