If I were to let myself go on this one topic, this article would be the longest in history, rivaling the size of War and Peace! I promise to do my best to restrain myself.
I'll start by saying that every doctor worth his salt - MD, DO, ND, DC or any other - should be recommending Omega 3 EPA-DHA, no matter what illness comes across his threshold! In fact s/he should recommend it to everyone who is NOT ill...yet. The benefits go across the board, or literally from head to toe! Depression, cognitive function, ADHD, bi-polar disorder, macular degeneration, asthma, neck pain, back pain, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, osteoporosis, MS, Crohn's disease, autoimmune diseases like RA, Lupus, ulcerative colitis, inflammatory bowel disease and more, as well as PMS, psoriasis, migraines, joint pain, degenerative disorders, inflammatory conditions of all kinds and much more. Any of your symptoms listed?
If any of your issues are not listed above, there are a few more extremely urgent reasons why your body - everybody's body - need Omega 3 EPA-DHA.
One of the main functions of EPA-DHA is to coat each cell wall (200 trillions cells, mind you) making it fluid, flexible and permeable, to allow easy transference and permeability of nutrients as they enter the cells, and waste products as they leave the cells. Next, and by no means least, EPA-DHA essential fatty acids act as conductors in the brain, enabling that electrical spark for the firing of neurons. Your brain is more than 70% DHA - that's another reason to keep feeding it EPA-DHA.
These essential fatty acids also direct DNA and protein interactions; they enable fat-soluble vitamins like A,D, E and K to be absorbed. They influence enzymes, receptors and much more. To find out even more benefits, you can always check out The National Institute of Health's site for "Omega 3" and any of the 16,203 studies, or Medscape's 293 documents on hand at the moment of the 18,000 available, or Google's 81,600,000 pages on Omega 3.
There are 3 types of Omega 3 essential fatty acids. The marine sources (fish and sea vegetables) provide Omega 3 EPA and DHA. The plant sources (e.g. flax, flaxseed oil, walnuts, canola oil) provide Omega 3 ALA which is somewhat different. You'll find that 98%+ of the medical studies have used the marine source, EPA-DHA. This is because the plant source, ALA, is supposed to convert to EPA-DHA in our body after being ingested, and then do its work. However, this conversion is not very dependable.
Studies show that most people are unable to make this conversion, most particularly those with a chronic illness who are low in many minerals, enzymes and other necessary components to effect this conversion. In doctor Mercola's many articles on the subject, he describes this nations deficiency of Omega 3 EPA- DHA's and how it's affecting all of us. He also describes the ineffectiveness of this conversion process from ALA to EPA-DHA in most people.
Omega 3 ALA has many benefits in its own right, to be sure, but it is not a substitute for the same effects as Omega 3 EPA-DHA.
And then there is the Great Imbalance! Omega 6 is also an essential fatty acid. In a perfect world we would have a balance of 1:1 or 2:1 of Omega 6 to Omega 3 in our diet for all our systems to run smoothly- Omega 6, the pro-inflammatory, and Omega 3, the anti-inflammatory, working side-by-side, in balance.
But with the dawning of processed, packaged, boxed and fast foods this finely tuned balance has gone out the window like a boomerang coming back to whack us in the head, arms, legs, hands, feet, joints, gut, etc in the form of inflammatory nightmares! This "balance" now sits at 40:1 or 50:1 (depending on the study you read), far far far and away in favor of the PRO-inflammatory Omega 6 fatty acids.
Why? Because Omega 6's are found everywhere in our diet! They are in eggs, margarine, poultry, cereals, baked goods, whole grains, nuts, vegetables, seeds, and vegetable oils from corn, peanut, sesame, sunflower, soybean, cottonseed, wheat germ and more. The whole foods are one thing; Omega 6 belongs there. But look at the labels on the processed, packaged, boxed and frozen foods. These Omega 6's (including a preponderance of veggie & seed oils) have now taken on the forms of hydrogenateds, partially hydrogenateds and trans fats - all inflammatories, all preservatives - which will NOT preserve YOU! But rather will eat away at systems and joints and organs by increasing inflammation, slowly, steadily day after day after day.
Few are increasing their Omega 3 to bring this balance back to reality! Is it any wonder there are so many degenerative and inflammatory conditions running rampant in our Western world? Only recently are studies showing that Fibromyalgia is a condition that involves inflammation. But even if that isn't proven in the near future, think about the symptoms such as neck pain, back pain, joint pain, depression, cognitive difficulties, bowel disorders, asthma and allergies and all the rest that may be a part of your particular brand of Fibro. Omega 3 EPA-DHA has been proven to help all if these symptoms.
Not only does Omega 3 EPA-DHA help these listed conditions on the whole, but it has also been proven to be a much safer pain reliever than NSAIDS or ibuprophen, specifically for neck or back pain, as shown in this study reported by Medscape http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/529425. In fact, "...close to 2/3 of the patients could discontinue their use of NSAIDS..."
This medical abstract from NIH at Pubmed tells of the benefits of fish oil (EPA-DHA) for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases like RA, Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, migraine headaches, lupus and more. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12480795
Omega 3 EPA-DHA is the very first supplement I recommend to everyone I meet who has Fibromyalgia or any chronic illness. I use Carlson's brand - 3 capsules per day. The better brands of capsules tend to have no "blow back," or fishy taste. Look for 3rd party tested, deep sea fish oil preferably from the North Atlantic where there are few if any PCB's and mercury contamination. Buy a one month's supply at a time, instead of stocking up. After two or three months, fish oil can go bad (oxidize) when it's opened. Heat, light and air affect it's viability, so I use capsules instead of the liquid- there is less of a chance for it's oxidaion.
The effect is accumultive. So in a week or two you may begin to feel positive effects, then as time goes on, even more positive effects will be recognized.
Some well-tested, well-known brands are: Carlson's, Nordic Naturals, Twin Lab, Kirkland (from Costco), NOWFoods & Nature Made, for example. Also consider checking with Consumerlab.com for their latest up-to-date information on this supplement.
Foods containing Omega 3 EPA-DHA are salmon, sardines, tuna, mackerel, trout, herring, halibut, cod, free range-chicken and beef and wild game (in other words, animals that have NOT been fed grain).
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