Thursday, August 27, 2009

Fish Oil For Arthritis Relief

By Peter Bertonich

Arthitis is a word that can terrorize those amongst us that are getting a little older. Arthritis is a condition that affects mainly, though not always, those amongst us a little older than we would like.

Lets have a look at what arthritis is and using fish oil for arthritis relief.

There are many forms of arthritis, over 100 actually . Each differs some from the others, but as a general rule its fair to say that arthritis is a form of inflammation of the joints. Part of a joint can become inflamed, or swollen, and this causes pain and limitation on free movement of the joint. One of the principle causes of arthritis is nutritional problems, as well as stresses on the joints over time by, for example, repeated similar movement.

Nutritional deficiencies or excesses can cause arthritis in several ways. For example chances are youve heard of free radicals. These can damage many parts of your body including your joints and are a result of poor diet and other factors like pollution.

You can combat this by improving your diet to include less processed foods and more fresh fruit and vegetables. This increases the levels of anti oxidants in your body which combats those free radicals.

Arthritis pain is caused by inflammation in the joints. Inflammation is a scourge and some scientists believe that inflammation as we age is one of the prime, if not the prime cause of many of the age related diseases we suffer from over time. Inflammation can cause the formation of chemicals in our bodies and these can eat away at many of our body parts, including parts of our joints.

Lets have a look at the relief of the pain of arthritis using fish oil.

There is in fact a wide range of different health conditions that are helped by fish oils with good Omega 3 fatty acids. These are polyunsaturated fats and these are good for you unlike those "bad" saturated fats.

There are 2 specific Omega 3 fats called EPA and DHA that are particularly good for you. These are good for your heart and other health conditions and there is now a link found by science between arthritis relief and Omega 3 fats EPA and DHA.

And that increasing our intake of fish oils can reduce symptoms and pain from arthritis.

So why would taking more fish oil combat the pain of arthritis? Because fish oil is an excellent way to combat inflammation.

It is known that the use of Omega 3 for rheumatoid arthritis in particular, but also for other forms of arthritis, will significantly reduce pain once the user has been taking the fish oil supplements for a period of time. They do not work like painkillers, and it will take some period of use before the benefits are felt.

This isn't just speculation, it's now established clearly that fish oil does reduce inflammation effectively.

Traditionally sufferers of arthritis have used anti inflammatory drugs like Vioxx and Celebrex. But these can cause significant side effects and Vioxx has in fact been linked to around 140000 cases of heart disease since 1999.

But the use of the best fish oil supplements has positive side effects rather than negative side effects. Taking fish oil supplements is a plus for your health generally for a range of reasons.

Not all fish oil supplements are as good as others though. Visit my website for a free fish oil buyers guide.

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