Raena Morgan: We’re talking with Dr. Jorn Dyerberg and we’re talking about the omega
3s. They’ve gotten so much publicity and he’s one of the pioneers in that
research. A lot of Americans, though, are fat-phobic—they don’t want to
take any kind of fish oil or anything that says fat because they’re
concerned about their weight. Could you address that please?
Dr. Jorn Dyerberg: Yes, of course. Overweight is a major issue in the Western society and we
have to fight that the best we can. And when we’re talking about omega
3s, they are fat and fat is fattening, of course. I’m a nutritionist and I
advise people to eat fatty fish. If you eat fatty fish, you should eat that
instead of another fat. So, you should not increase fat consumption. I
mean, you shouldn’t just put fatty fish on top of your diet. You should eat
that instead of fatty pork or spreads or whatever. So keep your calories
low and eat the fatty fish instead of another fat product. But if you come to
supplementation—because I realize, as a nutritionist, that you can preach
as much as you like, but there’s some that do not—and there are many that
do not—like fish, for example. And in the midst of America, it can be
difficult to have fatty fish for eating. And then you say, “I better take
supplements” and supplements are okay, but of course, they are fats on top
of your diet. So if you have to cut down on another fat to keep an
equilibrium, and then again you have to think—I mean, if you’re going to
supplementation, you’re talking about one or two grams of fat.
Raena Morgan: Okay.
Dr. Jorn Dyerberg: That’s less than—that’s half a teaspoon of fat and if you take 2 less
cookies, you will compensate for that in excess and you could maybe take
4 less cookies, and then, you’ll slim a bit. So I don’t think that the issue if
you want to supplement is doable because you could just cut down on
super-foods, extra goodies—skip that donut and you can take a lot of
supplements, I can tell you.
Raena Morgan: And that will make the body work better, won’t it? It can lose weight that
way.
Dr. Jorn Dyerberg: Sure, sure. That’s what you need. You need some extra omega 3s in
America, at least. The average consumption, I do not know of long chain
omega 3s in the U.S., but I would guess it’s in the average of 100
milligrams or something. And to reach what we think is a reasonable
protects level, you should up at 5, 600 milligrams a day. That does not
mean 5 to 600 milligrams of oil if you’re supplementing, because the oil
will contain—I do not know, depending on the brand—but say 50, 60
percent, so that will be one gram or a bit more of the supplement.
Raena Morgan: Okay.
Dr. Jorn Dyerberg: But then again, concerning weight, one gram of fat—of course is one gram
of fat—but it’s rather easy to cut another couple of grams on the other side
of the balance.
Raena Morgan: Okay, well, thank you, Dr. Dyerberg.
Dr. Jorn Dyerberg: Thank you.
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