Yesterday I played hooky.
It was a breathtakingly beautiful day. I drove up to Kingston, took the ferry across the Sound, and drove from Edmonds up to Ferndale, which is not far from the Canadian border. My destination was the Barleans farm in Ferndale where the celebrated flaxseed oils are made.
The Barlean family lives on the property and before touring their business facilities I was treated to a lovely lunch of fresh salmon, enjoyed in the company of three generations of Barleans plus my wonderful sales rep Patti. As some of you fans of their products may have read. Bruce Barlean is a man of many trades and was a fisherman before getting the oil business going. They still run a famous fish market right there on site.
It was great fun to see their operation and learn about its history... and was a very interesting and informative visit. And when I finally got back in my car, laden with all kinds of samples and a couple of books, and headed east towards the freeway, there was Mount Baker right smack in front of me, closer than I've been to it in at least 20 years. Absolutely stunning.
Other than temporarily releasing myself from the ball and chain, meeting some nice hospitable people and loading up with loot, the more serious purpose of my trip was to get started on one of my recent resolutions: To let go of my longstanding willful ignorance of the dreaded "dry eye and nutritional supplements" topic and make something resembling an honest attempt to understand enough of it to form something resembling an actual opinion, without, hopefully, having to learn any more actual Information than absolutely necessary.
The fact is, I'm tired of squirming, mumbling incoherently and rapidly changing the subject when asked for advice about fish oil, flaxseed oil, EPA/DHA, Biotears, Theratears Nutrition or whatever. I have developed the bad habit of ignoring the whole subject simply because I despise the extremes, from the enormous generic bottles of Fish Oil (goodness knows what mutated species of farmed fish that crud comes from) to the elite "black-box" formulae on the market all claiming to be THE only formula scientifically proven to work for dry eye.
So, I'm going to attempt to grapple with dry eye and essential fatty acids, with the help of a few friends. Logically, there must be good information to be had somewhere in this mess, and surely with a little effort I can pick up enough of it to not hurt myself and perhaps even to equip myself to say something slightly more intelligent than my usual reluctant "Well... they can't hurt, they might help, and everyone agrees they're good for general health."
As I learn, you'll no doubt be seeing some changes to what I offer in The Dry Eye Shop as a result.
Up till this point, the Omega 3 EFAs section of the shop has been markedly different than the other sections of the shop: All others are based on my and others' actual experiences with dry eye products plus my personal opinions about what kinds of products are critically important to dry eye patients. Omega 3s were more of a reluctant nod to the fact that everyone agrees we "ought" to take them. I sold - and, mind you, faithfully used and always liked - Dry Vites for quite some time. When that got too expensive for my taste, I just went out and looked for the best company I could find that offered multiple types of Omega 3s at what seemed to be a reasonable price. I fell in love with Barleans and am convinced their quality and service are tops, so I stuck with them. Visiting their facility yesterday confirmed all that and also helped motivate me to stick with my resolution to dig further.
Wish me luck, and if you have any good pointers to send my way, feel free. Try to stick with words of three syllables or less though. :-)
1 comment:
Thank you for bringing up this topic. I am a registered nurse and a registered dietitian, and I also suffer from occular rosacea. The following is how I explain the importance of omega-3's in the diet.
Omega-6 and omega-3 are 2 of 49 essential fatty acids. Essential meaning that they can only be obtained through diet. The ratio of ingested omega-6 to omega-3 is critical in that they self check each other. This delicate balance effects almost every biological function in the body. Inregards to dry eyes, they are closely connected with controlling inflammation and in the formation of tears and the lipid layer on the eye.
Omega-6 FA stimulates pro-inflammatory pathways (cox2)while omega-3's stimulate anti-inflammatory pathways (cox2 inhibitor.) In the past our diet maintained a ratio of approximately 2:1 omega6/omega3. However, our newer western diet (ie high in refined vegetable oils and fast food) provides a ratio of 20-16:1. This increases the risk of inflammatory diseases, cardiac problems, and immune responses. The JACN posted an abstract stating that "experimental studies have provided evidence that incorporation of omega-3 fatty acids modifies inflammatory and immune reactions, making omega-3 fatty acids potential therapeutic agents for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. (Simopoulos)
This being said, I find it almost ethically wrong to not be promoting the use of omega-3 supplementation in the diet. Also, the use of supplements can drastically cut down on the amount of ingested mercury.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Inflammation and Autoimmune Diseases. Simopoulos,A. MD, FACN. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 21, No.6, 495-505, (2002.)
Post a Comment