Are Fish Oil Pills Good For You And Should You Be Taking Them Every Day?

By Peter Bertonach

Fish oil pills are big business. In fact sales of fish oil pills, or what can be known as Omega 3 capsules or even as omega 3 supplements, are growing faster than any other nutritional supplement in history. Lets have a look at why and consider whether you should also be taking daily supplements of omega 3.

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 fish oil 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 many health benefits from essential fatty acids called omega 3 fats. These benefits include many heart health benefits and the American Heart Association recognizes this, recommending we have a minimum intake of DHA and EPA every week. The AHA tells us to do this by eating more fish or taking fish oil pills daily.

The benefits of increasing our intake of omega 3 include a reduced risk of heart attack causing death, lower blood pressure, lower triglycerides, reduced plaque in the arteries as well as improvements in brain function and memory, reduced incidence of macular degeneration causing blindness and a reduction in the risk or the effects of many inflammatory diseases like arthritis. And that's not all.

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 should all be increasing our intake of DHA and EPA, but how do you do that? Eating more fish is one option. However fish is very expensive and there are only certain fish which have high levels of these essential fatty acids. And fish is generally contaminated with nasty toxins such as PCBs, mercury, pesticides and various heavy metals and the EPA tells us not to eat too much fish because of this.

Fish oil 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. - 30310

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