Many
people think that fat in the diet is bad. In fact fat is necessary for life but
most of us consume the wrong types of fat. Over the past century, our intake of
different fats has changed markedly, with most of us eating far more saturated
fats and omega-6 fats from vegetable oils than ever before, whilst our intake
of omega-3 fats from oily fish has decreased by an astounding 80%. In times
gone by, oily fish was normal and regular part of the daily diet, but things
have changed, with only one third of people in Ireland regularly eating the
recommended 1-2 portions of oily fish per week. As a result, there is
widespread deficiency of omega-3 fats, and this has important consequences for
health.
Fat is bursting with calories and
consuming too much will eventually lead to obesity, particularly if you don’t
take regular exercise. However, different fats appear to have different
properties, and too much of our fat intake comes from animals rather than fish.
It is thought that stable fish fatty acids can actually increase the speed of
certain chemical reactions in the body, burning fat to form carbon dioxide,
water and energy, which can bring about a decrease in body weight, particulary
when they replace saturated fats in our diet.
Omega-3 fatty acids help to keep the
cell walls of deep water ocean fish supple. These fish oils have been shown to
keep cells flexible in humans too, helping to maintain joint suppleness and
skin and blood vessel elasticity.
Adding stable fish oil to the diet of
people suffering high blood pressure has enabled some doctors to lower the
doses of drugs prescribed for hypertension, thus apparently reducing the risk
of the side effect from the drugs. Ingesting natural fish oil has also been
shown to act as a gradual anti-inflammatory and decrease pain in joints,
although it can take several months before there is any noticeable difference.
Fish oil is also believed to improve the circulation of blood to fingers and
legs.
A number of experimental and clinical
studies on the beneficial effects of omega-3 fatty acids have been carried out
by Professor Saldeen and his associates at the University of Uppsala, Sweden.
Concluding evidence suggests that some ordinary fish oil preparations may, due
to their instability, produce free radicals, which can be damaging to
cardiovascular health.
From Professor Saldeens research, stable
fish oil has been developed in which omega-3 fatty acids have been combined
with appropriate antioxidants to produce a more stable preparation that has
more pronounced effects in humans. As such, the stable fish oil has significant
advantages over ordinary, commercially available fish oil preparations. An
unpalatable taste or fishy odor distinguishes unstable fish oils from stable varieties,
which have a neutral taste and are odorless.
Several studies have documented the
beneficial effects of omega-3 fatty acids in helping to prevent the development
of atherosclerosis and its major manifestation, coronary heart disease.
Stable fish oil decreases cardiac
arrhythmias and it seems to be due to its direct action on the heart. It has
been found that intake of fatty fish or natural stable fish oil reduces the
total mortality and mortality from heart disease by 29% after two years in men
with previous heart attacks.
David
Foley
MRCHM,
MNIMH
Medical
Herbalist
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