why is fish oil good for you and what are the omega fatty acids anyway? That's
what I'm going to talk about today stay tuned
I'm dr. Tracey Marks a psychiatrist and I talk about mental health education and
self-improvement. If that's up your alley subscribe. Fsh oil is one of the largest
sources of omega-3 fatty acids and the terms are not synonymous. Fish oil
contains omega fatty acids. Omega fatty acids are called essential fatty acids
because the only way to get them in your body is by eating them. Your body does
not make them. So once you eat them though your body processes them into
inflammatory and anti-inflammatory agents. Omega-3 fatty acids are the
building blocks for anti-inflammatory agents which is why they're so important
they help fight inflammation in your body. Now you may say I"'m not inflamed,
I'm not swollen anywhere." But first of all inflammation is not the same as
swelling. It's more broad than that and second if you live in this world and
especially eat a Western diet, somewhere in your body you are inflamed at a
cellular level. Inflammation causes a lot of illnesses. Too much inflammation in
your body causes aches and pains and auto-immune disorders. Too much
inflammation in your blood vessels leads to hardening of the arteries. That's why
Omega-3 fatty acids are considered heart healthy.
Too much inflammation in your brain can lead to anxiety and mood disorders such
as depression and we've even seen a link between inflammation and ADHD. Now
inflammation isn't all bad. If you're hit with a foreign substance like a viral
infection or an open wound your inflammatory process comes to the rescue
to fight off the infection. However we need a balance of inflammatory agents
and anti-inflammatory agents. Since we get inflammation from omega-6 fatty
acids and anti inflammation from omega-3, we need to have a good balance between
omega sixes and threes. But this isn't the case we take in way more omega-6
because it's abundant in our diet. It comes from things like vegetable oils
poultry eggs and animal fats just to name a few sources. We get plenty of
these and therefore have an excess amount of inflammatory chemicals in the
body. Sources of omega-3 are things like fatty fish, flax seed, certain algae and
grass-fed meats. And how much of these things are you getting in your diet on a
daily basis? The actual omega-3 fatty acids are ALA, DHA and EPA. EPA is
associated more with the body and DHA is in the brain. The American Heart
Association recommends eating at least two servings of fatty fish each week
what are some fatty fish that are high in omega-3s? Some examples are salmon
mackerel, herring, lake trout, sardines and albacore tuna. I don't know about you but
the only thing I eat on that list is salmon maybe a little tuna I don't even
know what mackerel looks like and I doubt that my Sam's frozen package of
trout is lake trout. What if you don't want to eat all that fish if you don't
want to eat the fish and/or you already have heart disease, joint problems, gut
problems, mental problems including cognitive decline,
you need to supplement. The general recommendation for omega-3
supplementation is a 1000 milligrams in a combination of EPA and DHA and this
is with a person with no problems. The dose that's used in the studies that
showed benefit for the inflammatory problems that I mentioned earlier are 2
to 3 grams. You should only take more than 3
grams though under a doctor's supervision because doses higher than 3
grams can lead to increased bleeding problems in some people. If you're a
vegetarian and don't want a fish product there are algae sources of omega-3 and
then there's flaxseed. The omega-3 in flaxseed is ALA, which has to be broken
down into EPA and DHA. So you'd have to consume a lot of flaxseed to get the
equivalent of a 1000 milligrams of the DHA and EPA. You want to make sure
you get a good source that uses fish that are low in mercury and I'll have a
link in the notes to a brand that I think is very good source of fish oil
with minimal fish burps. The fishy odor comes from oxidation of the oil. it
doesn't mean it's bad, it just smells fishy.
Another thing about getting a good source of oil is how much fish oil the
pills actually deliver. Usually it takes two pills to make a 1000 milligrams
of EPA and DHA. Some of the cheaper brands will say a 1000 milligrams on
the front of the bottle, but when you turn around and look at the ingredient
list, it'll say 300 milligrams of EPA, 400 milligrams of DHA and then 300
milligrams of other. So then you've got to take three pills to get your thousand
milligrams of EPA and DHA. So in the end what seem like a lower cost pill may
actually be more because you have to buy more. Here's what one pill looks like.
They're pretty big. Nordic Naturals and some other brands have liquid versions
that may be easier to take. You could get 3 grams either by taking
6 of these or taking one tablespoon of the liquid. If you're fine swallowing oil,
then this is a good choice. You can also put it in your food to help you get it
down. One tip though, if you get the liquid put it in the refrigerator to
slow down the oxidation process because it's that oxidation that gives it that
fish taste. One last thing if you're a trivia person have you wondered why EPA
and DHA are called omega-3 fatty acids? Here's why: it has to do with the naming
convention for organic compounds that contain carbon. The head of the molecule
is the alpha end and the tail is the omega end. This is what DHA looks like
and here's the head and here's the tail. The Omega 3"s have their double bond
carbon three places from the tail or the omega end. The bond are the electrons
that make the two carbon atoms stick to each other. As you can see with the
omega-6, is the first double bond is in the sixth position from the tail. Isn't
that enlightening? Don't you feel better now? I hope this video helps you
understand why you need to make sure you're getting enough omega-3 fatty
acids. Why? Because omega-3 fatty acids reduce
inflammation and reduce disease. Thanks for watching. Please subscribe for more
weekly videos.