If you’re not taking DHA supplements you should be.

One of the biggest breakthroughs that science has discovered in recent years in naturally improving your health is the role of DHA (and EPA) in so many aspects of our general health. Today we would like to examine exactly what DHA is and why top quality DHA supplements are so important to your health.

DHA stands for Docosahexaenoic acid. It is what is known as a long chain fatty acid, or otherwise known as an essential fatty acid. DHA makes up a large proportion of the fats in our brain and is one of the most important fats in the development of the fetal brain.

Many people assume that eating fat is bad for you. This is far from the truth and there are a number of fats, known as essential fatty acids, that are in fact extremely important for your health. Evidence is that our diets are low in these fats, particularly in DHA, and that increasing our intake of essential fatty acids can have important positive impacts on so many areas of our health.

Certainly there is clear evidence that eating some kinds of fat is bad for you. Saturated fats for example, normally found in meat and dairy products, should only be consumed in smaller quantities than is now the case for most of us. However essential fatty acids have been found over and over again in studies to be very important to our health and our consumption of these should be increased.

The most important of these essential fatty acids is DHA, however EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid) is also important. Neither of these fats is manufactured in our body and both must be taken from our food. Current science shows that the average American diet is largely deficient in both DHA and EPA.

Both of these fats are known as Omega 3 fatty acids. You may have heard of the benefits of omega 3, this refers to the benefits of DHA and EPA. There are a number of sources of DHA and EPA but for our purposes they are primarily found in fish and in particular fish oil, and for various reasons are best taken as DHA supplements or EPA supplements, in fact the best way is to take omega 3 supplements which combines the 2.

The range of health benefits from increasing our intake of omega 3 fatty acids is extraordinary. To get a full idea of many of the health benefits of increasing our intake of omega 3 fatty acids just read the categories in the right-hand column of this website. Each of these covers a specific health condition which the research has shown can be improved by increasing our intake of omega 3 fats. It is probably fair to say that in the history of the health supplements industry no other product has had such widespread acceptance of its health benefits and has had such a meteoric rise in consumption.

Omega 3 supplements, or DHA supplements, are increasing in sales faster than any supplement in history and for good reason.

The benefits of increasing our intake of DHA and EPA range from increases in our heart health including a lower risk of heart attack and stroke and even death to improvements in depression, diabetes, acne and skin health, postpartum depression, memory and concentration, macular degeneration, prostate cancer, lowering of triglycerides and much more.

As well as DHA and EPA there are other omega 3 supplements. A third one that has gained some popularity over recent years is called ALA. This is a plant-based Omega 3 fatty acid. For vegetarians who do not eat fish it is an alternative to taking DHA supplements however the research shows that ALA is not as effective at improving our health as DHA and EPA, primarily because ALA needs to be converted into DHA in the body, and particularly ineffective process. And it is now possible to get vegetarian DHA supplements anyway.

If you’re just starting to research the benefits of EPA DHA supplements then please read some of the articles listed in our categories to find out more about some of the specific conditions listed above.

The reality for most of us is that we will not be able to increase our intake of DHA and EPA sufficiently by increasing our intake of fish. Although fish is the optimum source of these 2 essential omega 3 fatty acids, fish is expensive. It is also important to source oily fish because not all fish have high levels of DHA and EPA.

On top of this fish is generally contaminated with toxins such as Mercury and heavy metals and this reason the EPA recommends that we not eat too much fish. The best DHA EPA supplements are free of contaminants such as these and can safely be taken daily.

However if you are new to the importance of good DHA supplementation in your diet it’s important to understand that not all Omega 3 supplements are the same. The reason for taking supplements is for their DHA and EPA fats and various supplements have wildly differing amounts of these 2 essential fatty acids. The best DHA supplements have around 2 1/2 times as much DHA as average fish oil supplements.

Not only that but the best omega 3 supplements have also been shown to work more effectively. For these reasons it is important to choose you’re DHA supplements carefully. To assist we have written to article about how to choose the best fish oil supplements and how to compare fish oil supplements by price which you may find interesting. Read the rest of this entry

Written by - Healthy Omega 3 Fish Oils

(And make sure you read our page explaining why you need Omega 3 Fish Oil supplements, and find out how to choose the Best Fish Oil Supplements).

Is flax seed oil the best source of Omega 3 fats? The flax seed oil vs fish oil debate.

There’s now little doubt that we all need more Omega 3 fats in our diets, but where is the best place to get them? There’s a big flax seed oil vs fish oil debate going on, so we’ll have a look at flax seed oil versus fish oil to see which one wins.

To do so you have to dig a little deeper into why Omega 3 fats are good for you. You see it’s not just that Omega 3 fats are good for you, it’s that specific components of Omega 3 fats are good for you.

More specifically there’s 2 important components of Omega3 fats. EPA and importantly DHA.

Now we won’t go into the chemical reasons why EPA and DHA are good for you, it gets complicated. It’s probably sufficient to say that DHA is a major component of our brain, and for this reason alone DHA is an essential fat for brain function.

However we will look at a couple of specific facts that bear on the fish oil versus flaxseed oil debate. The first is that EPA and DHA are not the only Omega 3 fats. There is another Omega 3 fat called ALA, (Alpha-linolenic acid). (Sorry for all the chemical stuff.)

ALA is present in a higher degree in plant oils like nut oils and flax seed oil, and is not as important to the body as either DHA or EPA. However it is still an Omega 3 fat.

The reason why flax seed oil is considered to be a good source of Omega 3s is that it is high in ALA, however ALA isn’t so important to our body. However it was also considered that ALA is converted to DHA in our body, so ultimately works well.

For this reason there are various flaxseed oil supplements and the benefits of flax seed oil have been spruiked.

However the argument that ALA converts to DHA in the body has been debunked here, and it is now considered that it doesn’t convert to DHA in the body at all.

So whilst there are benefits of flax seed oil they aren’t sufficient to justify taking flax seed oil in place of fish oil. You won’t be getting much DHA, the most important Omega 3 oil.

So whilst the benefits of flax seed oil are there the fish oil versus flaxseed oil degate falls on the side of fish oil. The best fish oil supplements are high in DHA. By all means take a flaxseed oil supplement, but in conjunction with a good fish oil supplement.

Flaxseed oil capules are available, so don’t ignore the health benefits of flaxseed oil, but fish oil ought to be your primary emphasis in your diet. Read the rest of this entry

Written by - Healthy Omega 3 Fish Oils

(And make sure you read our page explaining why you need Omega 3 Fish Oil supplements, and find out how to choose the Best Fish Oil Supplements).

It isn’t just the omega 3 fats that are good for you, it’s the DHA more specifically.

You’ve probably heard by now that Omega 3 fats are good for your health. That’s not news any more. But if you dig a little deeper you’ll keep reading about 2 particular components of omega 3 fats. DHA and EPA. Lets have a look at DHA today.

DHA is short for Docosahexaenoic acid. Sorry, long name.

Omega 3 fats are a collection of what is known as long chain fatty acids. It’s probably not essential to get into the chemistry because for our readers it’s pretty incomprehensible, and boring. But if you really want to read more chemistry try reading Wikipedia.

There are 3 important long chain fatty acids in Omega 3, DHA, EPA and ALA. The bottom line is that DHA is the most important acid in Omega 3, and is essential to your health. And the critical point to remember is that your body cannot make enough of it’s own DHA. Unlike some essential compounds, which your body can make, the DHA you get must come to you through diet.

DHA is the most important fatty acid found in your brain, which is predominantly fat, and that is one of the reasons why Omega 3s are so beneficial to brain function. Over 50% of the brain is made up of fats.

DHA and EPA are found primarily in fish oils. ALA can be found in plants, but fish supplies the best quantities of the other 2 essential fatty acids. So when you eat fish you get those fats automatically via eating it. The original studies done on Omega 3 fats were done on Eskimos who eat fish almost exclusively. Read the rest of this entry

Written by - Healthy Omega 3 Fish Oils

(And make sure you read our page explaining why you need Omega 3 Fish Oil supplements, and find out how to choose the Best Fish Oil Supplements).