Health Benefits of Fish Oil, Useful for Healthy Life

Health Benefits of Fish Oil

It is an oil derived from the fatty layers of cold water fish. This oil is rich in the long chain omega 3 fatty acids eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) which are known to be essential to human health.
In an ideal world, we would get all the omega-3s we need from our diet – but most people today get their daily requirements from supplements in the form of capsules or liquids.

1. Improve Bone Health
When it comes to maintaining bone density, calcium, vitamin D and magnesium shouldn’t be your only supplements. The omega-3 fatty acid DHA is essential for optimal bone health. Researchers compared the effect of an omega-6 DPA and the omega-3 DHA in the growth of long bones in rats. The results showed that the rats fed the omega-6-supplemented diet had the lowest bone mineral content and bone mineral density compared to the rats fed the omega-3-supplemented diet.

2. Useful for Women 
Women sometimes take fish oil to prevent painful periods; breast pain; and complications associated with pregnancy such as miscarriage, high blood pressure late in pregnancy, and early delivery.  Fish oil is also used for diabetes, asthma, developmental coordination disorders, movement disorders, dyslexia, obesity, kidney disease, weak bones (osteoporosis), certain diseases related to pain and swelling such as psoriasis, and preventing weight loss caused by some cancer drugs.

3.Preserve Lean Muscle
Supplementing your diet with fish oil may prevent the muscle loss that commonly occurs in cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy. The trial involved 16 patients who took fish oil (2.2 g of eicosapentaenoic acid/day) and 24 patients who did not. Patients who did not take fish oil lost an average of 2.3 kg whereas patients receiving fish oil maintained their weight. What’s even more interesting is that 69 percent of patients in the fish oil group gained or maintained muscle mass.

4. Reduce The Risk of  Cancers.
Evidence linking fish oil and cancer has been all over the map. Some research suggests diets high in fatty fish or fish oil supplements might reduce the risk of certain cancers, including prostate cancer. Other research shows no such association.

5. Boost brain power and memory
Researchers have found positive associations between fish oil supplements and cognitive functioning as well as differences in brain structure between users and non-users of fish oil supplements. Compared to non-users, fish oil supplements were associated with better cognitive functioning during the study. The unique finding, however, is that there was a clear association between fish oil and brain volume in two critical areas utilized in memory and thinking (cerebral cortex and hippocampus). In other words, fish oil use was associated with less brain shrinkage in patients taking these supplements.