Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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I take fermented cod liver oil daily (from Green Pastures if you google). I have been taking four caps per day for the past two years. I was introduced to this small company from the Weston Price Foundation. Anyway, i have always been thoroughly happy with the product, and really do believe that i am supporting not only my own health, but a wonderful small company who really cares about our health.

However, i just read a post on their own website by the company manager himself which says "The fclo [fermented cod liver oil] is catabolic, the skate and butter oil are anabolic." Although the whole post itself is very short, if you wanna see the context here is the link: http://www.greenpasture.org/community/?q=node/301

That short statement struck me as odd and i just wondered if anyone on these boards had an opinion (or a study link or two would be great but) as to the truth of it.

flag	asked Dec 1 2010 at 15:58 ben61820 16.1k●1●11●57

MikeD · Answer 1 · 2010-12-01 16:15:34Z UTC

I am not sure why cod liver oil would be catabolic. I am guessing you are worried about it preventing muscle growth. I wonder if that is what the offer meant by it. I think on a low-carb type diet, fish oils would add fuel to the fire of burning fat, but I doubt it will break down muscle. If anything I would think its intake would help preserve muscle.

According to some studies fish oil actually is has catabolic-inhibition properties. I would not think there would be a difference in the different fish oils for that effect. http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-029.shtml

Rex · Answer 2 · 2010-12-02 04:31:18Z UTC

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I agree with Mike's answer. "Fish Oil would add fuel to the fire of burning fat". It is fish protein that is catabolic not the fish oil. Excess protein will burn fat to get energy and contribute to weight loss. Excess fat intake will contribute to weight gain.

answered Dec 2 2010 at 4:31

Rex
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	http//nutraprointl.com – Rex Dec 2 2010 at 4:32
	I don't understand this answer. Why would any protein be catabolic? Muscle is made of protein (well, at least the myofibrils, which make up about 80% of the cell mass). And what does "excess protein will burn fat to get energy" mean. Not being confrontational, I just don't understand what that is supposed to mean. Protein can be a fuel source, but it doesn't "burn" anything. – Glenn Dec 2 2010 at 21:15
	Perhaps the line of thinking that "protein is catabolic" is referring to the high thermic effect of ingesting protein, since the body works harder to digest protein than it does fat or carbohydrate. Not sure if that qualifies protein as catabolic though, I always thought of protein as being very anabolic. I am also confused by the sentence "excess fat intake will contribute to weight gain." – bobbyD Dec 30 2010 at 11:52

Janne · Answer 3 · 2011-01-09 18:19:12Z UTC

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http://www.greenpasture.org/community/?q=node/236

Here's another entry regarding anabolic/catabolic properties of certain oils. A quote from the link above:

"something unusual about the Fermented skate liver oil is that it is anabolic. very key if any other omega 3 rich oils are anabolic."

Also:

"to research this topic further look up Revici or revici method"

Edit: hehheh, wrong thread.

edited Jan 9 2011 at 18:19

answered Jan 9 2011 at 15:27

Janne
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I'm very new to Paleo and I don't quite understand the significance of cod liver oil. Can someone please highlight its primary benefit(s)? I've read on Kurt Harris's site that he for one does not take it. paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2009/6/19/… Does it indeed help with fat loss as Rex suggested above? Pardon my digression here. – CheshyCat Jan 23 2011 at 21:50

bobbyD · Answer 4 · 2010-12-30 12:06:06Z UTC

I am in the same boat as you as I find this statement to be odd. I did some poking around on the Weston A Price website and found some good articles on fish oils and specifically cod liver oil.

From what I read, part of the debate over CLO is the vitamin A and vitamin D content and the ratio of these two vitamins to each other. There are some who claim that taking CLO regularly will lead to the body storing too much vitamin A: side effects include birth defects, liver problems, and reduced bone mineral density. (source: NIH http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamina/)

I remember reading somewhere else that too much vitamin A prevents the body from synthesizing vitamin D properly. This may be true, but maybe you need something like 25,000 IU a day to get to that point.

I have no idea if this is what the company manager was getting at or not. Again, I can't think of any reason why CLO would be catabolic. I do not plan to stop taking it daily.

Tom · Answer 5 · 2011-01-07 23:48:26Z UTC

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My 0.02, all I know is that Robb Wolf favors fish oils, and he's explaining that in one of his podcasts, episode #23 (19min22) and #28 (10min29) to be exact.

answered Jan 7 2011 at 23:48

Tom
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Cod Liver Oil is catabolic?

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