Page 33 - Spring2009

BENEFITS OF FERMENTED COD LIVER OIL AND BUTTER OIL ARE MANY AND VARIED
Rosann Volmert, DO

I am a family practice physician in Pasadena, California. I have been using Green Pasture’s fermented cod liver oil
and high-vitamin butter oil with my patients for only nine months now, and I have noticed dramatic results. The most
dramatic of these is the effect the oils have had on lowering blood pressure in patients with hypertension. This effect
has enabled several of my patients to lower their dose of prescription medication, and hopefully eliminate it all together.
In addition, I have found that patients have lost weight and lowered their blood sugars without any change in diet or
activity. I have also had reports of less stiffness and pain of joints in arthritic and temporomandibular joint dysfunction
patients, improvement in eczema, elevated mood in depressed patients, lessening of symptoms of PMS and increased
energy and overall well being. I have a very small practice so these testaments are drawn from a few patients here and
there, but they are indicative of tremendous benefits for a large number of people.
All of this has really illustrated for me the huge nutritional deficiency people have been suffering from due to a
fear of cholesterol. For many years now a fear of cholesterol-containing foods has kept people from consuming healthy
amounts of butter, eggs, cheese, milk, animal fats and many other foods rich in nutritious fats and fat-soluble vitamins.
It is no wonder that the vitamin D level is pitifully low in 95 percent of my patients. Due to continued bias against
cholesterol-rich foods, I am at times unable to convince my patients to eat more of these foods. However, I have been
successful in getting them to take the Green Pasture’s oils. This is mainly because they are easy to take, and only small
amounts are needed. Using these products has enabled me to give back to my patients the fat-soluble nutrients their
bodies have been lacking for some time now, and they are feeling better for it.
Because Green Pasture’s fermented cod liver oils and butter oils contain such a wide variety and potency of fat-soluble
nutrients, they not only enhance my patients’ lives, but simplify them as well. Patients are able to take much less cod
liver oil than with their old brand and eliminate the need for additional supplements, which are lacking in other brands.
(I recommend 3 ml or 3/4 teaspoon fermented cod liver oil and 2.5 ml or 1/2 teaspoon butter oil.) When I introduce
them to the oils, I ask them to bring in all the supplements they are taking. I show them that with taking this oil combo
they can eliminate one-half to two-thirds of their other supplements, and sometimes all of them. Often my patients are
taking so many different types of synthetic vitamins, they literally walk in with a big box full of them. The reason they
are taking so many is because each bottle usually contains only one or maybe a couple types of synthetic vitamins or
nutrients. Obtaining nutrients through natural food sources allows them a more potent and broader range of nutrition,
thus eliminating the need for boxes of bottles and huge dosing.
One of the nutrients found in cod liver oil is vitamin D. I found that it took just 2,800 IU of the vitamin D contained
in Green Pasture’s fermented cod liver oil in combination with the butter oil to raise one patient’s serum 25-hydroxy
vitamin D level from 12.6 ng/ml to 82.3 ng/ml in just three months. According to the guidelines for supplementing syn-
thetic vitamin D it would have taken 7,000 IU to achieve this and without all the benefits of the many other fat-soluble
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nutrients found in these oils. What a testament to the power of nutrients in their natural form!
I am finding similar results in other patients. Several have raised their vitamin D levels from the teens or low twen-
ties into the forties within several months using the combination of fermented cod liver oil and high-vitamin butter oil
alone, in easy-to-take capsule form, and without any other vitamin D supplementation. Since the patients are also get-
ting substantial amounts of vitamin A with this regimen, it is difficult to conclude that vitamin A interferes with vitamin
D assimilation as critics of cod liver oil have claimed.

be important components within the quinone which some find bothersome. It is best to take the oil mixed with a small
nutrients. The fermented cod liver oil tests at amount of warm water, swallowing quickly. Adding something acidic
4-8 mg per gram, compared to the high-vitamin such as lemon juice, apple cider vinegar or kombucha may help with the
butter oil at 23-25 mg per gram. Quinone testing tingling at the back of the throat. Others report good results adding a little
presents a fertile field for future research. honey or maple syrup or “chasing fat with fat” by following the cod liver
oil with cream, egg yolk or butter. Another way to minimize the throat-
TAKING COD LIVER OIL tingle effect is to take it during or after a fatty breakfast.
Most of those who have consumed the fer-
mented cod liver oil report that it is not as fishy NEW PRODUCTS
tasting as the industrialized varieties. However, Our current batch of fermented cod liver oil will come in plain, cin-
because it is a lacto-fermented product, it can namon and liquorice flavors, as well as in one-milliliter capsules. In the
leave a slight sting on the back of the throat, future we will offer Viking strength (unflavored), Mediterranean (garlic,

SPRING 2009 Wise Traditions 31