The Smart Army & The Dumb Army

The Smart Army and the Dumb Army

I remember last year, during cold and flu season, some genius suggesting that fish oil was bad because it was “immunosuppressive.” Because it has anti-inflammatory effects, the argument went, it must interfere with your ability to mount an appropriate immune response.

Here is the problem with that logic. The chronic pro-inflammatory state that many people in the Western (and now the Eastern) world walk around in is not normal or healthy. It does not represent a directed immune response. It represents a disease-driving response that alters the behavior of your entire immune system.

If you want a simple way to picture your immune system, think of it as a smart army and a dumb army. The smart one makes antibodies against specific pathogens. It is like a cruise missile against viruses and bugs. The dumb one carpet-bombs large areas and then cleans up the mess later. Both are necessary. Both need to be in balance.

In a study published in Nutrition, fish oil was shown to be rapidly incorporated into the immune white blood cell lines in a very short window, about one week. The result was improved cellular function, not decreased. So once again, fish oil appears to be “smart” and functional in all the right ways, very different from pharmaceutical drugs, because it is an essential component of cell membrane function across the immune system.

When you hear something counterintuitive and not well-supported, the truth tends to come out, as it did here.

Bottom line: fish oil supports immune function and helps restore balance so the cells can do what they are supposed to do. That is a year-round deal, fall included.

The best, most potent fish oil lives here.

Doc