Fish oil works to help keep you alive.

Does fish oil work? An interesting question and one which is still being asked by many people. We will try to answer that today.

Of course merely asking does fish oil work is too simplistic. You have to narrow down exactly what you are looking to find out. Our assumption is that anyone asking themselves if fish oil works is actually asking whether or not increasing the amount of Omega 3 essential fatty acids, (mainly found in fish oil) in your diet will make you healthier.

Even that’s too broad a question. There is a massive range of health conditions which are said to benefit from an increase in intake of Omega 3 essential fatty acids. So a better question could be does fish oil work to reduce the risk of heart attack? Or does fish oil work to reduce the risk of macular degeneration? Hopefully you see the point.

However in our view there is little doubt that it is now accepted by mainstream medical science that there are substantial health benefits from increasing your intake of Omega 3 essential fatty acids, either from eating more fish which can be a little problematical or from taking daily fish oil capsules.

Lets examine the first specific question. Does fish oil work to reduce your risk of heart attack?

And lets consider two specific examples in support of the argument that fish oil does work to reduce your risk of heart attack.

The first example is that no less auguste a body than the American Heart Association specifically states that “Omega-3 fatty acids benefit the heart of healthy people, and those at high risk of — or who have — cardiovascular disease”.

That’s pretty clear and unambiguous. And they make specific recommendations about how much of the Omega 3 fats you should have in your diet, either by way of eating more fish or by taking Omega 3 supplements. That’s also pretty clear.

How about this. If you’re a doctor who practices in Italy, and you fail to tell your heart patients that they should be taking more Omega 3 essential fatty acids in their diet, you may well be guilty of medical malpractice. Heart specialists in Italy are fully aware of the powerful and beneficial effects of increasing the amount of Omega 3 in the diet for heart patients, to the point where it is considered to be malpractice not to tell patients about it.

In fact every single heart patient at the San Filippo Neri Hospital in Italy who has managed to survive a heart attack is given a prescription for fish oil supplements. Read more here.

In fact fish oil supplements are considered to be as much a part of treatment for cardiac patients as any other drug they may be prescribed.

So I think you have there some solid evidence that mainstream medicine considers the Omega 3 essential fatty acids primarily found in fish oil work to help reduce your risk of death from heart event.

Of course this doesn’t mean that they work to reduce your risk from any other of the specific health problems which have been studied, these would have to be examined separately. There is probably more evidence of the effectiveness of taking Omega 3 capsuels, or eating more fish, as regards heart health than many other health problems, possibly because this has been more extensively studied. Read the rest of this entry

Sales of Omega 3 supplements are growing faster than any other nutritional dietary supplement in history.

Lets examine exactly what Omega 3 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.

However to make the statement that Omega 3 supplements are possibly one of the most important health measures of our generation might be drawing a long bow. Or is it?

A study published in April 2009 performed by a group of Harvard University researchers the study examined your likelihood of dying from one or other of a series of various lifestyle factors. Read the rest of this entry