Question of the Month Page

ASK BONNIE for November 2003

Question #1:

Which is healthier, fish oil, or flax oil?

Answer #1:

The answer is not so much which is healthier, but which is more beneficial for your needs. For instance, if you are looking to boost your omega 3 intake, fish oil is the gold standard. The reason being that flax oil needs to be broken down several times enzymatically to be absorbed as omega 3. A part of the population are not genetically capable of making this enzymatic transformation, thus it is absorbed as omega 6. Fish oil is automatically absorbed as omega 3. Of course, you always need to make sure that the fish oil is not rancid and is free of PCBs and other toxic compounds.

If supplementing with flax oil for motility, pulverized, organic flax seed is a better option than flax oil. In addition, any flax product must be certified organic because conventional flax is heavily sprayed with pesticides and retains much of the pesticides. Keep any flax oil product refrigerated and flax seed frozen.

Question #2:

For the past 5 years, my 71 yr old Mother has been suffering from constant urinary tract infections; at least on every other month and now she's had 3 in the past 6 weeks. Other than constantly taking antibiotics, are there dietary changes/supplements she should consider?

Answer #2:

Her first mistake is taking antibiotics for urinary tract infections. Antibiotics make urinary tract infections worse by wiping out healthy flora and proliferating yeast. Strict avoidance of yeast-producing foods, taking natural substances such as Cranactin (cranberry extract), NutriBiotic (grapefruit seed extract), Lactobacillus Acidophilus, and Saccromyces Boulardii are essential.

Question #3:

I have been having spring water in glass bottles delivered to my home for several years now. I continues to be a large financial expense. Are there any other alternatives? I read that water in "Number 7 Recyclable Plastic" is safe...is this true.

Answer #3:

Safe water is essential to human health. Probably the safest water to drink in the United States today is natural spring water which has been obtained from springs that bubble up from the ground in areas where the ground water is unpolluted. Spring water abounds with naturally occurring minerals. The next safest water is distilled, which is processed by heating water and evaporating the steam. This procedure removes all impurities and toxins. However, it also evaporates the important trace minerals.

If you live in an area with a high mineral content water (often termed “hard water”), it is usually healthiest and most cost-effective to use a reverse osmosis carbon filter for all drinking water (and ideally for bath water also). Research has indicated that geographical areas containing “hard water” show fewer pockets of heart disease and osteoporosis, most presumably from constant consumption of trace minerals. Softened water, especially if softened with sodium, is not recommended for drinking water or for watering plants because the high level of sodium may cause edema, high blood pressure and imbalanced electrolytes in humans and can cause plants to dry out and die.

If glass bottles are too cost-prohibitive for you, then simply attach a Pur filter to your water tap, or a more expensive option is to install a reverse osmosis filter onto your main water pipe.

Have a happy, healthy day.

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