Sales of fish oil pills are growing faster than sales of any other nutritional supplement in history. Lets look at why fish oil pills, sometimes called omega 3 pills or omega 3 supplements, are selling so fast and why you should be taking them as well.
Fish oil contains 2 essential fatty acids called DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and these are good fats. You may have heard that fat in your diet is bad for you but that is not necessarily true. Some fat in your diet is good for you.
There are some bad fats, in particular saturated fat which is primarily found in animal products such as red meat and chicken. However there are also good fats which are extremely important to your health. The omega 3 fatty acids called essential fatty acids are extremely important to your health and are not manufactured in your body. Therefore the only way you can get Omega 3 fatty acids into you is by taking oil fish pills, or eating a lot of fish.
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.
There’s a wide range of health benefits from increasing your intake of essential fatty acids. These health benefits include improvments in heart health and these are now recognized by the American Heart Association which recommends minimum intakes of DHA and EPA for each of us every week. They suggest eating more fish or else taking Omega 3 capsules.
The heart health benefits of Omega3 fats include a reduced risk of death. This is a result of better heart health, lower blood pressure, lower triglycerides and less plaque in our arteries. And it doesn’t stop there. Higher intakes of Omega3 fats improve brain function and memory, reduce the incidence and effects of inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and reduce the risks of blindness by macular degeneration in older age, and 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.
Omega 3 pills offer the ideal answer. These are small capsules of fish oil which are simple to take everyday, and although children may struggle taking them it is a simple matter to cut the top off and poor the oil onto their food. The very best fish oil pills are free of contamination and are extremely cost-effective to take daily.
However the best fish oil pills contain far more DHA, the most important Omega 3 fat, than the worst and for this reason it is difficult to compare the different omega 3 supplements available.
For some time I have been giving fish oil pills to my family and taking them myself with my breakfast. I buy the fish oil pills that I consider to be the worlds best. To find out which Omega 3 supplements I consider to be the best visit my website.
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