subject: How Fatty Acids Give You Long Life [print this page] How Fatty Acids Give You Long Life How Fatty Acids Give You Long Life
If you are not taking some form of essential fatty acids, please take this recommendation serious. Essential means you need these fatty acids in your diet because your body can't create them. You need them to come from an external source - food.
If we do not give our body and brain the nutrients that it requires, it will start functioning less optimally. Researchers have discovered that if you are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids it can lead to depression, anxiety, heart problems and a host of other health conditions and mental problems.
Part of the reason why EPA fatty acid is not as important is that if the body needs more DHA for example, EPA cannot be converted into it. However, if the body needs more EPA, it can very easily convert DHA into it to meet the demand.
Fish lowers triglyceride levels and reduces heart disease risk. One study published in August 2000 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on post-menopausal women monitored their fish intake and found that those who ate more of the omega 3 rich oil had 25% less risk of developing heart disease than those taking a placebo.
EPA and DHA are most likely the primary acids missing from your diet if you're not specifically trying to include them. These are widely available in seafood such as salmon. Try to eat 'oily' cold water-based fish, as they're better sources than non-oily warm water species. Some other seafood-related products, such as krill and seaweed, are also viable sources if you don't care for fish.
Of the many fats that exist, Omega 3 and Omega 6 have been scientifically termed Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs). The reason for this is simple - they are essential. EFAs are essential because they are in constant demand from every living cell in the body - however, the body cannot produce them on its own. It relies on us to provide them through the food we consume each and every day!
Krill oil simply seems to more potent than fish oil. I don't fully understand why. I've read understandable explanations saying that it contains soy isoflavones that can regulate mood by mimicking estrogen. I've also read the more esoteric suggestion that the antioxidant astaxanthin is found in krill oil but not fish oil.
Deep pacific Omega 3 helps with our cardiovascular system by helping to prevent heart attacks and strokes. They say that the mere presence of Omega 3 fatty acids helps to strengthen the hearts electrical system, which helps to prevent heart rhythm abnormalities.
There is a fourth class called trans-fatty acids, which for the most part do not occur in nature. These are unsaturated fatty acids that have been chemically altered by food manufacturers in order to increase the shelf life of fat-containing products. This is what is produced when the manufacturer makes partially hydrogenated oils.
Education on this subject is painfully low in visibility in the modern world, but that's not the fault of science - science has long since proven the virtue in these acids. However, since it's not a single simple kind of nutrient with a single simple effect, the complexity of omega 3 wards people off. Don't be scared away by what you don't understand!
The substances in fish oil that are of most benefit to the body are the acids formed within a fish's fatty tissue. The three acids specifically made and utilized by the body to regulate important internal organs are omega-3 fatty acids, docosahexanoic acid (DHA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).
