OmegaMatters

EPISODE #8 -Part 1: Interviewing an Omega-3 Legend – Dr. Jörn Dyerberg

Recording date: Jul 20, 2021

Broadcast date: Aug 4, 2021                                                                    

Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson

Guest: Dr. Jörn Dyerberg

Background and Key Takeaways: 

Dr. Jörn Dyerberg is a pioneer in the omega-3 fatty acid world, having made the discovery of their important heart health benefits more than four decades ago while researching the native Greenland Inuit. Along with his colleague, Dr. Hans Olaf Bang, the two embarked on an adventure that started in the late 1960s and trickled well into the 1970s. It started with their curiosity about the Inuit’s high fat diet and their very low incidence of heart disease. Their goal was to examine their blood and their diet. At the time, the Inuit subsisted mainly on a diet of high-fat seal and fish, however, the rates of heart disease were staggeringly low compared to Americans eating a much different diet but had much high rates of heart disease. Their first publication appeared in the Lancet in 1971. What this research showed is that the Inuit actually had favorable lipid levels despite their high-fat diet. It was in a subsequent publication in 1975 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that they detailed the specific omega-3s eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA). This led to several landmark publications during the following decades and a stream of interest in these newly discovered molecules. 

In part 1 of this two-part series, Dr. Dyerberg chronicles the rise of omega-3s EPA and DHA, including their discovery, early research findings, and how they were catapulted into the spotlight as a result of his research on the Greenland Inuit. 

To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.

To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.

To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #6 - How Much Omega-3 DHA Do Pregnant Women Need?

Recording date: May 30, 2021

Broadcast date: June 30, 2021                                                                 

Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson

Guest: Dr. Susan Carlson

Background and Key Takeaways: 

In Episode #7 of OmegaMatters, Dr. Bill Harris and his daughter, Dr. Kristina Harris Jackson, are joined by Dr. Susan Carlson. Dr. Carlson is a giant in the field of omega-3 fatty acids, particularly as they affect the early stages of life, from pregnancy through birth. In the latest study she published in EClinicalMedicine, a Lancet Journal, she asked the question of whether or not the 200 mg DHA dose that is typically given to women who are pregnant is enough or if 1000 mg is superior and has better health outcomes for mom and baby in relation specifically to early preterm -- birth before 34 weeks -- and preterm birth -- birth before 37 weeks. Those who had low DHA status seemed to benefit the most. And 1000 mg of DHA was definitely superior to 200 mg in preventing early preterm birth. 

To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.

To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.

To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #6 - Why Omega-3 Study Design Matters

Recording date: March 30, 2021

Broadcast date: June 10th, 2021                                                             

Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson

Guest: Nathan Tintle, PhD

Background and key takeaways:

The way studies are designed, especially when it comes to omega-3 fatty acids, is very important when it comes to pinpointing their value in human health. However, because they are nutrients and not drugs, they don’t always hold up when it comes to the gold standard (i.e., randomized controlled trial, or RCT) way of studying substances and measuring them against health outcomes. Sometimes different kinds of studies can yield better learnings about nutrients, such as prospective studies (looking in the future) and retrospective studies (looking back in time), and then there is always the observational study that has a power all its own. 

In this episode, Drs. Bill Harris and Kristina Harris Jackson go deep into the world of research to understand the nuances of clinical studies with the help of biostatistical expert, Dr. Nathan Tintle. He says the two most important questions you need to ask when reading a study are: 1) Who are the people in the study and can I generalize the findings from them? And 2) Can I make a cause and effect conclusion from this study? One of the advantages of these other studies (i.e., prospective, observational, etc.) vs. an RCT in nutrition, and particularly in the omega-3 space, is that there are better conclusions to draw about prevention. In other words, the majority of omega-3 studies seem to point to benefits for those who have maintained a lifetime of high omega-3 levels. 

Guest bio: Dr. Tintle holds a PhD in statistics from Stony Brook University. He has internationally recognized expertise in fatty acids, public health, genetics, and biomedical statistics via study design, survey instrument development, and standard and computationally intensive data analysis techniques. He has >100 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Tintle also brings prior relevant experience as an executive director of a non-profit, research institute. As a researcher and research institute director he has led initiatives securing over $8 million of funding across 30+ major federally funded grant awards, in addition to securing substantial private and public charitable donations.

To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.

For more information about OmegaMatters, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.

To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #5 - The Omega-3 Index in Clinical Practice

Recording date: March 30, 2021

Broadcast date: May 13, 2021                                                                 

Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson

Guest: James O’Keefe, MD

Background and key takeaways:

The Omega-3 Index test is a tool that has been used by a variety of healthcare providers in their clinical practice. In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson talk about the utility of the test with Dr. James O’Keefe, a preventive cardiologist based in Kansas City. He has been a proponent of omega-3s in his cardiology practice for more than two decades. His personal journey through the omega-3 world during the publication of some of the landmark studies in the 1980s and 90s fundamentally changed the way he viewed fat. Once omega-3s had been validated in several large trials, he launched a concentrated product of his own as a way to offer high quality omega-3s to his patients. Dr. O’Keefe is also well versed on omega-3 research, having been an investigator himself. Today, Dr. O’Keefe guides his patients on a path toward heart wellness, using the Omega-3 Index to help them track and monitor the impact of omega-3s in their diets. To Dr. O’Keefe, the first step in changing anything is measuring it. 

Guest bio: James H O'Keefe, MD, is Director of the Duboc Cardio Health & Wellness Center and Director of Preventive Cardiology at Saint Luke’s of Kansas City, Mid America Heart Institute. He is Co-director of the Haverty Cardiometabolic Center and Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. His postgraduate training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota included a cardiology fellowship and internal medicine residency. Dr O’Keefe is board-certified in Cardiology, Internal Medicine, Nuclear Cardiology, and Cardiac CT Imaging. Dr O’Keefe has contributed 430 articles to peer-reviewed journals, and his articles have been cited over 40,000 times in the medical literature. He has authored best-selling cardiovascular (CV) books for health professionals, notably The Complete Guide to ECGs, which is used by CV fellowship training programs as the preferred teaching text for the ECG section of the ABIM Cardiology Board Certification Exam. USA Today has listed Dr O’Keefe among America’s Most Influential Doctors. Dr O’Keefe is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Honor Societies.

To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.

For more information about OmegaMatters, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.

To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #4 - Is there a relationship between the level of omega-3 fatty acids 
 in the blood (i.e., Omega-3 Index) and death from any cause?

Recording date: April 23, 2021 

Broadcast date: April 27, 2021                                                                

Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson

Guest: Nathan Tintle, PhD, Executive Director, Fatty Acid Research Institute (FARI)

Guest bio: Dr. Tintle holds a PhD in statistics from Stony Brook University. He has internationally recognized expertise in fatty acids, public health, genetics, and biomedical statistics via study design, survey instrument development, and standard and computationally intensive data analysis techniques. He has >100 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Tintle also brings prior relevant experience as an executive director of a non-profit, research institute. As a researcher and research institute director he has led initiatives securing over $8 million of funding across 30+ major federally funded grant awards, in addition to securing substantial private and public charitable donations.

Background & Key Takeaways: A new research paper examining the relationship between the Omega-3 Index and risk for death from any and all causes was published in Nature Communications April 22, 2021. It showed that those people with higher omega-3 EPA and DHA blood levels (i.e., Omega-3 Index) lived longer than those with lower levels. In other words, those people who died with relatively low omega-3 levels died prematurely, i.e., all else being equal, they might have lived longer had their levels been higher.

Numerous studies have investigated the link between omega-3s and diseases affecting the heart, brain, eyes and joints, but few studies have examined their possible effects on lifespan.

In Japan, omega-3 intakes and blood levels are higher than most other countries in the world AND they happen to live longer than most. Coincidence? Possibly, or maybe a high Omega-3 Index is part of the explanation.

Studies reporting estimated dietary fish or omega-3 intake have reported benefits on risk for death from all causes, but “diet record” studies carry little weight because of the imprecision in getting at true EPA and DHA intakes. Studies using biomarkers – i.e., blood levels – of omega-3 are much more believable because the “exposure” variable is objective.

This new paper is from the FORCE - Fatty Acids & Outcomes Research – Consortium. FORCE is comprised of researchers around the world that have gathered data on blood fatty acid levels in large groups of study subjects (or cohorts) and have followed those individuals over many years to determine what diseases they develop. These data are then pooled to get a clearer picture of these relationships than a single cohort can provide. The current study focused on omega-3 levels and the risk for death during the follow-up period, and it is the largest study yet to do so. 

To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.

For more information about OmegaMatters, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.

To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Genes & Fish Oil — What's the REAL Story?

Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson

Show Objective: To break down recent headlines generated as a result of a late March 2021 study on the impact of genes on fish oil intake.

Background: A recent study implies that one’s genetic makeup may influence how fish oil impacts triglycerides and that this might put someone at increased risk of heart attacks. In this episode, Drs. Harris and Jackson deconstruct this fatally flawed study and recommend multiple retractions. Making the leap to an increase in heart attacks by these authors is completely irresponsible, according to Drs. Harris and Jackson. Listen to what else they have to say about this “uncorrected proof” of a study.

To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.

For more information about OmegaMatters, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.

For more information about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #2: The Connection Between the Omega-3 Index & Heart Rate Recovery

HOSTS: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson

GUESTS: Stephen Farrell, PhD, FACSM, Senior Investigator, The Cooper Institute

Key takeaways from this Episode:

Initiated in 1970, the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study (CCLS) is the world’s largest and longest running observational study measuring cardiorespiratory fitness.

Since its landmark study in 1989 showing the association between being fit and lower mortality, research from the CCLS continues to evaluate the benefits of regular exercise, healthy lifestyle, and preventive healthcare; effectively proving again and again that exercise truly is medicine.

Those of us that are health conscious are well aware that poor cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is a strong predictor of conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. The gold standard for measuring CRF is a maximal treadmill exercise test performed in a clinical setting.

In recent years, heart rate recovery (HRR) from maximal exercise has also been identified as an important cardiovascular health measure. HRR is defined as the difference between maximal exercise heart rate and the heart rate at a given time point following exercise (or how quickly does your heart rate drop at a certain time after stopping exercise).

Most of us are also aware that omega-3 fatty acids, more commonly known as “fish oils,” are found in fatty fish as well as in supplement form, and have been shown to be beneficial to cardiovascular health. The Cooper Clinic measures omega-3 fatty acid levels in the blood using a method called the Omega-3 Index. The Omega-3 Index is a measure of what percentage of fatty acids in red blood cells are omega-3s.
 
 There are 3 categories for the Omega-3 Index — low is <4%, normal is 4-8%, and optimal is >8%. 

Comparing each patient’s heart rate recovery with their Omega-3 Index, the researchers found a significant relationship between these two variables such that the higher the Index, the faster the heart rate dropped down. The effect was more marked in women than men, but statistically significant in both.

Researchers also noted that many individuals in this study were involved in healthier habits, which may have also played a role in these results. But lead researcher, Dr. Stephen Farrell, believes these results signal a combination — that both being highly fit and having an optimal Omega-3 Index are keys to maintaining excellent health.

To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.

For more information about OmegaMatters, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.

For more information about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Is there a relationship between the level of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood (i.e., Omega-3 Index) and death from COVID-19?

Hosts: Drs. Bill Harris & Kristina Harris Jackson

Guests: Drs. Arash Asher & Michael Meyers

Dr. Arash Asher:

Cedar-Sinai’s Dr. Arash Asher leads an emerging movement in cancer care. As director of Cancer Survivorship and Rehabilitation at The Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, he runs a dynamic clinic for patients and survivors.


Dr. Michael Myers

A graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, Dr. Myers established a private practice in general/family medicine in 1978 in his native California.  In 1980, he saw the significant impact the emerging obesity epidemic was having on his patients leading to diabetes, fatty liver disease, hypertension, elevated lipids, sleep apnea, and other medical complications.  This led him to focus his medical talents to actively treating obesity so as to improve the complicating co-morbidities. He researched methods to increase satiety (“fullness”) in order to address one of the limitations of weight management approaches, leading to a U.S. and foreign patents in 2015 to improve the efficacy of weight loss products.

To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.

For more information about OmegaMatters, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.

For more information about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

EPISODE #15

Title: Dr. Kristina Harris Jackson: Omega-3 DHA’s Role in Preterm Birth

Recording date: April 30, 2022 

Broadcast date: June 2, 2022                                                                   

Host: Dr. Bill Harris 

Guest: Dr. Kristina Harris Jackson

Background and Key Takeaways: 

Kristina Harris Jackson, PhD, RD, is the Director of Research and part-owner of OmegaQuant Analytics, LLC, and an Assistant Professor (non-tenure) in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine. Kristina received her PhD in Nutritional Sciences from Pennsylvania State University in 2013 and completed her training to become a Registered Dietitian in 2014. Kristina continues her research in the area of omega-3s in maternal health, helping create the Prenatal DHA test and the Mother’s Milk DHA test, and continues her clinical work by consulting with clients on their lab values from OmegaQuant. Kristina lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with her partner and two kids and very old dog. In this episode, Dr. Bill Harris interviews his OmegaMatters co-host and daughter, Kristina Harris Jackson, PhD, RD, about the important role DHA plays before, during and after pregnancy.

To watch this episode, visit our YouTube channel.

To read the full transcript from this OmegaMatters episode, visit https://omegaquant.com/omegamatters-broadcasts/.

To learn more about omega-3 testing, visit: https://omegaquant.com/omega-3-index-complete/

Welcome to Omega Matters, where we talk all things omegas. I'm Kristina Jackson and this is my dad, Dr. Bill Harris. We're both PhDs in nutritional science, which is kind of unique. And we are both studying fatty acids. If you've ever heard of omega-3s and fish oil, then you have heard of fatty acids. 

People are always asking us about the latest research paper. "What do you think about this?" "Have you heard omega-3s do this and that?" "What's up with fish oil?" We're always trying to explain the context of what a study is saying, how was it done. So that's one of the big reasons we wanted to do this — to get into the weeds of omega-3s mostly, but also other fatty acids, because they all connect to each other. 

Whatever matters in the omega field is what we hope to talk about.