Bottom Line/HEALTH: Someone once said if you only have three seconds a day to take care of your health, you should drink as much omega-3 fatty acids as you can. Now, is that good or is that bad? What’s the truth about omegas?

I’m Sarah Hiner, president of Bottom Line Publications, and this is our Conversation With the Experts, where we get the answers to your tough questions from our leading experts.

Today I’m speaking to Dr. Andrew Rubman, a leading naturopathic physician and the medical director of the Southbury Clinic in Southbury, Connecticut. Dr. Rubman is also a long-term contributing medical editor to Bottom Line. So welcome, Andy. It’s great to see you.

Dr. Andrew Rubman: Hi, Sarah.

Bottom Line: All right, omega-3s. Literally, someone said to me that they took a class that said if you do one thing and one thing only, consume omegas.

Dr. Rubman: Amazing.

Bottom Line: So what is it about omegas that make them so vital to life?

Dr. Rubman: They’re really good at helping tissue perform as it should, to avoid the bumps in the road that inflammation can cause, to quench challenges that cause levels of dysfunction in the tissue that can keep it from doing its job. You can look at it primarily as a way to balance inflammatory challenges, and that goes throughout the entire body.

Bottom Line: So omega-3 is the ultimate anti-inflammatory?

Dr. Rubman: It really is.

Bottom Line: Now let’s talk about omega-3s versus omega-6s, because they tell people to supplement 3s and not 6s. Can you explain that?

Dr. Rubman: It refers to the chemical description of the material. There is a double bond between the 3rd and the 4th carbon or between the 6th and the 7th—omega-3 and omega-6. The body recognizes the two differently. Omega-6 is found in great abundance in the diet, where diets or resources of omega-3 can be lacking.

Bottom Line: Why do we have so much 6s? Those are coming from grains and more than plant foods that we’re eating?

Dr. Rubman: Exactly. Omega-3s are usually coming from plankton and microscopic organisms that primarily live in the sea. It’s also coming from grasses and the phytochemicals that are found in the grasses. This is an important concept, too. People said to me, “Does it matter if I have grain-fed beef? Does it matter if I have wild-caught fish?” The answer is yes. If you feed a cow or you feed a fish grain, it’s going to produce omega-6 acids, not too much omega-3s.

The other thing that’s interesting is that the colder the environment the animal lives in, the more omega-3s it makes. So I have snowbird patients who go down to Florida in the winter. On the same diet, their arthritis comes back, their skin irritations come back, their allergies come back. What’s the difference? “What are you doing?” “I’m eating the same.” “Are you eating salmon?” “Yes.” “Where did they catch it?” “Off the coast.” Not good enough. You’ve got to get it from the northern, colder waters.

Bottom Line: The truth of the matter is, though, we need 3s and 6s, but we’re telling people to supplement 3s because we already have so much 6s. Is that right?

Dr. Rubman: Precisely. Yeah, it’s rare that a person is deficient in omega-6s – or omega-9s, which is the other fatty acid part.

Bottom Line: Can somebody eat enough 3s? Or is it best to supplement?

Dr. Rubman: They can eat enough 3s, but they really have to be paying attention to their diet. It’s mostly done through inadequate intake of cold water, free ranging or wild-caught fish.

Bottom Line: Should everybody be supplementing 3s?

Dr. Rubman: Most people should.

Bottom Line: Now let’s talk about 3 supplements. They talk about fish oil, they talk about krill oil – is one better or worse? Basically the same?

Dr. Rubman: The krill is easier to concentrate in a smaller form. There’s a concern whether or not the krill is going to be sustainable. The other thing is to pay attention to what I said about the creature needing to live in cold waters and realize that when something becomes very popular, a lot of people get into the industry. So there’s great variation in potency from one source to another, be it from fish oil or krill.

Bottom Line: With so many varieties of omega-3s and fish oil and krill oil, how do you know—when I’m standing at the store and I’ve got rows and rows of omegas, how do I know which one?

Dr. Rubman: Over-the-counter sources, there are two that are very reliable that I’ve found to be almost as good as what I can get from my pharmaceutical suppliers. There’s one that’s called Udo’s Choice—very interesting gentleman who’s very passionate about his products. And the other is from a company called Nordic Naturals. They’re very, very good.

If you wanted to see if something was going to work for you and you wanted to buy something retail before you got something that was more elegant or perhaps more pricey, those are good places to go.

Bottom Line: Any risks of taking…

Dr. Rubman: It does tend to decrease blood coagulation in some people. There are some people that will be allergically sensitive, particularly if they have shellfish allergies. So good to test in small quantities initially, and if you’re on warfarin or another blood thinner, ask your medical provider first if it’s advisable.

Bottom Line: The bottom line on omegas? Yeah, it’s true—everybody should be taking them. They basically calm whatever inflammation is in your body. They’re one of the best anti-inflammatories out there.

Pretty much there are many, many different brands of it that are out there. A couple in particular, Nordic Natural or Udo’s, are great brands for you to try. This is Sarah Hiner with Bottom Line.