Searching for Factor X in Whale and Seal Oil

Fish oil capsules have become a sales success for the pharmaceutical industry and a well-established supplement on many a breakfast table. The N3 fatty acids in fish oil are understood to have a prophylactic effect on thrombosis and hardening of the arteries. Experiments carried out at the University of Tromsø, however, indicate that whale and seal oils provide a far better effect, and that such positive effects are probably not attributable to N3 fatty acids, but to a hitherto unknown factor. Of the oils tested so far, the greatest effect came from minke whale oil, says Professor Bjarne Østerud of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Tromsø to the High North News.

The origins of research on the oils from fish and marine mammals in preventive heart treatment are to be found in Greenland. Two Danish doctors, Dyerberg and Bang, observed that heart diseases were very rare among the Inuit of Greenland. They assumed that this was attributable to a high consumption of marine polyunsaturates - particularly from oily fish. Later it has become apparent that the traditional diet of the Greenlanders does not include a particularly large amount of fish, but on the other hand, it does include large amounts of blubber and meat from marine mammals. This is what makes this diet unique, and because of this, medical research in this field has been developed from only including fish oils, to also including whale and seal oils.

Low occurrences of arthritis, psoriasis and asthma, but frequent occurrences of endocarditis have been recorded among Greenlanders. This may have some connection with the effect of whale and seal oil on the immunity system. The experiments carried out in Tromsø show that the consumption of whale and seal oils leads to a less aggressive immunity system and has influence on the viscosity and coagulation of the blood.

Professor Østerud comes from a family that is very vulnerable to cardiovascular disease. His brother died recently of a heart attack, and another brother has also suffered a heart attack. Østerud himself had the same indicators in his blood showing that he has a strong predisposition to heart attacks. He used himself as his initial guinea pig - and discovered that the consumption of whale oil dramatically reduced the level of indicator s that show the danger of heart attacks in his blood.

An experiment comparing the effect of various, different oils was concluded last year. 134 people were divided into groups consuming respectively the oils from the blubber of minke whales, seal blubber, a combination of seal blubber and cod liver oil and no oil at all for a period of ten weeks. This experiment is now being followed up by a study of the effects of the consumption of olive oil.