More and more people are becoming interested in the importance of taking omega 3. This nutrient cannot be made by our body, which means we must take it externally as part of our diet, or as a supplement. Scientists have found that our normal diets are very high in omega 6. In order for our bodies to function properly, we need a balance between omega 3 and 6, which means using supplements is even more important. Indeed, processed food is filled with omega 6, which makes it even more important to turn to supplements for omega 3. Most people would purchase fish oil supplements in order to bring this balance back to normal. Before looking at the benefits of fish oil, it may be interesting to review exactly why it is so beneficial.

Why Does Fish Oil Have Health Benefits?

Various scientific studies have demonstrated that fish oil has a huge range of health benefits, some of which we will review below. It is believed that this is because most health conditions are linked to inflammation, and this is what fish oil can reduce.

“All these diseases have a common genesis in inflammation. In large enough amounts omega-3’s reduce the inflammatory process that leads to many chronic conditions.” – Web MD

This is why there have been so many studies on various health problems. These include asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, depression, autoimmune diseases and ADHD to name but a few. All of these illnesses have been found to be linked to chronic inflammation.

It Fights Bad Cholesterol

One of the main benefits of fish oil is that it helps to fight bad cholesterol.

“Omega-3 has positive effects on heart health because of its effect of raising HDL cholesterol (also known as “good cholesterol”) and lowering LDL cholesterol (popularly nicknamed “bad cholesterol”).” – Benefits and Supplements

Bad cholesterol is almost unavoidable. Unless you grow your own vegetables and keep your own livestock, you will have to eat something that is at least slightly processed every once in a while. Hence, you will come into contact with bad cholesterol as well, as it is usually found in everything that we eat. Once upon a time, it was only found in the heavily processed foods, but this is no longer the case. This does demonstrate how important it is to take something that helps combat its negative effects.

It Enhances the Health of Your Heart

One of the benefits that has been well documented and researched is the benefit that fish oil has on heart health.

“Clinical trials have shown that omega 3 is effective in reducing the incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD).” – Organic Facts

The fact that it fights bad cholesterol is a good indicator of this. In addition to this, it also reduces the amount of triglycerides that are present in our bodies. Additionally, some research has now shown that atherosclerosis is also reduced by taking fish oil. This is a leading cause of death in coronary patients. Because it improves heart health, it also reduces the incidences of strokes.

It Helps People Lose Weight

Losing weight is something that is at the forefront of many people’s minds on a daily basis. We are going through a real obesity epidemic, and we are all looking for that one miracle drug that can help melt off the unwanted fat without any effort. Unfortunately, no such drug exists, but there are plenty of natural products that can help with losing weight and fish oil is one of them. The reason is, according to scientists, that it helps energize people and give them more stamina during workouts. As such, taking fish oil without also taking part in a physical workout is not overly beneficial, but it can certainly provide very good support. It was found to have particularly good effects on overall body shape.

It Improves Insulin Sensitivity

Because most of us are getting bigger and bigger, we are seeing an increase in incidents of type 2 diabetes. This is caused when you are no longer sensitive to the insulin in your body, which is generally a direct result of being overweight and following a very poor diet. It is even believed that type 2 diabetes could potentially be reversed if caught early enough and if people are committed to changing their lifestyles. This means adding fish oil to your diet will increase your insulin sensitivity.

“Supplementing with omega-3s has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, but the mechanisms by which it happens are still being uncovered.” – Tom Nikkola

Indeed, this is being studied currently, as scientists are baffled as to why this happens. Preliminary findings suggest that it is the balance between omega 3 and omega 6 that allow our bodies to continue to be sensitive to insulin. This does demonstrate how important it is to get that balance right. However, other scientists believe it is fish oil in particular that gets to work on insulin. It will be interesting to see what the results of the studies are.

It Improves Brain Health

Finally, fish oil is known to massively improve brain health. Indeed, scientists have been incredibly surprised at just how much it can benefit people. There have been a number of true miracle stories of recovery after significant brain trauma thanks to fish oil treatment.

“The theory behind fish oil as a therapeutic intervention for traumatic brain injury is at once simple and complex. Simply stated, the brain’s cell wall is, in part, composed of omega-3 fatty acids.” – Mercola

At present, there are seven reported cases of miraculous recovery in people who have suffered significant brain injuries. In each of these cases, doctors felt there was nothing else that could be done and that no medication known to man today would change the course of the lives of these patients. In each of these cases, the family decided to give fish oil therapy a try, sometimes against the doctor’s orders. And in each of the cases, the patients made a full recovery. These are only the known cases, but they have made scientists pay attention and they are conducting significant pieces of research into how this works.