Colette Brown [00:00:00]:
Welcome to the Limitless healing podcast where everyone is welcome to take a front row seat and listen in on inspiring conversations, stories of healing and action steps to help you live your best life. My name is Colette Brown and I am passionate about all things wellness, mind, body, soul. Inspired by my own personal transformation from unwell and not knowing where to turn to thriving and flourishing, and motivated to help you do the same. I share this platform with medical doctors, wellness practitioners, chronic illness survivors, meditation and mindfulness gurus, innovators of products from food, technology and more. Think of it as a one stop shop for wellness resources where you can listen to professionals from around the world to help you thrive. Join me Mondays and Wednesdays while sipping a cup of tea or making your favorite meal as we explore the world of wellness together. This is the Limitless healing podcast. Welcome to Wellness Wednesday.
Colette Brown [00:01:13]:
I have been emphasizing a lot lately about the omega three to omega six ratio that we're supposed to aim for. And in the american diet, it seems to be difficult, to say the least, to obtain that when our levels are typically 25 or 30 to one. As Americans, I brought on a guest today that is going to help us explore the omega three to omega six ratio because we all need to be a little less inflammatory. So it is my great honor to welcome back Paul Devlin. Welcome, Paul.
Paul Devlin [00:01:48]:
Hey, thanks for having me.
Colette Brown [00:01:50]:
It's great to have you. So let's talk a little bit more. Let's do a little education. So the importance of the omega three to omega six ratio is crucial. And there are some ways that you can help your body and avert risks that are long term by keeping this in mind. So why don't you tell us a little bit about what the omega three to omega six ratio is all about.
Paul Devlin [00:02:17]:
Yeah, thanks. And what's interesting, it's a little tricky because Omega Six does show some benefits in biochemistry. They see advantages to some omega six. But when the ratio gets way out of whack, the two molecules are involved in signaling. And what seems to happen is when the omega six gets really high, the signaling balance is off and it creates inflammation. So that's what the data shows. When these ratios go much above three to one, that it fouls up the signaling and suddenly we have inflammation throughout the body, cellular inflammation. So it starts to affect everything from cancer risk, heart disease risk, even Alzheimer's, dementia, autoimmune disorders.
Paul Devlin [00:02:59]:
And the beauty is, by just adding a really high quality omega three, the signaling can be brought back into balance. So it starts to work the way it's intended. So the omega three is primarily from animals, and oily fish are the best way to get it. And I've been working lately with a swedish company that has done 1.2 million tests globally of this six to three ratio. And globally, 97% of humans that take the test are out of balance. So they're getting this pro inflammatory sort of environment in their biochemistry, which then makes them disease susceptible. And I think one of the things about any kind of supplement that we want to take or any kind of thing where we want to intervene, if you will, by adding something, we want to reduce disease susceptibility. And so in those tests, 97% are, I think, globally, it's 16 to one is the number.
Paul Devlin [00:03:55]:
In America, it's 99% of the tests. Now, I haven't done as many tests in America, but it's in. That average is 25 to one in the US. So. And this can be quickly, like, remediated by getting a really high quality omega three oil. And the best sources are from marine sardines and anchovies and mackerel and things like that, oily fish. But one of the problems with these oils is they go rancid. And so they have to come up with ways to preserve the oil once they're taken, so they don't create oxidation and other problems inside the body.
Paul Devlin [00:04:32]:
So there are oils that are superior in terms of their ability to be stable inside the body and not create further oxidation. But anyway, the studies are really powerful. Now, as far as what just adding a really good quality omega three can do in terms of making you anti inflammatory, making you anti disease susceptible, and the reductions are quantifiable. So when they look at people that are. Have high quintiles of omega three in their blood, their all cause mortality drops 21%. That was in a study recently by the Mayo Clinic. 117,000 participants, those in the highest quintile of omega three, have reductions across the board in all the diseases we worry most about.
Colette Brown [00:05:17]:
Why don't you name some of those? Because I find, working with people, that they need to be scared. They need to understand what it means to them. So let's talk about some diseases that we can help push away from by having that ratio back in balance.
Paul Devlin [00:05:31]:
I think one of the scariest ones, cancer, of course, is something that scares everyone. And it does show dramatic reduction in cancer risk when your omega three levels are higher. But the other one that is accelerating in the society right now, in a frightening way, is Alzheimer's, dementia. And I think we don't think of the brain necessarily as full of fat, conceptually, but it is, in fact, you have 100 billion neurons in your brain, and roughly. And each one of those has 7000 dendrites. And at the end of every dendrite is the synaptic cleft, or the synaptic gap, where these neurotransmitter chemicals fly back and forth 70 times a second. These neurotransmitter chemicals being able to fire back and forth across the synaptic clef. And those neurons and those dendrites, they sit in an oil bath, literally an oil bath.
Paul Devlin [00:06:27]:
Your brain is full of cholesterol and full of oil, full of omega three oil. And when those oil levels drop, now, we're seeing in the studies that you become at increasing risk for Alzheimer's dementia. And it's a simple analogy, but it's actually pretty accurate comparing what's happening in your car when the oil level drops in an engine. You've got pistons firing and going up against cylinders. What happens is basically inflammation, heat, and the same kind of problem occurs in the human brain, according to the research I've seen about this. So it just makes sense that when you increase your omega three levels in your body, that those risks drop. And according to the study by the Mayo Clinic, there was a 2022 study, I believe. But if you just search on Mayo clinic and DHA, it'll come right up.
Paul Devlin [00:07:17]:
Because it was such a huge study and it had a big impact on the scientific community. You'll see that Alzheimer's dementia is one of the diseases that are shown to the susceptibility drops.
Colette Brown [00:07:28]:
And I think that just becoming aware of what contains omega six, what contains omega three, do a test. And I guess you could talk about that if somebody wanted to get a test done to see where they're at, just to do a little check, how would they do that?
Paul Devlin [00:07:46]:
Yeah, the best thing to do is to do before and after. So do a test where you are right now, and then a test three or four months later, and the swedish company has that set up. And then they suggest you do an oil, a high quality omega three oil, between the two tests. And the good news is it's not expensive. For dollar 99, you can get a test before, a test after, and a month's worth of the omega oil. And there's other. They're not the only company doing it. There's other companies that are offering these six to three ratio tests.
Paul Devlin [00:08:17]:
It's a finger prick test. So you just put a couple drops and pop it in the mail, and then it's a smart thing to get. What? A lot of people are on an omega three already and they do the test like they're dosing pretty high levels and they do the test and they're still out of balance. I love this whole concept because I think a lot of people, they hear about this, oh, I want to take an omega three and then they take one. But they have no real objective way to know whether or not it's actually working because an omega three is not something you take because you want more energy or you're going to feel anything. You don't feel anything with an omega three. It's all happening internally inside your body. So people take omega three s and I think there's 30 million Americans that currently are on the data shows, on an omega three supplement of some kind.
Paul Devlin [00:09:02]:
That's a lot of, of people, but none of them are taking it for some kind of profound initial experience. They're not going to get that and they know they're not going to get it. So they're taking it for the long term benefit. So to be able to measure where you stand tells you a lot about the quality of the omega three you're taking. If you're, if you've been taking omega three for five years and you do a test like this and you're 20 to one or ten to one, even that tells you about the quality of what you're taking. So I love this. I think that this increasingly needs to happen in the world of nutrition where we're measuring these things because people, they read an article and they're like, oh yeah, I want to take this. They don't feel anything and it's expensive.
Paul Devlin [00:09:41]:
So two months later they just quit taking it. And then they don't get the benefit that they read about initially anyway. So to be able to measure before and after is such a smart thing. And I love that starting to come in now in this, in the area of supplementation so that people can see the benefit in a blood test.
Colette Brown [00:09:59]:
It's not a guessing game at that point. And I'm assuming you'll give us a link, I can put it in the show notes where people can go and get a test done. And the other topic that we wanted to just touch on briefly was the plasmologians. So why don't you give us some information on that?
Paul Devlin [00:10:17]:
Yeah, so the plasmologen oil is very similar to dha omega three oil. It's got a few chemical differences in the way the bonds are formed in the molecule. But the interesting thing about plasmologins. It also relates to Alzheimer's dementia. There's plasmologins in your lungs, there are plasmologians in your heart, in your eyes, but just like DHA. So the oils travel together, so they're sister oils, in a way. But studies have been done postmortem on Alzheimer's. People that were diagnosed with Alzheimer's died of Alzheimer's, and their blood levels were measured.
Paul Devlin [00:10:52]:
And in 100% of the cases, their plasmologen levels are like 10% of where they should be. So it's gotten to the point where it looks to be a causative factor with. When someone is low in their plasmologen levels, which can be tested, it's a more difficult blood test because it's in the blood plasma. So the plasma has to be separated from the blood and put into a dry ice cold container and shipped off to a lab. And it's more expensive to do, but it's a critical thing that oil in the brain is really important, and you're going to hear more and more about it. When I first found out about this particular molecule, I went to a friend of mine, a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard, and she'd never heard of the plasmologen molecule. Here's somebody that has studied the brain her whole life. That's how new the science is.
Paul Devlin [00:11:43]:
And she actually said to me, let me refer you to Holly, who is a specialist in Alzheimer's dementia and does a bunch of tests for Alzheimer's. She'd never heard of it either.
Colette Brown [00:11:54]:
Wow.
Paul Devlin [00:11:55]:
So, and this fatty, this lipid, it's a phospholipid, is really prevalent in the human brain, but we're really in babyland, and a lot of understanding of what's going on here, the mechanisms of action inside the brain that are causing these problems. But this one is a big one. This is a big step forward. And there's probably 30 clinical studies that have been done on plasmologen so far. All of them point to higher levels, are better, and are going to improve outcomes and reduce the probability. And even there's therapeutic benefits. So people that have Alzheimer's already can take a plasmologen oil and get a benefit. And so it's an exciting new area of science that is.
Colette Brown [00:12:37]:
That's really fascinating. And do you know how sugar plays a role in this? Because there's so many Americans are so addicted to sugar. And I know that if you're doing all these things, sometimes people still can't kick that and, or curb it and do it in moderation or find well sourced sweets and treats. Do you know what that sugar effect on? If you are taking the supplements and you're doing these things, but you're eating a lot of sugar, do you know of any contraindication?
Paul Devlin [00:13:11]:
I just know that sugar is pro inflammatory and it feeds cancer. Why would we, we want to keep, really our grams of sugar as low as possible, but sugars in nature. So, yeah, if you believe there's a design and it's not just random out there, then certainly in the design we have fruit and we have naturally occurring sugar. Right. And so it's an important part. Our primary fuel system in the body is a sugar burning system. And so its just like anything in excess. Theres small amounts of arsenic that can be in the body that are fine, but you go over a certain level and its deadly.
Paul Devlin [00:13:47]:
And the same is true of almost any element in the periodic table thats its in your body in micro amounts. But when it exceeds a certain level, its toxic. And I think thats a pattern for nature, is that weve got to find out what is the balance? Where should we be? And so I think if a person's getting, first of all, natural sugars are better because they contain fibers. They don't give you quite the same insulin spike as when you get like raw cane sugar. But in small amounts. Sugar is important in the foods that we eat. It's just keeping it low. So a person getting 20 or 30 grams of sugar a day is going to have a very different health outcome than someone's doing 200 or 300 grams a day.
Paul Devlin [00:14:28]:
Now, one can of Coca cola is 41 grams, and that's high fructose corn sugar, which is like an immediate insulin surge. I think it's a question of moderation. Going back to that, the concept of understanding that it exists in nature, it's a part of the food chain. But don't overdo it. It's inflammatory. It feeds cancer. So don't overdo it. Keep it in check and reduce it.
Colette Brown [00:14:53]:
Yeah, such good advice. And I think, yeah, to your point, everything in moderation. And I have a pretty restricted diet just because of my triggers and sensitivities. But I tell people, if you can get into an 80 20 or a 90 ten kind of lifestyle where you're absolutely enjoying things, but not all the time, like someone going to Starbucks and having their tall, whatever, venti frappuccino with 70 grams of sugar every day, that's just, it's really detrimental on your health. And if you can look forward and look at other people. When I see people that are like 60, 70, 80, and just hunched over solo, shuffling, can't move around, it makes me so sad because that's really not where we're meant to be at that age. We know how to do it better.
Paul Devlin [00:15:45]:
Humans haven't been living to their eighties and nineties very long relative to the length of time that humans have been on the planet. You know what I mean? So we're now adapting to this idea of aging and trying to. And this is one of the great things about the fact that we have these creative brains that are constantly trying to innovate and solve problems. Right. The life expectancy of humans in the 15th century might have been 40, right. And or 50 or whatever. Now we're in 80, 90, and we're saying, how do we live really well at 80 or 90? And we're coming up with these innovative things. And I think, you know, these dietary recommendations that you're promoting are a part of that.
Paul Devlin [00:16:23]:
Right. And so we're constantly refining and then looking at data and trying to do the best we can so that, I mean, I have a 95 year old dad, and he's cogent and he's pretty healthy. But I think, you know, you see the effects of being 95. And I think to myself, what could I do now in terms of, like, exercise and flexibility and food and diet? Hopefully get to 95, and then when I do get there and be able to be as functional as possible.
Colette Brown [00:16:50]:
Yeah. Yeah. That's the goal, I think. And not to mention the massive amount of money that it takes to care for people that are not well, and the medications. And I think collectively being mindful of all these things is so important. Paul, I want to thank you so much. We're in a time crunch here, and I really appreciate your wisdom and advice that you give, and I look forward to having you on another episode very soon.
Paul Devlin [00:17:21]:
Hey, thanks. Glad. It was great to be here.
Colette Brown [00:17:23]:
Thank you so much. And everyone else, until next time, be well. You just finished another episode of limitless healing where we dive into all things wellness. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean the world to, to me if you would share it with your friends and family. Together we can plant seeds of hope that leads to transformation in our lives and the lives of those we love. Let's get healthy together.