Last week Dr. Doug Bibus honored us with a webinar on the science behind his blood omega-3 testing. His statistics regarding the many correlations between poor omega-3 status and health problems were profound. What particularly got my attention was how this issue may, in some interesting ways, be singling out military families.
Dr. Bibus shared that omega-3 fatty acids have become the subject of intense interest with the Department of Defense, given the fact that military suicides doubled between 2005 and 2008. If you think about it, the majority of deployments during this time have been to Iraq and Afghanistan, where seafood is not a staple on the menu.
Have you ever seen or eaten a military ration (aka MRE?). Many moons ago, my neighbor found some at a military surplus store, and for fun, we organized a dinner party around them.
Just look at that photo to the left. It is what our military eats, day in and day out. I don't see any omega-3's and I do see sugar and pro-inflammatory fats. The focus of these meals, understandably, has been to provide a concentrated source of calories (1250 per meal and 36% fat on average) in a small volume. And that need for calories has been a great dumping ground for surpluses of corn and soybean oil, industries subsidized by our own government.
Expose yourself to that kind of diet, stress, and sleep deprivation, day in and day out, for months on end…it's no wonder the incidence of suicide skyrocketed. I'm glad the DOD has decided to start to figure out how to fix it.
Zoom back over to Virginia Beach and San Francisco, where inCYST seems to have strong pockets of interest. As I sat there and listened to Dr. Bibus talk about the mental health aspects of omega-3 deprivation on our military, I couldn't help but wonder if these infertility pockets are somehow related.
These military couples aren't just dealing with infertility. They have very short windows of opportunity to do something about it. And if the hubs is coming home omega-3 deprived, it's likely not going to be something that's going to resolve, even with supplementation, in his short time at home.
Because those MRE's are so high in calories and fat, and because omega-3 health is all about ratios, it's going to take a pretty high dose of fish oil to overcome that imbalance.
Seems to me that one of the very best things any infertile couple also managing a military deployment might do…is be sure that somehow, some way, omega-3 fats are a priority. It's going to take the military awhile to figure out how to reconfigure those MRE's, let alone politically negotiate all that subsidized surplus pro-inflammatory fat out of them. You don't have to, and you shouldn't…wait for that. Be sure you figure out how to get your fish oil to your loved one.
For his peace of mind and your future family.
Just sayin'