I coulda had a V8--er--fish oil pill

There's a part of me that knows that as long as science continues to do things the way it does things, I have journalistic job security.

But the heart inside me really wishes they'd get it so I could trash this blog and head for an isolated Costa Rican beach until I find another pressing issue to blog about.

What I mean by "getting it" is that the reason we're so sick as a culture is not because we're not taking enough medicine, or that we haven't created the perfect medicine. It's because the perfect medicine is sitting right under our noses and we refuse to acknowledge it because it won't give the people who make money off of people being sick...a patent or a respectable profit margin.

Someone who sees things the same way finally got his words into a peer-reviewed journal.

He reports that you can reduce the incidence of heart attack if you get people to take, in combination,
a statin medication,
three different blood pressure medications,
a folic acid supplement, and
an aspirin.

This brave new concoction has been called the "polypill". Yikes! It doesn't take long even for someone who hates math to figure out how many people THAT marketing...um..."treatment" approach employs.

In the words of the author delivering this breaking news,

Unlike the proposed "polypill", EFAs are endogenous molecules present in almost all tissues, have no significant or few side effects, can be taken orally for long periods of time even by pregnant women, lactating mothers, and infants, children, and adults; and have been known to reduce the incidence cardiovascular diseases including stroke.

I propose that a rational combination of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and the co-factors that are necessary for their appropriate action/metabolism is as beneficial as that of the combined use of a statin, thiazide, a beta blocker, and an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, folic acid, and aspirin. Furthermore, appropriate combination of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids may even show additional benefits in the form of protection from depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and enhances cognitive function; and serve as endogenous anti-inflammatory molecules; and could be administered from childhood for life long.

Sigh...wonder how many pharmaceutical company trash cans that brilliant idea ended up in?

Fortunately, you can decide if you want to support your own health with this idea. It is available over the counter. It's totally up to you.

Das UN. Essential fatty acids and their metabolites could function as endogenous HMG-CoA reductase and ACE enzyme inhibitors, anti-arrhythmic, anti-hypertensive, anti-atherosclerotic, anti-inflammatory, cytoprotective, and cardioprotective molecules. Lipids Health Dis. 2008 Oct 15;7:37.

Fatty aspirin: a new perspective in the prevention of dementia of Alzheimer's type?

One of the reasons many nutritional therapies don't get much research attention is that research studies need to be funded. And the biggest bank accounts to be accessed for those funds are those held by companies who can get a return on their investment for supporting that research. In other words, if a company can invest research in a project that results in a chemical that can be patented and sold at a profit, there's a motivation to spend money in that way.

You can't patent a salmon.

And if you saw the way my pecan farming friends managed their businesses here in Arizona...a few pecans here, a bed and breakfast there...not really multi-million dollar enterprises.

So it makes sense that some of the best answers to medical problems are likely not going to show up in medical journals. For all their good intent and peer reviews, these journals are often promotional venues for the companies funding the studies they report on. Those promotions just aren't formatted as advertisements.

But I always wonder when reading all these studies, why the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Effect hasn't happened. What I mean by that is, if there is a little bit of (very strong) evidence to support natural remedies such as fish oil and herbs, why these drug companies don't come up with combinations of supplements and medications that (1) increase the effectiveness of the treatment, (2) reduce the side effects that minimize drug compliance, like weight gain, and (3) engage the interest of people who don't necessarily want to take medications but might consider them if the natural remedies they DO trust were somehow incorporated into the treatment? Just like the old, "You got chocolate in my peanut butter" ads.

Here is a reference for such a combo, a "fatty aspirin", or fish oil-aspirin combination, that could be used to delay the development of Alzheimer's disease.

OK, in that case I can't say you heard it here first, but when you guys start coming up with fatty antipsychotics, fatty antidepressants, yadayada...and you know it's eventually going to happen...you know where to send the royalty check!

Pomponi M, Di Gioia A, Bria P, Pomponi MF. Fatty aspirin: a new perspective in the prevention of dementia of Alzheimer's type? Curr Alzheimer Res. 2008 Oct;5(5):422-31.