1. Will Potassium Supplementation Increase Heart Rate?


2. Is Flaxseed Oil as Good as Fish Oil?


3. Impact of Supplements on Blood pH?

Q My question regards potassium bicarbonate. I have borderline hypertension and have begun taking the supplement and my hypertension symptoms do seem to be improving. I have read the articles on Life Enhancement’s website about the mineral, but had a question that I can’t find the answer to ... and that is: When I have taken regular potassium supplements in the past, if I took too many, my heart rate increased. How is potassium bicarbonate different from the standard plain-potassium supplements? I’d really appreciate your help in understanding this.

VALENA, Lewisville, TX

A Many potassium supplements contain chloride. Some people who exhibit a blood pressure and heart rate increase with sodium chloride do not do so if they are given the same amount of sodium as sodium bicarbonate. This suggests that, at least for some people, that chloride is part of the problem, too.

Q I’m a vegetarian, so I would like to know if taking flaxseed oil will provide the same benefits as fish oil. I hope you can answer this, as I’ve asked several people and can’t seem to get a straight answer.

TRACI, Vancouver, WA

A Flaxseed oil contains omega-3s in the form of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) from which the body can make eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), the principal omega-3s found in fish oil. The conversion is not highly efficient from ALA to DHA and EPA. Estimates of the rate of conversion range from 5% to 25%. This means that it is necessary to take 4–20 times more than the amount of fish oil omega-3s to get the same amount from flaxseed oil. Moreover, this conversion rate degrades further with age.

Additionally, there are far fewer studies done with flaxseed omega-3s showing anywhere near the same benefits as fish oil. Plus, there is no epidemiological evidence for flaxseed oil, whereas there is an abundant amount for fish oil. For example, there was a 20-year study published in 1985 showing an inverse association between fish oil and coronary heart disase.¹ During the 1970s, Greenland Inuits were found to consume very high fat diets, but consisting of very high amounts of omega-3 fish oils, yet they had very low risks of cardiovascular disease. Then in 1999, the large and well-conducted Italian GISSI Prevenzione² trial showed that a very modest 1 g supplementation of EPA and DHA significantly reduced mortality in post-heart attack patients. This turned the heads of the medical establishment to take notice of fish oil.

Another consideration is that ALA competes metabolically with the other essential fatty acid that the body cannot make for itself.

There are other differences. In one study, flaxseed oil did not decrease triglycerides (TGs) in older subjects versus younger ones.³ Many studies have shown that fish oil can lower TGs. In fact, the FDA has approved the pharmaceutical use of fish oil for that purpose.

Finally, there is concern about the flaxseed studies. “Most of the available evidence investigates the efficacy of alpha-linoleic acid found in flaxseed compared with fish oil, and almost all of the available studies are poor quality. Although flaxseed and flaxseed oil have several promising future uses, the available literature does not support recommendation for any condition at this time.”⁴ On the other hand, fish oil has an enormous body of impeccable research supporting its use for a wide variety of benefits.

To find out more enter “Flaxseed” into the national Library of Medicine search engine (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/) and read the research about it, especially the reviews. Then do the same for fish oil.

1. Kromhout D, Bosschieter EB, de Lezenne Coulander C. The inverse relation between fish consumption and 20-year mortality from coronary heart disease. NEJM 1985 May 9;312(19):1205-9.
2. Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Sopravvivenza nell’Infarto miocardico. Dietary supplementation with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E after myocardial infarction: results of the GISSI-Prevenzione trial. Lancet 1999 Aug 7;354(9177):447-55.
3. Patenaude A, Rodriguez-Leyva D, et al. Bioavailability of alpha-linolenic acid from flaxseed diets as a function of the age of the subject. Eur J Clin Nutr 2009 Sep;63(9):1123-9.
4. Basch E, Bent S, Collins J, Dacey C, Hammerness P, Harrison M, Smith M, Szapary P, Ulbricht C, Vora M, Weissner W; Natural Standard Resource Collaboration. Flax and flaxseed oil (Linum usitatissimum): a review by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration. J Soc Integr Oncol 2007 Summer;5(3):92-105.

Q I’ve just read Building Bone Vitality: A Revolutionary Plan to Prevent Bone Loss and Reverse Osteoporosis, by Amy Lanou and Michael Castleman. The writers contend that a high acid diet causes bone loss by leaching calcium from the bones to help neutralize it. The book is so well documented, and the theory so logically explained, that I find it compelling. Since I have been taking Personal Radical Shield along with other supplements for almost 20 years, I wonder what their impact on blood pH is and whether there is any way to ensure my supplement combo is neutral or slightly alkaline?

DENNIS, San Anselmo, CA

A It isn’t just food pH—it is food metabolite pH, too. As Durk Pearson & Sandy Shaw mentioned in their potassium bicarbonate interview (see “Potassium Bicarbonate Supplementation” and the interview, “Potassium Bicarbonate for Reduced Blood Pressure and Increased Muscle Mass,” both in the April, 2009 issue), loss of lean body mass is caused at least in part by burning protein to produce ammonia to neutralize acids. These acids promote both the loss of calcium and lean body mass—which is why potassium bicarbonate helps to prevent both.

Most organic acids (such as acetic and ascorbic and non-sulfur amino acids) can be metabolized to CO2 and water. One of the biggest offenders in many people’s diets is the phosphoric acid and acid phosphates in soft drinks. Note that the tricalcium phosphate in Durk & Sandy’s three-way calcium complex product is alkaline, not acid.