Hi All! I'm looking for a little refresher course (since all my zone books are checked out right now) on fish oil and vitamin E. I have finally convinced my mom to start taking fish oil (she has very high cholesterol, is on medicine for it, and comes from a family where everyone dies from heart disease and Alzheimers). Her doctor has agreed that she would benefit from taking it (although never did bring it up until my mom asked!!) She has concerns about taking vitamin E with her fish oil because she already takes her daily aspirin and worries about thinning blood. Should she take all three, and what is the role of vitamin E in regards to fish oil? Is it a necessity? I can't quite remember all of what I've read concerning this. Any help would be appreciated! crumbelina :P

[quote:8f4c6b7377="crumbelina"]Hi All! I'm looking for a little refresher course (since all my zone books are checked out right now) on fish oil and vitamin E. I have finally convinced my mom to start taking fish oil (she has very high cholesterol, is on medicine for it, and comes from a family where everyone dies from heart disease and Alzheimers). Her doctor has agreed that she would benefit from taking it (although never did bring it up until my mom asked!!) She has concerns about taking vitamin E with her fish oil because she already takes her daily aspirin and worries about thinning blood. Should she take all three, and what is the role of vitamin E in regards to fish oil? Is it a necessity? I can't quite remember all of what I've read concerning this. Any help would be appreciated! crumbelina :P[/quote:8f4c6b7377] Hi Crumbelina, Congratulations on convincing your mom on the health benefits of PGFO. It is certainly true that both asprin and PGFO will thin the blood and i assume you read Sue's posts on this recently. Sue takes both but in very low doses so is not in danger of thinning the blood too much. The correct advice is always to check with your medical practitioner but IMO if she is taking the Sears recommended amount of 1600EPA and 800DHA daily, it is unlikely that any further thinning of the blood would be required so she may be able to discontinue the asprin. Vit E is "natures antioxident" and should ideally be included in daily diet by everybody. While PGFO contains trace elements of vit E for stability purposes. The processing of the oil in the body actually uses more Vit E. This is why it is stressed to ensure adequate vit E is consumed when taking PGFO. White Light

Thanks White Light! Since my mom has had no problems so far taking the fish oil, I may have her stop the aspirin entirely. Do you know if Dr. Sears addresses this issue in his book? Thanks for the information. crumbelina :P

Hi Crumbelina, [quote:490292fffe="crumbelina"]Thanks White Light! Since my mom has had no problems so far taking the fish oil, I may have her stop the aspirin entirely. Do you know if Dr. Sears addresses this issue in his book? Thanks for the information. crumbelina :P[/quote:490292fffe] Yes he does address the subject. Please refer to the following post of mine, in this forum, which quotes the relevant passage from his book "The Omega RX Zone": "PG Fish Oil, Aspirin, and Aspirin-Triggered 15-Epi-Lipoxins". In that book, as you can see from the quote, Dr Sears advocates taking both fish oil and a daily aspirin, and in addition, on page 86 of that book, he addresses bleeding times in regards to individuals taking FO. He mentions several different studies done in which bleeding times were tested for individuals taking 10 g EPA per day, 6g pure DHA per day, and 18g long-chain omega-3's per day, and none found even a slight increase from the normal bleeding time. He goes on to say the only study that has shown a slight increase in bleeding time is in individuals talking 20g long chain omega-3 fatty acids per day. In addition he cites more recent work of his own with Alzheimers patients taking pharmaceutical-grade FO where, although some patients were taking up to 25 g long-chain omega-3 fatty acids per day, he found NO increased bleeding times. Sue

[quote:c3842620ec="crumbelina"]Thanks White Light! Since my mom has had no problems so far taking the fish oil, I may have her stop the aspirin entirely. Do you know if Dr. Sears addresses this issue in his book? Thanks for the information. crumbelina :P[/quote:c3842620ec] Hi Crumbelina, In the book (Omegarx) Dr. Sears recomends both. Both have independent beneficial effects. In Q & A Dr Sears clearly has a preference of PGFO over asprin. For a patient with a cardiovascular history he recomended 1/4 of a baby asprin along with a high dose of PGFO. As always I believe in medical matters you should consult your doctor who knows the full medical hiistory, but PGFO should certainly be the predominent blood thinner. White Light

[quote:22226c7cd9="White Light"][quote:22226c7cd9="crumbelina"]Thanks White Light! Since my mom has had no problems so far taking the fish oil, I may have her stop the aspirin entirely. Do you know if Dr. Sears addresses this issue in his book? Thanks for the information. crumbelina :P[/quote:22226c7cd9] Hi Crumbelina, In the book (Omegarx) Dr. Sears recomends both. Both have independent beneficial effects. In Q & A Dr Sears clearly has a preference of PGFO over asprin. For a patient with a cardiovascular history he recomended 1/4 of a baby asprin along with a high dose of PGFO. As always I believe in medical matters you should consult your doctor who knows the full medical hiistory, but PGFO should certainly be the predominent blood thinner.[/quote:22226c7cd9] Here is the Q&A from Dr. Sears that WL is referring to. Please note that he is advocating 1/4 of a baby aspirin along with PGFO, not 1 aspirin. "Aspirin and fish oil Posted 07/02/2002 Asked By: Ramo I know you've covered the question of low-dose aspirin and heart disease before, but in the Omega Zone (which I loved) it seems as though you are now recommending aspirin in addition to the fish oils. Am I interpreting this correctly? Ramo Dear Ramo, In the "Omega Rx Zone" I point out that the combination of low-dose aspirin and high-dose fish oil appears to be very synergistic. My definition of a low-dose aspirin is about 20 mg. of aspirin, which is one-quarter of a baby aspirin. I would recommend the combination of the two for anyone with an existing cardiovascular condition because the eicosanoids derived from the combination are exceptionally powerful anti-inflammatory agents. Dr. Barry Sears" I also believe that the more PGFO one supplements with, the less aspirin one would require. Sue takes a very small amount of PGFO so 1 baby aspirin is probably a good supplement dose for Sue. For persons taking larger amounts of PGFO, less baby aspirin is required.

[quote:561f34957d="a_blacker"][quote:561f34957d="White Light"][quote:561f34957d="crumbelina"]Thanks White Light! Since my mom has had no problems so far taking the fish oil, I may have her stop the aspirin entirely. Do you know if Dr. Sears addresses this issue in his book? Thanks for the information. crumbelina :P[/quote:561f34957d] Hi Crumbelina, In the book (Omegarx) Dr. Sears recomends both. Both have independent beneficial effects. In Q & A Dr Sears clearly has a preference of PGFO over asprin. For a patient with a cardiovascular history he recomended 1/4 of a baby asprin along with a high dose of PGFO. As always I believe in medical matters you should consult your doctor who knows the full medical hiistory, but PGFO should certainly be the predominent blood thinner.[/quote:561f34957d] Here is the Q&A from Dr. Sears that WL is referring to. Please note that he is advocating 1/4 of a baby aspirin along with PGFO, not 1 aspirin. "Aspirin and fish oil Posted 07/02/2002 Asked By: Ramo I know you've covered the question of low-dose aspirin and heart disease before, but in the Omega Zone (which I loved) it seems as though you are now recommending aspirin in addition to the fish oils. Am I interpreting this correctly? Ramo Dear Ramo, In the "Omega Rx Zone" I point out that the combination of low-dose aspirin and high-dose fish oil appears to be very synergistic. My definition of a low-dose aspirin is about 20 mg. of aspirin, which is one-quarter of a baby aspirin. I would recommend the combination of the two for anyone with an existing cardiovascular condition because the eicosanoids derived from the combination are exceptionally powerful anti-inflammatory agents. Dr. Barry Sears" I also believe that the more PGFO one supplements with, the less aspirin one would require. Sue takes a very small amount of PGFO so 1 baby aspirin is probably a good supplement dose for Sue. For persons taking larger amounts of PGFO, less baby aspirin is required.[/quote:561f34957d] Hi, Thanks for pointing this Q&A out. Interesting that he recommends one aspirin/PG FO, regime in the book and a different one in the Q&A (and the book first went on sale here, in the US, less than 2 mos prior to the date on the Q&A). Just wondering, have you seen any mention of correction to the book specific to the passage I quoted regarding this? Sue

[quote:448e5583c9]The Institute of Medicine has set an upper tolerable intake level for vitamin E at 1,000 mg (1,500 IU) for any form of supplementary alpha-tocopherol per day because the nutrient can act as an anticoagulant and increase the risk of bleeding problems. [/quote:448e5583c9] Hi Everyone! Thanks for all the useful information. I am wondering what amount of vitamin E is adequate for a person taking fish oil along with aspirin, whereas it still gets the job done but at the minimum dose needed? Since my mom is starting with 4 capsules of fish oil daily, I am trying to keep her at the minimums for vitamin E and aspirin seeing how she is concerned about bleeding. I will have her reduce her aspirin to the 1/4 baby aspirin as mentioned, but I am unsure what amount of E to give her? Thanks so much, crumbelina

[quote:3b9ee0b808="crumbelina"][quote:3b9ee0b808]The Institute of Medicine has set an upper tolerable intake level for vitamin E at 1,000 mg (1,500 IU) for any form of supplementary alpha-tocopherol per day because the nutrient can act as an anticoagulant and increase the risk of bleeding problems. [/quote:3b9ee0b808] Hi Everyone! Thanks for all the useful information. I am wondering what amount of vitamin E is adequate for a person taking fish oil along with aspirin, whereas it still gets the job done but at the minimum dose needed? Since my mom is starting with 4 capsules of fish oil daily, I am trying to keep her at the minimums for vitamin E and aspirin seeing how she is concerned about bleeding. I will have her reduce her aspirin to the 1/4 baby aspirin as mentioned, but I am unsure what amount of E to give her? Thanks so much, crumbelina[/quote:3b9ee0b808] Hi Crumbelina, Dr Sears generally says 400mg. IMO 200 is the minimum you could get away with. In either case this is well below the 1000mg upper limit. White Light

[quote:a6e798be33]Hi Crumbelina, Dr Sears generally says 400mg. IMO 200 is the minimum you could get away with. In either case this is well below the 1000mg upper limit. White Light[/quote:a6e798be33] Could this be accomplished by taking one 400mg every other day, or would I have to take 200mg everyday? The reason I'm asking is that I have several bottles of 400mg that I would like to finish, but I'm thinking of reducing my own dose also to 200mg per day since I use extra virgin olive oil daily. Thanks for the help! crumbelina :P

[quote:e06598ee30="crumbelina"][quote:e06598ee30]Hi Crumbelina, Dr Sears generally says 400mg. IMO 200 is the minimum you could get away with. In either case this is well below the 1000mg upper limit. White Light[/quote:e06598ee30] Could this be accomplished by taking one 400mg every other day, or would I have to take 200mg everyday? The reason I'm asking is that I have several bottles of 400mg that I would like to finish, but I'm thinking of reducing my own dose also to 200mg per day since I use extra virgin olive oil daily. Thanks for the help! crumbelina :P[/quote:e06598ee30] Hi Crumbelina, I see you are right up with the use of extra virgin olive oil for its antioxident properties. IMO 400 every second day is almost as good as 200 every day, and I certainly would not waste them either. White Light