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The effects
of fish oil:
Research is increasingly emphasizing the broad benefits of high-grade
fish oil, which is generally considered by doctors to
be healthful. Fish oil has a high omega-3 concentration.
Fish Oil
and the omega balance:Fish oil
contains EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), both of which are
long chain omega-3 fatty acids . Essential fatty acids are grouped into two families, omega-6 EFAs and the
omega-3 EFAs. Fish oil contains long chain omega-3's.
One of the reasons that people in the industrialized world need more omega-3 fatty acids is
due to the fact that people in the western world injest rouphly 25 times more omega-6 fatty
acids than omega-3's. Eating a diet rich in omega-3's is the best way to restore the balance.
Fish oil is one of the few sources of the necessary high concentration of omega-3's.
Long chain Omega-3 fatty acid is just another name for fish oil, while it's scientific abbreviation
is N-3.
High dose fish oil: Dr. Sears states that
fish oil affects a particular set of hormones. The more fish oil absorbed by the body, the more "good" and
the fewer "bad" eicosanoids(a type of hormone) a person will have. A key for 21st century medicine will be
to balance these hormones, and a key for Americans' health in general will be in getting enouph omega-3's in their diets.
Researchers at
Harvard have recently reported that individuals who eat fish or take a fish oil supplement
once a week have a 34 per cent lower incidence of death from heart disease.
They have concluded that the protective effect of eating fish is due completely to the presence of omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) in the fish.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School have used fish oil to treat bipolar disorder, with considerable success.
Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health have recently reported
that individuals who consume large quantities of oils from fatty fish (eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA] and
docosahexaenoic acid [DHA] have an 81 per cent lower risk of sudden cardiac death than do individuals with a low intake.
I am not saying that this means fish oil can effectively treat these disorders,
but those are the results of their respective research. Do your own research and make your own judgements before taking a fish oil supplement. And of course, talk to your Doctor.
High-dose fish oil: The active ingredients in fish oil are EPA and DHA, which, as mentioned earlier,
are omega-3 fatty acids. According to researcher Hans R. Larsen, MSc ChE.,
scientists first learned of the many benefits of fish oil, EPA and DHA in the early
1970s when Danish physicians observed that Eskimos from Greenland had an unusually low
incidence of heart disease and arthritis despite the fact that they consumed a high-fat diet, particularly fish oil.
Research began focusing on the effects of fish oil from that point forward.
Subsequent research later discovered that the two fats or oils that they consumed in considerable quantities,
EPA and DHA, were indeed very beneficial. The US National Institutes of Health has also Recognized the benefits
of DHA and EPA and has published Recommended Daily Intakes of fatty acids. They recommend a daily intake of 650 mg of DHA and EPA,
and 4.44 g/day of linoleic acid.
Fish oil and
Purity issues: The purity of the fish oil is the single most important factor
to consider when taking it as a supplement. Fish oil processing has advanced dramatically since the days when cod
liver oil was the standard. To manufacture high grade fish oil requires extensive purification.
In fact, it takes 100 gallons of health-food grade fish oil to make one gallon of ultra refined fish oil. Omega Rx
fish oil has about twice the EPA and DHA as health-food grade fish oil.
The Omega-3 fish oil database.
The fish oil faq there has an extensive amount of relevent information.
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