Benefit of Fish Oil – Why You Should Take It

You should know there is a big benefit of fish oil, actually there are MANY benefits to taking fish oil… more specifically… to getting more omega 3 fatty acids in your diet.

Why Do You Need More Omega 3’s?

Polyunsaturated fats are broken up into omega-3s and omega-6s, and you need both types — that’s why they’re called the essential fatty acids because you can’t make them in your body and need to get them from your food.

The ideal ratio you should get of omega-6’s and omega-3’s  is about 2:1. However, over the last 50 years in North America, the ratio has changed to from 2:1 to 10-20:1. Because our diets have huge amounts of oils that are extracted from plants and used for cooking, processing, etc.

These oils (such as corn oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, peanut oil, soybean oil) are full of omega-6s. We have decreased our intake of omega-3’s, found in more natural foods at the same time. So we’re adding to the problem on both ends…

Eating too much omega-6 and too little omega-3 causesinflammation (the source of nearly every chronic disease), blocks your insulin sensitivity (contributing to obesity, high insulin and blood sugar levels), etc. Basically it’s bad.

The answer? Supplement with Omega 3’s found in fish oils. Here’s just a partial list of benefits…

1. Improves Heart Health and Fights Heart Disease

When you supplement with Fish oil and Omega 3’s you reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, reducing the risk of heart-related sudden death and lowering unhealthy triglyceride levels. In fact, the American Heart Association recommends two servings of fish a week for healthy persons and one serving per day of fish or fish oil supplement containing at least 900mg of fish oil for persons with heart disease.

2. Improves Mood and Fights Depression

“Persons suffering from mood disorders such as depression benefit from fish oil supplementation and Omega 3.” That’s what the scientists say because the lack of omega 3 fatty acids (DHA) has been linked by researchers to depression.

Extra tips for anyone who gets seasonal depression syndrome like I do: take cod liver oil during the fall and winter time months because it’ll increase your vitamin D — which helps fight depression — something we get less of in the winter months because sun exposure helps our body produce vitamin D naturally.

Conversely, stay away from cod liver oil during the spring and summer when you’re getting plenty of sunshine because you don’t want Vitamin D overdose.

3. Reduces Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and other neurological disorders.

Clinical studies suggest that fish oil and DHA may protect the nervous system in humans. Which is good news for ANYONE (and why I started supplementing early).

4. Improves Memory and Brain Function

Wanna get smarter? Pop some “fish pills”: DHA and fish oil have been proven to stimulate memory and the ability to learn. Research has even shown mothers who take DHA during their pregnancy and lactation may increase their baby’s IQ. I dunno about you but that’s pretty crazy!

My advice for guys? Increase your girlfriends IQ by taking fish oil. How? I’ll leave that up to you…

5. Helps Fight Allergies

Some recent research has shown fish oil fights the symptoms of hay fever, sinus infections, asthma, certain food allergies and allergic skin conditions like hives and eczema.

6. Fights Pain and Inflammation

Omega 3 benefits come from the EPA and DHA in fish oil that reduce the amount of compounds causing pain and inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis and other forms of inflammatory arthritis.

This is no joke, my mom was taking a ridiculous amount of advils a day for the arthritis in her hands (like 10 or more) and when she started supplementing with fish oil she cut that number WAY down immediately.

And since inflammation is the root cause of nearly every chronic disease, it’s good to be fighting it at the “cellular level” every single day by supplementing with fish oil.

7. Better Eye Health and Sight

Wanna see like a hawk? Get some fish oil in ya because supplementing with it has been related to lowered risk of developing age related macular degeneration, an increasing common eye disease in people over 50.

8. Reduces PMS Symptoms in Women

Omega 3 is converted into substances called ‘prostaglandins type-3′ that control contractions of the uterus, which cause the cramping symptoms associated with PMS.

Did you know that virtually all the symptoms of PMS are not normal or natural? That if you get your diet cleaned up, eat naturally, supplement correctly and start to get healthier most (if not all) of them will go away?

Yup, I’ve had girls that had no PMS symptoms to speak of. It was nice Guys: this is another reason to start supplementing with Fish oil and helping your girl get hers. Forget roofies — start slipping fish oil in her drinks!

9. Improves Skin and Hair Health

Fish oil helps protect the skin against damage from UV exposure, and skin disorders such as psoriasis can be helped with supplementing with fish oil.

Another Mom anecdote here: she had really dry skin on her face (under her eye I think) and right after she started taking fish oil the dry skin cleared up and she now has the greasy awesomeness that nature intended.

10. Lowers Cancer Risk

Studies on Omega 3 benefits have linked lowered risk of breast cancer and prostate cancer to taking more fish oil.

So Why Aren’t You Using It Yet?

Here’s a test:

Think of a disease. Pick an ailment, any one will do. No go Google “Fish Oil __________” and insert your disease or ailment in the blank. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts there has been a study that shows fish oil has either helped the symptoms of that disease/ailment or out-right cured it.

A Word Of Caution

Make sure you’re getting GOOD fish oil. And by good, I mean a brand that is independently tested to make sure that the mercury levels are at “acceptable levels” because there’s a lot of mercury in certain fish. And you don’t want a lot of mercury.

You can’t go wrong with Carlson’s brand (pretty cheap too) and the higher end designer name brands like Flame Out from Biotest are good. Probably all the “Doctor’s labeled” brands are going to be good, but make sure you check anyway (there should be a blurb somewhere on the label).

With that said, I hope this short little piece convinces you of the benefit of fish oil and you start supplementing with it right away!