Sept. 24 Omega-3s webinar

Do omega-3s have place in pandemic plan? Tune in on Thursday to find out

22-Sep-2020 - Last updated on 22-Sep-2020 at 15:45 GMT

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Omega-3s are the one of the oldest and best researched of ingredients, but new science is being done all the time. A NutraIngredients-USA webinar this week will look at some of the emerging evidence in immune health, sports nutrition, cognitive benefits and more.

Fish oil has been on the market in one form or another for over 200 years. Intensive research into the omega-3 ingredients spans decades, including large scale clinical trials conducted over the past 20 years.

A FREE NutraIngredients-USA webinar, scheduled for Sept. 24, will delve into the science on these important ingredients. What are the best supported effects? What are the exciting new results and new research and product opportunities?

World-class experts

We have assembled a panel of world class experts to elucidate these questions. Among the speakers are Dr Jeffrey Bland, PhD. Bland is the founder and president of the Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute. Dr Bland is known as the ‘father of functional medicine,’ an approach that focuses on the personalized prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. PLMI hosts an annual thought leaders forum that has gone a long way toward connecting health care practitioners with the latest in nutritional research.

Dr Bland is also the founder of Big Bold Health, a brand that is commercializing an omega-3 ingredient taken from fresh raw material left over from seafood production in Alaska.

Another panelist will be Dr Philip Calder, PhD, of the University of Southampton in the UK. Dr Calder has done a wealth of research into the effects of fatty acids, including those from up and coming plant sources. In recent months he has led the push among researchers to demonstrate that proper nutritional support, including having an adequate intake of EPA and DHA, is crucial to having a well functioning immune system.

The third panelist is Dr William S. Harris, PhD, of the Sanford School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota. Dr. Harris is also the co inventor of the Omega 3 Index, which offers a handy way to measure omega-3 levels in red blood cells, which has become a standard market for omega-3 status. Dr. Harris is also founder of the firm OmegaQuant, which markets a minimally invasive blood test to measure the Omega-3 Index. Dr. Harris has participated in many omega-3 trials over the years, particularly by way of establishing baseline and ultimate treatment levels of omega-3s in the bodies of study subjects. Prior to Dr. Harris’s involvement, many trials did not capture this information and relied on measurements of end results, such as changes in various CVD parameters. Now, establishing baseline and post treatment Omega-3 Index levels is starting to become standard practice in the research.

Where do we go from here?

The webinar will give an overview of where the state of the research stands in cardiovascular health, immune function, cognitive effects and more. And the panel of experts will look at where the research is going. Will omega-3s become a standard addition to soldiers' rations and on training tables for athletes to help guard against traumatic brain injuries? Should seniors be getting more to ward off cognitive decline? Is the national slide into depression partly explained by brains starved of these ingredients? And finally, should omega-3s be part of every consumers' toolkit for optimum nutritional support during these pandemic times?