Ra With Omega 3 - The Essential Fatty Acid
In recent years much interest has been focused on the huge role of omega 3 fatty acids in our overall health. Omega 3 is an essential fatty acid that plays a vital role in human bodily processes namely brain functioning, nervous system health, growth and development. Unfortunately our bodies do not produce it naturally, we need to eat adequate amounts of foods rich in Omega 3 to be able to harness its benefits. According to Professor Peter McLennan from the Graduate School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, half of the population is consuming 50mg of Omega 3 fatty acids or less on a daily basis, yet the recommendations are that we should be consuming around 200 mg. Oily fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines and some shellfish are good sources of it. However, most people don't have enough fish in their diet to satisfy the body's demand for this essential fatty acid hence the availability of â¬Åfish oil supplements in pharmacies.
Extensive studies show that omega 3 fatty acids are especially beneficial in promoting and maintaining cardiovascular health as well as aiding in reducing the symptoms of arthritis. At the Smart food Center, University of Wollongong, Professor McLennan observed that when the heart muscles of a rat fed with Omega 3 is electrically stimulated, the heart rhythm remains stable as opposed to non Omega 3 fed rat whose heart muscles becomes erratic after it has been electrically stimulated. This finding implies that regular adequate intake of the essential fatty acid exhibited a cardioprotective property.
The Omega 3 fatty acids also shows promise with arthritis sufferers. Over the year, a lot of studies have shown that it can reduce morning stiffness, joints pain and swelling and at times helps reduce the amount of drug pain reliever needed to control arthritic pain. Because of its tendency to interact with other medications that the patient may be taking it is highly recommended that patients will seek their doctor's advise as to how much dosage is therapeutic to their condition. It is known to have drug interaction with blood thinning medications (Warfarin), blood glucose lowering medications (insulin), NSAIDs (Ibuprofen), cholesterol lowering medications and Cyclosporin.
Knowing and understanding more and more about the role and benefit of Omega 3 Fatty acid in our bodies opens up new possibilities in treating various diseases, promising findings in diabetes, other inflammatory diseases, even mental disorders are causing much excitement in the medical and research field. For now the only thing that we can do regardless on what state of health we are in is ensure that our diet should contain adequate amount of this essential fatty acid.
