Sunday, November 22, 2009

Why Should You Be Taking Fish Oil Pills Every Day?

By Peter Bertonach

Nutritional supplements are big business but the sales of fish oil pills are growing faster than sales of any other supplement in history. Fish oil pills can sometimes be called omega 3 supplements or Omega 3 capsules. Lets look at the benefits of fish oil and why you should be taking fish oil pills every day.

There are 2 essential fatty acids known as omega 3 fatty acids. These are called DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), and they are good fats. Contrary to what you may have heard about diet fats in your diet are not all bad.

It is certainly true that eating lots of animal products such as chicken and red meat containing saturated fat is not good for you and you should reduce your intake of saturated fat. But the essential fatty acids known as omega 3 fats are highly important to good health and your body does not manufacture these fats, so getting them in your diet is the only way to get plenty of Omega3 fats inside you. You can do this by eating lots of fish or by taking daily fish oil pills.

It is common knowledge, confirmed by studies, that US citizens eat way too little fish and therefore their intake of omega 3 essential fatty acids is inadequate. There are studies which have shown that citizens in countries where fish is on the menu almost daily have much better health and in particular much better heart health then we do and that this is a result of their higher intake of fish and seafood products.

The health benefits from increasing our intake of Omega3 fats go on and on and include many benefits to the heart. The American Heart Association, for this reason, tells us that we should have a minimum intake of DHA and EPA every week and that we should do this by eating more fish or by a daily regime of fish oil pills.

The health benefits include a reduced risk of death from heart disease and heart attack, lowering triglycerides, lowering blood pressure and reducing the build of plaque in the arteries. Other health benefits include an improvement in brain function and memory, a reduction in the risk of macular degeneration causing blindness in older age and a reduction in a range of inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and lots lots more.

There is also ample evidence that pregnant women should be taking Omega 3 supplements because DHA and EPA, and in particular DHA, is an essential part of brain development and that if pregnant women are DHA deficient this can negatively affect the brain development of the fetus. Equally it is important for breastfeeding women to supplement with DHA and EPA because these become available to the infant through the breastmilk, and are important to the infant for the same reason. Studies show that children with an adequate supply of Omega3 fats through their developmental years do better on IQ tests.

Clearly we need to add more DHA and EPA to our diet but how do we do that? We can eat more fish but fish is very expensive and only certain fish have high levels of omega 3. When combined with the fact that fish is high in mercury and that the FDA tell us not to eat too much for this reason then eating more fish isn't looking so attractive. But taking daily fish oil pills is.

Fish oil pills are the ideal solution. They are capsules of fish oil which you can take everyday, and you can cut the top off and poor the oil onto the kids breakfast if they can't take the capsules. They are cost effective and the best fish oil pills are contamination free.

But there are wide variations in the amount of DHA, the most important Omega 3 fat, in the different omega 3 supplements available and it's difficult to compare one brand of supplements with another.

I supplement my diet, and the diet of my family, with Omega3 supplements every day. I use what I consider to be by far the best fish oil pills on the market. To find out which these are visit my website.

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