Based on all the hype, you'd be forgiven for believing that the fish oils known as omega-3s are the solution to every problem. Heart disease, dementia, depression, even obesity—the list of ailments that experts claim a daily dose of omega-3 can help prevent seems endless. And with more than ten percent of Americans taking a capsule of fish oil daily, omega-3s are one of the most profitable supplements in the world, too. Listen in this episode, as author Paul Greenberg and scientist JoAnn Manson help us figure out what these supposedly miracle molecules are, and what consuming them is doing to our bodies—and to our oceans. (Encore presentation) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Happy June to all you gastropod fans out there.
Thanks to our sponsor, American Express, we're bringing you some encore presentations of our favorite episodes this month, in between brand new episodes.
And first up, a look at one of America's most popular supplements, omega three s.
Enjoy.
And we'll be back in a week.
It was a little bit of a grueling thing.
It's funny, I never went out on a jet ski as a younger person, and I was, I think, 47 when I started on this book.
So it turns out riding a jet ski is not a lot of fun if you're 47.
The jet ski mounted hero of today's episode is 47 year old Paul Greenberg.
Well, he's not 47 anymore.
That was when he started the book.
So he's a few years past that now.
Like us all, he's getting older.
And that actually is what led him to the topic of his book.
I did start this book in the throes of kind of a panic about middle age.
And when you google all the things that are going wrong with you in middle age, joints hurt, blood pressure's going up, losing your memory, and you google solutions for this.
What comes up again and again are omega three supplements.
So it struck me as a way, a lens for looking at the omega three was to look at through the lens of the sort of panic that you get in middle age around all these things.
This episode is not about the panic.
It's about the omega three s.