Fish Oil and Omega 3 Health Benefits

Flax seed has recently been heralded as an acceptable – and even preferable – substitute for fish and fish oil when it comes to getting your daily dose of omega 3. While at first this may seem like great news for vegetarians and vegans, it definitely needs a little bit more scrutiny before you toss out your fish oil in favor of flax oil. While flax definitely has high concentrations of omega 3, it is not certain that the form of omega 3 fatty acids found in flax seeds can even be processed by your body. Omega 3 is an essential nutrient, which means that while the human body needs it to function, the body cannot process or synthesize the nutrient in any way. As a result, if processing is necessary on any level for the omega 3s found in flax seed oil, then your body really is not getting much good out of these “friendly” omega 3s at all. You might as well just not take a supplement in the first place. So before you chunk your salmon oil pills, think hard about what you are replacing them with. It just might be literally nothing.

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The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends on its official website that anyone concerned about their heart health consume at least two servings a week of fatty fish like “mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon” (www.americanheart.org). Of these fish, tuna is by far the most conventional and, in most regions, inexpensive option on this menu. However, while at first downing a couple hearty servings of tuna a week seems like a pretty good way to improve your heart health and not damage the budget, this recommendation deserves a second look. First of all, while the AHA recommends 2 servings a week, many studies indicate that you might need to consume as much as two pounds of fatty fish a day in order to get the requisite amount of omega 3, an essential fatty acid, necessary to protect your heart and other aspects of your health. This much tuna – in any form – could be a health threat since often tuna contains traces of mercury, other heavy metals and contaminants. Instead of gorging on tuna, consider a safe, toxin-free omega 3 supplement made from pure, omega 3-rich salmon oil to give your heart and your health in general the boost you need.

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If you are like most people, then most fish look basically the same to you. After all, they are all pretty slimy, scaly and rather bug-eyed, right? But when it comes to your health, calling a mackerel a salmon can be a serious mistake rather than a simple menu misnomer. This is because while both fish contain omega 3 fatty acids, which are essential nutrients that your body must have to function but cannot manufacture on its own, they are very different outside of this one similarity. Mackerel, tuna and other fatty fish that are usually used to make omega 3 fish oil supplements often swim in polluted waters and their meat and oil can contain traces of heavy metals like mercury. These contaminants are not only bad for the fish, but they can also build up in humans’ systems when they consume the fish and create health problems over time. This is why when you are selecting a fish oil supplement, calling a salmon a tuna is more than just a minor name problem, it could be a serious “health faux pas.”

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