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The latest article is on the health benefits of fish oil and can be found below. There are also links in the right hand column on other supplements as well as nutrition articles from www.nutrition-review.net

The Health Benefits of Fish Oil

Fat can be divided into two types—saturated and unsaturated. Saturated fat is found in animal products such as meat and eggs. Most people would benefit by trying to limit their intake of saturated fat due to its connection with insulin insensitivity and high blood lipids.

Unsaturated fat can then be divided into two types—Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Monounsaturated fat is found in olive oil, avocados and macadamia nuts and is widely thought to be beneficial to one’s health.

The second sub-type of unsaturated fat is polyunsaturated, which has two sub-types called essential fatty acids (EFA’s). Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is otherwise known as omega 3 and linoleic acid (LA) is otherwise known as omega 6. These two EFA’s cannot be made by the body so are considered essential because they have to be included in the diet.

One of the many functions of omega 6 is to cause inflammation and thicken the blood. This is needed if you are injured when scars and scabs need to be formed to protect a cut, or if you have an infection, the injured area swells up to protect itself. However too much chronic inflammation is a bad thing and has been linked to a number of medical conditions.

Omega 3 has the opposite affect to omega 6—to reduce inflammation and thin the blood. So, it obvious that the balance between omega 6 and omega 3 is very important. If you have much more 6 than 3 you will be more likely to suffer from inflammation related conditions.

The ideal ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 is thought to be 4:1. In the typical western diet the ratio is more like 20:1, is it any wonder why so many people have problems with sore joints and heart conditions. Below are links to two studies about the role of omega 3 fatty acids in the prevention of heart disease:

http://atvb.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/23/2/e20
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/18/2185

There are two things you can do to improve your Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio: The first is to cut down on the amount of foods you eat that contain Omega 6. Omega 6 is used in processed food, mainly in things like sauces and pastry, so if you cut down on such processed food you cut out a lot of omega 6. A good rule of thumb is to avoid food that comes in packets or jars, or another good one is to shop from the outside aisles of the supermarket where all of the fresh produce is usually kept.

The second way to improve your ratio is to take extra Omega 3. This can be done by eating oily fish—like sardines, mackerel or salmon—or by supplementing with fish oil. The risk with eating oily fish is that much of it is now contaminated with mercury. For this reason, a good quality fish oil is the best solution.