What are Omega 3 fatty acids and why are they good for you?

Omega 3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fats. One popular form of polyunsaturated fats is found in cooking oil such as olive oil. Another cooking oil gaining in popularity among health-conscious consumers is Virgin Coconut Oil.

Whereas most vegetable oils and margarines are high in polyunsaturated fats, you'll discover they're missing a key ingredient for maximum health...omega 3 fatty acids.

Omega 3 fatty acids are Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs). They're considered essential because they're important building blocks for every cell in your body. Our bodies can't produce these special fats so we must get them from our diets.

The 3 main types of omega 3 fatty acids are:

1. Alpha Linolenic acid (ALA) - found in flax seeds, flax seed oil, walnuts, soy beans
2. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) - found in fish and fish oils, krill oil
3. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) - found in fish and fish oils, krill oil

These fatty acids help our bodies produce chemicals called eicosanoids. These hormone-like substances have positive effects on your heart rate and blood pressure. This explains the health benefits from using fish oils for cholesterol problems. You may also improve your unborn baby's eyesight and eye/hand coordination by taking fish oils during pregnancy.

Health benefits of omega 3 fatty acids include:

• Help control your blood pressure.
• Boost your immune system to help your body fight infections.
• Regulates your body's temperature.
• Affects inflammation levels in your body.
• Prevent blood clots reducing your risk for stroke or heart attack.
• Reduce triglycerides levels in your blood lowering your risk for heart disease.
• Help improve mood and learning function in young children.
• May help boost your metabolism and burn fat more efficiently.

Even food manufacturers are starting to sit up and notice these health benefits. You can now buy infant formulas fortified with omega 3 fats. It's pretty common to find yogurt and cheeses with omega 3's added to them. Chickens fed a diet high in omega 3's (from flaxseeds) increase the omega 3 content in their eggs.

A picture of my son with a carton of omega 3 eggs.

I bought these at our local supermarket. They cost a few cents more per egg than regular eggs, but you get the added health benefits of omega 3 fatty acids. Each egg has 400 mg. of omega 3 fatty acids and 600 mg. of omega 6 fatty acids.

Are You Balanced in Omega 3 Fatty Acids?

It's important to eat a balance of omega 3 and omega 6 (another EFA) in your diet. Scientists now believe maintaining a proper ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 is even more important for optimal health. This is similar to striving for a healthy ratio of LDL and HDL cholesterol for good heart health.

Our North American diet is rich in omega 6, so we don't have to worry about being deficient. You can find omega 6 fats in meats, some vegetable oils, margarine, processed foods and baked goods.

Experts believe we're getting too many omega 6's and not enough omega 3's in our diets. A healthy ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 is about 4:1. Some nutritionists believe it should be a 1:1 ratio - equal parts omega 3 to omega 6. Unfortunately, our Western diet of fast foods, processed foods, and cooking with vegetable oils could place our ratio as high as 30:1. Doctors believe this imbalance of omega 3 to omega 6 can cause a high number of inflammatory-type problems, such as asthma, cardiovascular disease and arthritis.

Time for an Oil Change...Fish Oil, that is!

Supplementing your diet with more omega 3 fatty acids can help enhance your health and wellness by optimizing your ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fats.

Here's how to increase your omega 3 intake:

• Eat more servings of fish, walnuts and soybeans.
• Reduce your consumption of vegetable oils and processed foods.
• Start taking pharmaceutical-grade fish oil supplements.
• Supplementing with Neptune Krill Oil.
• Use ground flaxseeds or flaxseed oil supplements.

Eating mackeral, sardines, salmon and lake trout will give you a good source of omega 3's. Haddock, cod and tuna also have omega 3 fatty acids at lower amounts.

If you're concerned about mercury in fish you can use pharmaceutical-grade fish oils. These highly purified oils are free of mercury, PCB's and other contaminants found in store bought fish.

If you can't eat fish or fish oils, you can use ground flaxseeds or flaxseed oil. Flaxseeds supply alpha linolenic acid, another type of omega 3. Your body takes the alpha linolenic acid and converts it into EPA and DHA. Unfortunately, the conversion process isn't exactly perfect. Research shows you can only convert about 6 - 8% EPA from ALA. If you're not sure which oil to use, here's some helpful information comparing fish oils vs. flaxseed oil.

Optimizing you intake of omega 3 fatty acids may have powerful effects on your body - maybe more powerful than some pharmaceutical drugs. The good thing is they're 100% natural and offer you tremendous health benefits your body will love.

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