Sealing is a highly managed resource of which nothing is wasted, Atlantic Marine Products process the entire animal. Seal oil is just one of many products produced and is extracted from a thick layer of blubber beneath the pelt. Atlantic Marine Products maintain only the highest product standards. In fact, they will not accept any seal pelts that have been treated with chemical preservatives of any kind and accept only pelts delivered from the ice flows within a couple of days. In fact, their seal oil is processed and stored within 5 days, max.,start to finish. Only fully moulted, spotted, grey harp seals are used for this product.

Nutritional Information:

	Energy...................................................................		9 cal, 40 kj
	Protein...................................................................		0 g
	Fat........................................................................		1 g
		Omega-6 Polyunsaturates.................................	3% g
		Omega-3 Polyunsaturates.................................	0.2 g
	Monounsaturates....................................................		0.6 g
	Saturates...............................................................		0.2g
	Cholesterol.............................................................		<2 mg
	Carbohydrate..........................................................		0 g
	Vitamin E.............................................................		2.5 mg

Seal Oil is rich in Omega 3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) including docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). In addition, there are considerable levels of squalene and Vitamin E. These compounds are essential to development and maintenance of good health. 

DPA is naturally present in human milk and is postulated to be an essential fatty acid for infant nutrition and development. Seal oil is one of the few known natural sources of DPA. In contrast, fish oils have little or no DPA. Recent studies have also shown that DPA is involved with the healing process associated with cardiovascular diseases, namely atherosclerosis and thrombosis. Each capsule contains 23.5 mg.

DHA has been identified as an essential fatty acid in brain, nerve and eye tissue. It is especially important to the development of infant’s visual acuity and motor skills. Researchers have been investigating the relationship between decreased dietary DHA and increased incidence of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia. DHA is supplied naturally through mother’s breast milk and more recently through few DHA supplemented formulas. Harp Seal Oil is an excellent source of natural DHA. Each of our capsules contains 44.5 mg of DHA.

EPA reduces inflammation and blood clots within the cardiovascular system. In addition, clinical tests have shown people with diets rich in EPA are less prone to inflamed joints (Rheumatoid arthritis), inflammation of the intestine (Chron’s disease), lupus, asthma, multiple sclerosis and skin disease. New research has shown an inverse relationship with inflammatory disorders, where EPA is effective, and schizophrenia. Each of our capsules contains 38 mg of EPA.

Squalene is a highly unsaturated hydrocarbon, which is found in marine oils, including seal oil. It is found in various vital body organs and has a close relationship with cortisone, diuretic steroids, sex hormones and Vitamin A and is involved with many essential biochemical processes. Squalene is currently being studied for its possible anti-carcinogenic effects. product has been found to be helpful for Arthritic, Crohns and Cholesterol related ailments.

Heart disease. Research has indicated that Omega 3 can reduce the risk of primary cardiac arrest by 70%, by reducing blood vessel blockages. Other work (Dr. Leof of Harvard Medical School) has found that PUFA’s can prevent sudden death from irregular heart beats following a heart attack. Yet another study has found that a diet rich in Omega 3 can reduce chances of a second (fatal) heart attack by 30%. 

Blood pressure. Fish oil helps lower blood pressure and may help certain blood pressure medicines work more effectively. 

Stroke. Dutch researchers have confirmed a link between fish consumption (as little as one 3 oz serving per week), and a reduced risk of stroke, noting fish oil’s ability to retard coagulation, a thickening of the blood that can lead to stroke inducing clots. 

Menstruation. Researchers at Children’s Hospital medical Center in Cincinnati say Omega 3 may reduce the associated pain, nausea, and bloating. 

Mental illness. A British study claims that up to 80% of schizophrenics are deficient in unsaturated fatty acids like Omega 3. Omega 3 deficiency has also been linked to depression and general mental deterioration. 

Cancer. Fish eaters are less likely to die of cancer. One major study found that daily fish consumption dramatically slows abnormal cell growth that can lead to colon cancer. Another showed similar success impeding breast cancer. The Japanese, who eat three times more fish than Americans, have a breast cancer rate that is five times lower and a life expectancy that is four years longer. The American Heart Association announced to 40,000 delegates at an annual conference in 1997 that Omega 3 consumption delivered dramatic heart benefits. 

Arthritis. More than a dozen studies confirm that Omega 3 offers anti-inflammatory relief for arthritis sufferers. It may also slow the course of kidney disease. 

Fetal development. Studies show that pregnant women should eat fish to aid fetal brain and eye development. This is particularly important for babies that are born prematurely. 

Literally thousands of studies have been published on the potential beneficial effects to human health of seafoods and fish oil preparations containing Omega 3 fatty acids. 

In fact, a bibliography (Special Bibliography 1995-A, “Effects of Fish Oils and Polyunsaturated Omega 3 Fatty Acids in Health and Disease) prepared by Arthur Wykes of the Specialized Information Services, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, found 1,108 citations related to this topic published between June 1993 and January 1995 alone. 

The bibliography noted that Omega 3 research in the United States, Europe and Asia has focused on the possible blood lipid-lowering and anticoagulant effects induced by fish and fish oil consumption, and on their potential for lowering risks for heart attacks, atherosclerosis, and cerebral thrombosis. Other research topics have included arthritis and inflammation, immunological conditions, diabetes, kidney and skin disorders, cancer, growth and development, vision and brain development, and membranes, as well as plant and other non-fish sources of essential fatty acids.

("Orsoq" is the Greenlandic word for blubber)

“The big killer” (cardiovascular disease) is the most frequent cause of death in Europe and the USA. In the last fifty years great changes in diet have led to rapid acceleration of the disease. In Europe and the USA many people die at ages as early as 40-50 of thrombosis. In the USA half a million people a year contact thrombosis and die of it. A further million are permanently disabled by thrombosis. A billion dollars a year are spent on medicine for atherosclerosis and thrombosis.

Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) begins in childhood. Post-mortems on American soldiers who died in Korean War showed that there were already clear indications of atherosclerosis in twenty-year olds. In Greenland, atherosclerosis is a more or less unknown disease. For example, in the 1970’s there was not a single death due to cardiovascular disease in the hunting district of Uummannaq with about 3,000 inhabitants. In recent years, some Greenlanders have moved to Denmark. Following the same pattern as elsewhere in the world, these immigrants have contracted the same cardiovascular diseases as the Danes. So the very low incidence of cardiovascular disease in Greenland cannot be explained by hereditary immunity. In other words, something in the environment has given the Inuit protection against “the big killer”. So it is a natural step to investigate the Greenland diet.

As early as 1908 the Danish doctors Krogh & Krogh studied the Greenlandic diet. They demonstrated that Greenlanders were the most meat-eating population known at that time. The Danish doctors Bang and Dyerberg confirmed this in the studies they made between 1970 and 1979. They found that certain poly-unsaturated fatty acids, the so called OMEGA-3 fatty acids, are richly represented in the diet, which consists mainly of seal and small whales. These poly-unsaturated OMEGA-3 fatty acids may explain the low incidence of cardiovascular diseases. It is true that the food in the diet of the western world also includes poly-unsaturated fatty acids, especially since vegetable margarine has replaced butter on most people’s lunch tables, but these belong to another family - OMEGA-6 acids.

Both OMEGA-3 and OMEGA-6 are essential substances which the organism needs to get from its diet. OMEGA-3 is particularly well represented in seafood and OMEGA-6 in food from land. [Particularly grass fed, grazing livestock rather than grain fed animals.

Both these fats are structural elements in every single cell in the organism, and can to some extent replace each other. But it is very important whether it is one type or the other that forms part of the blood platelets. The more OMEGA-6, the stronger the tendency for the blood platelets to clot. This lays the basis for thrombosis, and to some extent for atherosclerosis. In the diet of the western world, the ratio of OMEGA-6 to OMEGA-3 is 50:1 (that is 50 kilos of meat for every kilo of fish). In the Inuit diet the ratio is 1:1.

These studies created the basis for the fish oil boom. The large quantities of OMEGA-3 in fish could be extracted, concentrated and sold as medicine at high prices. The raw material price for refined sardine oil is between DKR 3 and 4 per kilo, while the selling price for capsules is about DKR 1,000 per kilo. The raw material is so cheap that it is used as heating fuel in some places.

However, new studies have shown that fish oil has no effect on atherosclerosis. Nor does fish oil seem to have influence on either the cholesterol content in the blood or the formation of free radicals.

For the last two years Greenland has been participation in the International Atherosclerosis Project. This is a project supervised by experts at the Louisiana State University in New Orleans in the USA. Among other things, they have studied the coronary arteries of the hearts of over 23,000 deceased persons from sixteen different countries. It is the coronary arteries that the fatal blood clots form.

The provisional results of the new studies in Greenland have shown that atherosclerosis is far less widespread among the Inuit than elsewhere in the world. But there are also great individual differences. Inuit who have lived on the diet of the western world have developed atherosclerosis just as in Europe and the USA. But a seventy year old who has lived on the traditional Inuit diet of seal and whale has coronary arteries that are just as elastic as those of a twenty year old Dane.

Advertisements for fish oil claim that Inuit have a low incidence of cardiovascular disease because they eat a lot of fish. This is not the case. Inuit do not eat very much fish, and have never done so. This was also evident from Bang and Dyerberg’s studies. On average, they only ate fish once or twice a week, while they ate seal or whale twice a day! Many nations eat much more fish than Greenland, and interestingly enough these nations have a far higher incidence of atherosclerosis.

Another interesting thing is that more fish eating nations on average have a higher cholesterol level than people in Greenland. Calculations have been done to estimate how much one could lower the cholesterol count of a European if he ate Inuit food. It emerges that the figure one arrives at is still higher than the cholesterol level in Inuit. So there must be something else in the Inuit diet that can lower the cholesterol count - something other than OMEGA-3 fats.

A person with a high level of cholesterol came to the National Hospital in Nuuk. He had tried different diets and medicinal treatment, but his cholesterol count was still higher than was good for him. He was urged to eat only traditional Greenlandic food. In just a month his cholesterol count fell by a whole 70%. Of course, more work is being done on this observation. It is essential to find out which elements in the diet have such a dramatic effect. As a first step we have been looking more closely at seal blubber.

In the work of extracting oil from seal blubber, it was striking to see how stable this oil is. Some oil has been kept for two months in a small, open jar and, despite the fact it had been standing in the furnace room, it had not gone off. It has been since confirmed that seal oil contains large quantities of Vitamin E and selenium as well as some anti-oxidants which protect it from oxidation and thus from becoming rancid.

There is also a process of “going rancid” in the human organism, but here it is a much more dangerous matter. The constant oxidation process leaves the very toxic “free radicals” which we now know are one of the factors that start off a wide variety of illnesses. And anti-oxidants have in fact become a popular article in health food stores.

About ten years ago, in the Greenlandic hunting community of Siorapaluk, the northern most settlement in the world, it was established that there was a very high selenium content in a number of blood tests. The level was between ten and twenty times higher than in Europeans and Americans. So we must presume that the free radicals do not have much of a chance with an Inuk.

Atherosclerosis is still not a widespread disease in Greenland. The traditional hunting of sea mammals is kind to the environment and shows consideration for the animals hunted. But after the campaign against sealskin in particular, it is not very profitable and the traditional diet is having to compete hard with the cheap chicken dishes and minced meats sold in the Greenland shops of today.

The Inuit have always known that you need to eat seal and whale to stay in good health. Science is now also arriving at the conclusion that the diet of the Inuit has qualities that have gone unrecognized hitherto.