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FoundMyFitness

#068 Dr. Bill Harris on the Omega-3 Index: Increasing Omega-3 to Promote Longevity & Transform Health

FoundMyFitness

Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D.

Fitness, Depression, Foundmyfitness, Timferriss, Sleep, Diet, Longevity, Ketosis, Rhondapatrick, Kevinrose, Domdagostino, Health, Sauna, Nutrition, Medicine, Fasting, Healthspan, Mattwalker, Coldexposure, Lifeextension, Health & Fitness, Exercise

4.85.5K Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2021

⏱️ 118 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dr. William ("Bill") Harris is one of the world's preeminent experts in the field of omega-3 fatty acid research. His work has focused on the roles that fatty acids in play in cardiovascular and neurocognitive health.

The author of more than 300 scientific papers on fatty acids and health, Dr. Harris is a professor in the Department of Medicine in the Sanford School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota, the co-inventor of the Omega-3 Index, founder of OmegaQuant Analytics, and president and founder of the Fatty Acid Research Institute.

In this episode, Dr. Harris and I discuss…

  • 00:00:00 - Introduction
  • 00:06:36 - Early studies on omega-3s, dietary fats, and cholesterol
  • 00:14:44 - Omega-3s may normalize bleeding times
  • 00:20:33 - Plant-based omega-3s are not equivalent in power to marine omega-3s
  • 00:25:23 - Genetic engineering of plants is needed for sustainable omega-3s in the future
  • 00:27:18 - The omega-3 index reveals individual variations in omega-3 needs
  • 00:32:13 - Red blood cell concentration of omega-3s better reflect long-term omega-3 status
  • 00:36:41 - Genetic variants influence omega-3 dietary needs
  • 00:54:20 - The omega-3 index may predict life expectancy
  • 01:05:03 - How metabolites of omega-3 reduce and resolve inflammation
  • 01:17:11 - High omega-3 concentrations halve the risk of COVID-19 death
  • 01:20:10 - DHA may help keep the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein from entering cells
  • 01:22:50 - Concerns over the omega-6/omega-3 ratio may be unfounded

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello, my podcast friends.

0:02.9

As many of you already know, I am an enormous enthusiast of Omega 3 science, so I could not

0:08.2

be more excited to share today's episode featuring Dr. Bill Harris with you.

0:13.5

About 50 years ago, Bang and Dyerberg published their first landmark paper on the Greenland

0:18.6

Inuit and Omega 3.

0:20.6

And not long after that, Dr. Harris published his first paper on the hypolipidemic effects

0:25.7

of salmon oil.

0:27.3

To put it another way, Dr. Harris is of the same era.

0:31.1

He has been researching the role of the Marine Omega 3's in human health for many decades.

0:37.3

Dr. Harris is one of the world's preeminent experts in the field of Omega 3 fatty acid

0:42.2

research.

0:43.2

In fact, he's the author of more than 300 scientific papers on fatty acids and health.

0:50.6

He is a professor in the Department of Medicine in the Sanford School of Medicine at the University

0:55.8

of South Dakota.

0:57.5

The co-inventor of the Omega 3 index, founder of Omega-Quant Analytics, and president and

1:03.6

founder of the fatty acid research institute.

1:07.6

During this interview, Dr. Harris and I discuss everything on Omega 3 fatty acids, cardiovascular

1:13.9

health, and inflammation.

1:15.9

We talk about how early studies on dietary fats and cholesterol levels spawned the field

1:21.5

of Omega 3 research.

1:23.6

How standards of normal bleeding time may be abnormally high in Western countries, leading

1:29.4

to some misconception on the effects of Omega 3.

...

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