Essential Fatty Acids

Mentioned the words oils or fats in the context of food and health-conscious people tend to shy away as fast as possible. What they do not realize is that there are actually good fats as well as bad fats. Trying to completely avoid the intake of any oils and fats is not a smart thing to do, plus it would generally be a damaging affect to your overall well-being if you are trying to be healthy.

Fish Oil Facts

Essential fatty acids should and must always be included as part of our typical diet nutrition program. Without them, we cause more harm than good to our body. Essential fatty acids are separated into two categories: omega-6 EFAs and omega-3 EFAS.

Although there are only slight differences that distinguish the two groups of essential fatty acids from one another, studies have concluded that too much intake of omega-6 EFAs can cause soreness, blood clotting and tumor growth. On the other hand, the opposite is true for omega-3 EFAs which are also know as the good fats. Omega-6 EFAs can be found in plant oils while omega-3 EFAs can be discovered in rich fish oils among other foods.

Omega-6 vs. Omega-3

Doctors and scientists are generally in agreement about the causes of heart disease, hypertension or high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, early aging and certain kinds of cancer. The imbalanced intake of omega-3 and omega-6 EFAs are all connected to these ailments.

As talked about in the aforementioned, omega-6 EFAs can be discovered in plant oils. This includes but is not restricted to corn oil and soy oil, both of which contains high quantities of linoleic acid. Omega-3 EFAs on the other hand can be found also in sea plankton and walnut and flaxseed oils. It should be heavy to take note that fatty fish and fish oils contain eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), fatty acids that’ve been observed to provide many benefits to the human body. In the early 1970′s, a study on Greenland Eskimos had proved that one of the main reasons why they rarely suffer with heart diseases is due to their high-fat diet (typically composed from fish).

Benefits of Fatty Acids

The two essential fatty acids, EPA and DHA, are also beneficial in preventing or eliminating health risk that include atherosclerosis, heart attacks, depression and varied forms of cancer. Fish oil bolstered food have also demonstrated to be useful in treating sicknesses like metastatic inflammation, diabetes, Raynaud’s illness and ulcerative colitis.

So, don’t be afraid of all oils and fats. As mentioned above, fatty acids oils are helpful to us and provide the means by which we can keep healthy. It’s just one more way to improve on your goal to get healthy and stay healthy.