Non-Alcoholic fatty liver disease can be very serious

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, along with regular fatty liver disease which is alcohol-related, is one of the most common diseases in America. These 2 combined are the most common form of chronic liver disease and effect about one in 10 people.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease affects a very significant proportion of our population. As the name suggests this is not caused by excess intake of alcohol, however it is also possible to get fatty liver disease from excessive alcohol consumption.

Those suffering from fatty liver disease have an accumulation of triglyceride fat in the cells of the liver in excess of what is normal. This can be caused by a range of factors including high cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood, obesity or rapid weight loss, type 2 diabetes and certain medications, as well as some other factors.

Often those suffering from this disease do not observe any symptoms. Those that do suffer from symptoms may find that they suffer from unexplained loss of weight, unusual fatigue or pain in the abdomen.

Despite the fact that many people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease experience no symptoms it is still a serious disease and can lead to permanent liver damage. And research has also shown that those suffering from NAFLD can have higher mortality rates than the rest of us.

There is now evidence that increasing your intake of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids found in fish may have a role in helping reduce non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. And therefore that supplementing your diet with high quality Omega3 supplements can not only benefit your health in a wide range of other areas but may also be beneficial to that 10 percent of the population suffering from fatty liver disease.

A new study done on rats has found that “Omega-3 fatty acid supplements may have a potential therapeutic role in patients with NAFLD”.

This would make sense, as it is already known that increasing the intake of Omega 3 essential fatty acids, and in particular DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) and EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid), the most important of the Omega3 fats, helps lower triglycerides and reduce cholesterol.

There is now ample evidence that the vast bulk of our population is deficient in our dietary intake of fish and therefore is deficient in our intake of the essential Omega 3 fats found in fish oil, and that as a result we are more prone to a range of lifestyle diseases.

And there is now also ample evidence that eating more fish, or supplementing your diet with superior quality Omega3 supplements, will offer a wide range of health benefits.

To find out about many of those other health benefits from Omega 3 supplementation browse our categories on the right.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is just one more condition which may well benefit from increasing our intake of the essential fatty acids known as the Omega3 fats. Read the rest of this entry

Not all 1000 mg fish oil capsules are the same.

If you’ve read our website then you’ll know about many of the health benefits of fish oil. The Omega 3 essential fatty acids DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) and EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid) are found in greater abundance in fish oil than any other naturally occurring substance.

The health benefits of increasing your intake of these 2 most important essential fatty acids are numerous, including various improvements to heart health and a reduction in coronary heart disease including a reduction in the risk of death from heart attack and stroke.

The omega-3 essential fatty acids found in fish oil have been shown to improve your health in a wide variety of ways. Browse our categories on the right to find out more about how you can reduce the risk of various specific health problems.

But today we wanted to look at specific details of the 1000 milligram capsules that are the traditional way of taking Omega 3 essential fatty acid dietary supplements. How do you choose between them?

Most fish oil softgels are available in a 1000 milligrams capsule size. Not all are, but most. And for this reason many people seek to compare the value of the different fish oil supplements available merely by comparing the price, on the assumption that what they are buying is the same for every 1000 mg capsule.

In fact nothing could be further from the truth, and if you’re looking to buy some Omega 3 fish oil 1000 softgels it is not adequate to compare them purely on price. So here’s what you look for when making comparison of 1000 milligrams fish oil capsules.

1. The amount of DHA and EPA in the softgels.

As mentioned the 2 most important of the essential fatty acids known as Omega 3 fatty acids are DHA and EPA. There are others, however those two are the most important of all. DHA is the most important.

If you examine the label on anybottle of Omega 3 supplements you’ll see how much DHA you are getting in each 1000 milligrams softgel of fish oil. Some brands of Omega 3 supplements, usually the cheapest brands, have less than 10 percent (or 100 mg) of DHA. Others, usually more expensive brands, offer up to 30 percent (or 300 mg) of DHA .

As it is primarily the DHA, along with EPA, that offers the health benefits is important to remember that you’re not buying 1000 milligrams of fish oil. You’re buying the amount of DHA, and EPA, found in those 1000 milligrams softgels.

So if one brand of supplements is twice the price of another, but contains 3 times as much DHA, it is actually cheaper to buy. If you were to buy the cheapest brand without understanding that single fact then you’re not getting the best value.

Below we’ve included a table that does a direct cost comparison between many different, and well-known, brands of Omega-3 fatty acid supplements. This table breaks the costs of the 1000 mg capsule down into cents per gram of DHA.

(Note – the table is in $US and was correct at the time of publishing, but these things vary all the time with exchange rates and so on. But you can see the trend.)

You’ll notice if you examine the table that some of the more expensive brands of fish oil supplements are actually some of the cheapest in terms of cost for the amount of DHA you are getting. The Omega3 supplements from Xtend Life, which we consider to be the best both in quality and value, actually come out much cheaper when you do a cost comparison on this basis.

Here’s the table:

2. The quality of the fish oil.

It’s very important to consider the quality of the fish oil. 1000 milligrams of rancid fish oil is of no value to your health whatsoever, and can actually be harmful.

Oil from saltwater fish can go off just like anything else. The technical term for fish oil which has gone off is “rancid”. Rancid oil creates free radicals which is not good for your health.

It is essential, when buying your Omega3 supplements, that you find the supplements with the cleanest freshest oil. Many supplement manufacturers merely purchase their oils from a wholesaler. They have no control over where the oil comes from, how it is caught, how it is extracted and how old it is.

If you take Omega 3 capsules and have “fishy burps”, or have the fishy taste repeat on you, it is usually an indication of oil which has gone rancid. And for this reason some manufacturers will even use an enteric coating on the capsules to lessen the chances that the capsules will be digested in the stomach, because that is the place where the rancid oil turns into fishy burps. (They get digested in the intestine, and you can’t get the fishy burps from there, hence the reason they use the enteric coating).

The company that makes what we consider to be the best quality, and best value Omega 3 supplements has total control over the process of catching the fish right through to extracting the oil and processing it into capsules. That way it knows exactly what fish is being used, how old it is, and it controls the extraction process. That way it can guarantee, (and it does) that its fish oil supplements are of the highest possible quality.

Those are the 2 most important factors when considering buying your Omega3 supplements. 1000 milligrams of fish oil is of no use to your health if the oil is rancid, and 1000 milligrams of fish oil containing only a few percent of DHA is usually very poor value. Read the rest of this entry

Sales of DHA supplements are growing faster than any other nutritional dietary supplement in history.

Lets examine exactly what DHA supplements are and what they do.

DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is one of the long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids known as essential fatty acids. It is, however, not the only essential fatty acid. Others include EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid) and ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), and more. These are known as Omega 3 fatty acids.

They are known as essential fatty acids because scientists and health professionals who research our health consider them to be essential for the maintenance of good health, and to help prevent, or ameliorate a range of common health problems.

We have been brought up to believe that fats are bad for us. And in some cases this is true. For example saturated fat, most commonly found in animal products, is not good for our health. However it’s not true that all fat is bad for us and the Omega 3 fatty acids, particularly DHA and EPA, are considered essential to good health. They are polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Unlike some nutrients our bodies are unable to create DHA, or the other essential fatty acids, itself. Rather we must rely on dietary intake for our supply of these Omega-3 fatty acids.

Whilst in the past there was a range of sources of DHA in our diet these sources have reduced over the past hundred years. Fish oil from oily fish was the single biggest source of DHA in our diets, however during the last century the amount of fish in the average American diet has reduced dramatically.

However there are other sources of DHA as well. For example meat has been a good source of DHA and EPA in the past, however is now not so. This is because most of our meat is now sourced from grain fed animals, and grain fed beef is low in these Omega 3 essential fatty acids. Grass fed beef is much higher in Omega3 fats however grass fed beef is now relatively rare in our diets.

Over the last 30 years research has established clearly that adequate supplies of  DHA and EPA, the 2 most important of the omega 3 essential fatty acids, is essential to a wide range of health issues. Research has shown that the average American diet is inadequate in Omega 3 intake and increasing our intake can offer a wide range of health benefits including a reduction in heart disease, including fatal heart attacks, a reduction in the risk of stroke, a wide range of brain benefits including improved memory and brain function and a wide range of other improvements in our health.

You can read about many of these using the categories listed on the right.

Our brain is made up primarily of fat, and somewhere around 40 percent of that is DHA. DHA is also the most important of the essential fatty acids in the retina of our eyes.

It is now considered established that an adequate supply of DHA is essential to the growing development of the brain in a fetus and baby, as well as the nervous system, and for this reason pregnant and nursing women may also benefit from DHA supplements.

A recent study has shown that Omega 3 deficiency is one of the major causes of preventable deaths in the US.

The reduction in the intake of fish in our diets has meant that the average American diet is way too low in DHA and EPA. For this reason many health professionals, including the American Heart Association, are recommending DHA supplementation, or eating more fish, is a way to improve our levels of Omega 3 fatty acid intake, even during pregnancy. And the need to keep up an adequate intake of DHA and EPA extends to people of any age, with many health professionals recommending DHA supplements for pregnant women right through to our oldest citizens, who can also benefit from adequate dietary supplementation with Omega-3 fats.

DHA supplements are nutritional supplements which have high levels of both DHA and EPA, the 2 most important of the omega 3 fatty acids. For most of us they are the best source of essential fatty acids, and the most effective way to include these long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in our diet.

The DHA and EPA in the capsules comes from fish, which are the single best source of Omega 3 fats.

Of course we can always eat more fish, but fish is getting very expensive and can often be contaminated with toxins such as Mercury and PCBs. The best DHA supplements undergo an exacting purification process and are routinely tested for any evidence of contaminants, and the results of these tests are posted on the manufacturer’s website for customers to examine.

Inadequate intake of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids may well turn out to be one of the major causes of ill health in our generation. Science is certainly, it seems, tending to this conclusion. For this reason the sales of DHA supplements, or what is otherwise known as fish oil supplements or Omega 3 supplements, have grown faster than any other. Read the rest of this entry