Let me tell you a quick story. It has long been recommended that you increase your consumption of the foods with omega-3 fatty acids in them. The benefit to your health that omega 3 fatty-acids provide are absolutely amazing, and everybody should be taking advantage of them. These essential nutrients are capable of preventing the development of many common diseases that we generally accept as a part of life.
Many of the ailments we come to suffer are caused by continuous inflammation in the body. Cardiovascular disease, adult onset non insulin dependent diabetes, arthritis, asthma, and inflammatory bowel disease are all caused by inflammation, and this inflammation comes from a rather surprising source. This source is the most abundant form of omega fatty-acids found in the food we eat.
The vast majority of the foods with omega-3 fatty-acids also prominently feature omega 6 fatty acids, which as you know are also essential to the body. Both omega-3s and omega 6s are used by the immune system in order to heal us, and keep us well. This is accomplished through the controlled spread of inflammation to the area where injury or illness has occurred.
This sort of inflammation is good, but it is only meant to occur for a short period of time. Omega 3 fatty acids are the best nutrients for healing, as the inflammation they produce ceases after the healing period is complete. The problem is that omega-3s are rarely chosen by the immune system, because the omega 3s are simply not as abundant as omega 6 fatty-acids are.
The foods with omega-3 fatty-acids provide us with between 10 to 30 times more omega 6 fatty acids than they do omega-3s. Omega 6 fatty acids heal wounds and illnesses just as well as omega-3 fatty-acids, but once they have become inflammatory they can't stop spreading inflammation once it is no longer needed. It is omega 6 fatty-acids that are primarily to blame for the development of the diseases I mentioned earlier.
The harmful effect that omega 6 fatty acids have can be counteracted by high levels of omega 3s in your system, but how are you supposed to increase your omega-3s without also increasing your omega 6s. The only food source that we have that provide omega-3s in abundance is fish, and you could never eat enough fish to balance things out because they contain high levels of mercury, lead, and other toxins which could cause you to fall ill.
Since the foods with omega 3 won't help us to attain balance between the competing fatty acids in our system we need to turn to using purified fish oil dietary supplements. These supplements are typically concentrated to provide you with the highest level of DHA and EPA omega 3 fatty-acids possible. Between 2,000 and 4,000 milligrams per day is all that you need in order to set things right within the body.
Make no mistake about it. A high quality fish oil supplement will give you much more than foods with omega 3 can possibly offer.
You can learn more insights by visiting my web site and discovering more natural ingredients I personally use daily.
Laurel Cohen is a strong advocate of natural health in all its forms: skin care, supplementation, and farm fresh foods. She enjoys introducing people to the best natural products she can find and uses herself daily.
Visit her site http://www.omega-3-for-health.com to learn about the omega 3 fish oils Laurel uses daily for optimal health.
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