Fish Oil and Omega 3 Health Benefits

DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), an omega 3 fatty acid found only in fish oil, has been found to suppress cancer growth, including melanoma.

That’s good news for the more than 8,000 men and women who die each year from melanoma (malignant skin cancer).This number is growing as the baby boomer generation ages.
Anyone can get melanoma. In fact, among young people, it’s one of the most common cancers. But the risk increases rapidly with age.

More than one million Americans get skin cancer each year, with 60,000 of these cases being the dangerous melanoma form. That’s why it’s so important to take precaution when getting out in the sun.

Eating lots of fatty fish may also slow down melanoma growth by as much as 50 percent. That’s the conclusion of researchers from the American Health Foundation and the New York Medical College. They recently discovered that DHA clearly inhibits the growth of human melanoma cells. (Cancer Research, Vol. 60: 4139-45)

Melanoma is a very serious form of skin cancer, but if found and treated early, the chance of recovery is very good.

If melanoma is not found and treated in time, however, it can grow deeper and spread to other parts of the body – i.e. metastasize. It then becomes very difficult to treat and life-threatening.
There’s growing evidence that diet has a strong affect on developing melanoma.

Many scientists, for example, believe that a high dietary intake of omega 6 fatty acids from plant based corn, safflower, sunflower and soybean cooking oils stimulate the growth of melanoma and other cancer cells.

Fish oil omega 3 fatty acids (particularly DHA), on the other hand, have been found in several studies to suppress the growth of melanoma and other cancer cells.

Most of this research was laboratory test tube studies, but the various research teams agreed that fish oil DHA could be an effective melanoma treatment and that further clinical studies would be helpful.

That sounds like it makes sense to me.

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Childhood asthma has more than doubled in the last 25 years. It now affects over 9 million children and is responsible for nearly 13 million missed school days and hundreds of thousands of emergency hospital visits.

But there’s hope for all these children.

A University of Sydney research team recently discovered that eating salmon and other fatty fish, such as sardines, a couple of times a week can reduce the risk of childhood asthma by as much as four times. (Medical Journal of Australia, Vol. 164: 137-40)

Asthma triggers vary from one child to another. Some children are allergic to such foods as eggs, wheat, milk, soy and nuts. Others are affected by airborne dust mites, mold and pollen. Tobacco smoke, exercise and certain weather conditions are also common triggers.

But they cause an increase in inflammation that brings on the coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath associated with asthma.

So how can fish oil help children with asthma? The answer is easy!

Omega 3 fish oil fatty acids DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) are simply nature’s most potent and safest anti-inflammatory agents.

Fish oil has been found in thousands of studies over the last thirty years to be highly effective at relieving the inflammation of arthritis, bursitis, colitis and migraines, as well such respiratory conditions as emphysema, cystic fibrosis and asthma.

Another research team from the University of Montana, for example, recently completed and published a report that showed supplementing children’s diets with fish oil DHA and EPA significantly reduced the severity of asthma symptoms in over 40% of their patients. (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 65: 1011-17)

These are pretty amazing results when you think about it. And all your child has to do to get asthma relief without medication is to eat salmon or sardines two or three times a week or take a good quality fish oil supplement.

That’s pretty easy, don’t you think?

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Did you know that 70% of a baby’s brain is made up of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), an omega 3 oil found chiefly in fatty fish such as salmon, sardines and herring?

Fish oil omega 3 DHA also has a direct effect on the optimum development of a baby’s vision and central nervous system. And the only way for the fetus to get the DHA it needs for optimum growth and development is through the mother’s diet.

And baby’s need for DHA doesn’t stop at birth. Optimum dietary intakes of DHA are crucial for baby’s development right through childhood. Children’s lack of DHA, for example, has linked to an increased risk of asthma, juvenile diabetes and ADD/ADHD.

But there’s a problem! Studies show that the average DHA intake of pregnant and lactating women is less than 18 % of the recommended daily amount and only 2% meet their daily needs of DHA. And if mom isn’t eating enough fish to get her daily DHA, you can bet that baby isn’t either.

According to the American Heart Association, everyone should be eating fatty fish at least twice a week to prevent heart disease and stroke. Pregnant women, since they’re eating for two, should probably be eating even more fish.

If you can’t or won’t eat fish for whatever reason, taking daily fish oil supplements containing a combined one gram of DHA and EPA (eicsapentaenoic acid) is highly recommended.

By the way, a recent Harvard study concludes that the benefits of eating fish on a regular basis greatly outweigh any perceived threat of toxins even during pregnancy. And, if you look carefully, you can find omega 3 supplements that are guaranteed to be toxic free.

Non-lactating mothers should consider squeezing fish oil into their baby’s formula. They’ll learn to like it and be on their way to be a lifetime fish eater. It will not only make them smarter, but it will also be good for their overall health.

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