You Need Omega 3 Fats for Eye Health, Especially If You Have Retinitis Pigmentosa

It has long been known that an adequate supply of the Omega 3 fats is good for you, reducing your risk of heart attack, and therefore death, as well as helping improve a whole range of health conditions.
In fact it seems that there are powerful reasons why those of us whose diets are deficient in the Omega 3 fats should be eating a diet higher in Omega 3, or taking fish oil supplements.
However we don't immediately associate increasing your Omega 3 intake with eye health. And yet there is ample evidence that plenty of the Omega 3 fats DHA and EPA is important to the health of your eyes from the start of your life right through to the end.
In fact the retinas in your eyes have a significant amount of Omega 3 fats in them, and is now being understood that, from early on in life, infants should have a sufficient supply of Omega 3 fats in their diet as this helps with the development of infant visual accuity.
It is also now established that increasing the amount of Omega 3 in the diet can help older people who may be suffering, or who may well start suffering from macular degeneration which is a condition of the eyes which affects older people. It is in fact the leading cause of blindness in older people in the US.
So it comes as no surprise that there is now evidence that other eye diseases may also benefit from more essential fatty acids. One of these is a disease of the eyes called Retinitis Pigmentosa.
Retinitis Pigmentosa is a relatively uncommon, and hereditary eye disease which affects around one in 4000 people. It has a range of symptoms, which often become apparent in early life, including night blindness, tunnel vision and blindness for some.
There is no current cure for Retinitis Pigmentosa.
However 3 studies are now establishing that increasing your intake of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids DHA and EPA, in conjunction with an increased intake of vitamin A, may help slow the visual deterioration which results from having Retinitis Pigmentosa.
This is excellent news for those who suffer from this eye disease. It is certainly not a cure, however where a cure is not available it is better to slow the progression of a disease than not.
So it's quite clear that increasing your intake of the essential fatty acids DHA and EPA, either through eating foods rich in Omega 3 such as fish, or more commonly through taking fish oil supplements, will not only help your heart, and a range of other parts of your body, it is also good for your eyes.
Visit my website to find more about the health benefits of Omega 3.

Eat More Sardines. There's Lots Of Reasons To Eat Them

Sardines are fish that are small. That's just small in size, not small in nutrition. In fact the health benefits of sardines are greater than their size.
Sardines are a small school fish which live in many of our oceans, and they are caught in their millions. Most people eat canned sardines, and in fact sardines were the first fish ever to be canned. However many people also eat sardines fresh.
Of course eating sardines is just wonderful for the taste. Sardines are extremely yummy, however sardines are nutritious too.
You've probably heard of the health benefits of Omega 3 fatty acids. The Omega 3 fatty acids are essential fats, meaning that they are essential to the proper functioning of your body. Sardines are extremely high in the Omega 3 fatty acids.
The health benefits of the Omega 3 fats are numerous, and include a reduction in your risk of dying from heart attack as well as many other cardiovascular benefits, and improvement to mental function, just to mention a few.
In fact sardines have more Omega 3, pound for pound, than just about any other fish in the ocean.
But the health benefits of sardines just start with the Omega 3 fatty acids. Sardines are also packed with a wide range of other nutrients.
Calcium for example, which is extremely important for your bones, good nerve function and more. Or how about potassium, or phosphorus. Sardines are high in protein too.
And then there's the vitamins. These include vitamins D and E as well as vitamin B-12, in which they are very high. Vitamin B-12 is very important to the proper functioning of your immune system and central nervous system.
Then there's your skin. Sardines are high in antioxidants, which benefit the health of your skin, and the Omega 3 essential fatty acids are also extremely good for your skin, particularly for maintaining skin moisture.
Overall the most important health benefit of eating sardines is for the Omega 3 fatty acids. Science is discovering that most of us are deficient in these important fats, and increasing your intake can do wonders for your health.
So eat lots of sardines, canned or fresh, for all those good nutrients in sardines.
But to get the maximum amount of benefit from increasing your intake of Omega 3 fats take high quality Omega 3 supplements every day. That is unless you're likely to be eating a can of sardines every day.
Note that not all Omega 3 supplements are high quality. Visit my website to find out which are.

Is Age Related Memory Loss Inevitable, Or Can You Help Prevent It?

It's commonly assumed that aging and memory loss go together, that as you get older it's inevitable that your memory will get poorer. But loss of memory with aging isn't necessarily a given. Whilst you certainly can't prevent ageing it is incorrect to assume that a poor memory should go with it.
New studies are now delving deeper into the causes of memory loss with aging and coming up with strategies to help prevent or reduce it.
Recent studies are now showing that inflammation in the body and in the brain can be one of the causes of declining memory. In fact science is now beginning to understand that inflammation in the body is an underlying factor for a whole range of lifestyle diseases.
A new study discussed at the American Academy of Neurology's most recent meeting has established that the more elderly who are suffering from inflammation in the brain are more likely to exhibit symptoms of cognitive decline and memory loss than those who do not.
As a result there are new strategies which may well help you to improve your memory as you age, because aging and memory loss do not necessarily go together.
There are of course many strategies, including brain exercises, to help reduce age related memory loss, however today we specifically wanted to look at strategies to reduce inflammation and in turn, hopefully, to improve your memory.
One of the most powerful anti-inflammatories, or in other words substances that helps reduce inflammation, is what are known as the Omega 3 essential fatty acids. These are found primarily in fish oil, though it can also be found in smaller amounts in other foods. In the past our diets were high in fish, and therefore we all had a higher intake of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids.
But our intake of fish has declined and for this reason science is demonstrating that many of us are deficient in our intake of the essential fatty acids DHA and EPA, which help to fight inflammation in our bodies.
Helping reduce your risk of memory loss with age is just one of the many health benefits you will attract to yourself if you improve your intake of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids. One of the major benefits of more Omega 3 fats in the diet is reducing your risk of dying from heart attack.
But increasing your intake may also help prevent or reduce age-related memory loss.
Of course more study is being undertaken in these areas, but it is very clear from current research that all of us, for a wide range of health reasons, should seriously consider increasing our intake of the essential fatty acids found in fish. Sadly fish is very expensive and eating too much is not recommended because of Mercury contamination.
The good news is that it is entirely possible to buy high-quality fish oil supplements containing high levels of DHA and EPA, and that these are both cost-effective to take daily and quite clean. Sadly not all fish oil supplements are high quality.
So if you're worried about ageing and memory loss then you should seriously consider a daily dose of the Omega 3 supplements, both for your brain as well as for your general health.

The European Parliament Confirms the Role of DHA in the Development of Baby Vision

It is now pretty well known that there are substantial health benefits, including to the very young, from increasing the amount of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids in our diet. This has now, in the last couple of days, been confirmed by a decision of the European Parliament.
The Omega 3 essential fatty acids are important fats that our body needs to good health but which it is unable to produce itself. For this reason all of our Omega 3 fatty acids must of necessity come from what we eat. And unfortunately the primary source of these essential fats is seafood, and particularly oily fish, and our consumption of seafood has declined dramatically over the last century.
This has had substantial health ramifications, and in particular has contributed to an increase in a range of lifestyle diseases that were rare a century ago. Researchers started to uncover the reasons why when they began to study communities which had very low levels of the lifestyle diseases such as the Japanese, and discovered a link between the amount of seafood consumed and diseases such as heart disease.
Whilst the initial evidence was building up there was some scepticism about the health benefits of the Omega 3 fats, however it is now generally recognised by mainstream medical organisations that a deficiency in the Omega 3 essential fatty acids contributes to heart disease and may even contribute to a heart attack causing death. The American Heart Association now tells us to eat more fatty acids for this reason.
But it's not just for our heart health. There's a wide range of other health problems which are impacted by a deficiency in our intake of the essential fatty acids, including our eyesight, and the development of baby vision
It is not commonly known but there is more DHA in the retinal rods in the eye than in any other cells in our body. An adequate supply of DHA ensures better vision in the very young and in the very old, because it is also now understood that low levels of DHA can be a contributing factor to macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in older people.
During the first 3 years of life your baby's vision develops dramatically. In the first 3 years of life the size of a baby's eyes increases threefold from birth. Retinal tissue in the eye is mature by the age of 3, although the development of vision continues throughout childhood affecting such things as hand eye coordination.
The development of baby vision affects every aspect of an infant's life.
It has been recognized for some time that breastfed infants have better developed visual functions than those who are fed formula. Traditional infant formulas does not contain any of the Omega 3 fats, particularly DHA, whereas breastmilk does, provided the mother has these important fats in her diet. If she does they are passed to the infant through breastfeeding.
For this reason it is now possible to buy DHA fortified infant formula, and the European Parliament has now confirmed the benefits to the eyesight of babies and infants of this DHA fortification.
Through a narrow vote it was confirmed that infant formulas can include claims about the benefits of DHA in the formula on infant visual development. There were voices of objection raised of course on the grounds that this may lead mothers to think that formula is as good for babies as breastmilk.
This is a valid objection and it is generally accepted that breastmilk is always better for babies than formula, however for various reasons mothers will still continue to use formula for their babies, and if they do it is always better that they use formula fortified with the Omega 3 fats.
There's no doubt breastmilk is better for babies, however it is important that any mother also understands that for her baby to get an adequate supply of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids the mother must have an adequate supply of these fats in her own diet. This is important both for her own health as well as for the health, and visual development, of her baby.
Gradually we are seeing acceptance by the mainstream, including medical organisations such as the American Heart Association, and now by the European Parliament, of the fact that a sufficient intake of DHA and EPA is essential to the good health of all of us, as well as to the development of baby vision.
Of course eating fish is the traditional way of ensuring an adequate intake, however fish is now generally considered to be contaminated with toxins such as Mercury, and we shouldn't eat too much fish that this reason. Fortunately there are high quality fish oil supplements available which are both cost-effective to take daily and which are completely clean and free of contamination.

Find Out About The Link, If Any, Between Omega 3 Fatty Acids And Lowering Blood Pressure

There is little doubt about the heart health benefits of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid). Many of the benefits to our heart health of increasing our intake of these 2 of the most important essential fatty acids are now mainstream, and for this reason mainstream organisations such as the American Heart Association are telling us we should all be eating more Omega 3 fats.
But do these health benefits extended to lowering your blood pressure?
In fact it's not just heart health benefits that are attracted to us by eating more of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids. There's a wide range of health benefits, some of which are now firmly established and some of which are still in the process of being investigated.
Unfortunately over the last century our intake of seafood has dropped dramatically. Instead of having a fish on our plate we are more likely now to have fries or burgers for dinner. And this is having an impact on our health.
Fish is the biggest source of DHA and EPA, the 2 most important essential fatty acids known as the Omega 3 fats. Our body is unable to manufacture either of these fatty acids itself and so needs to rely on our intake of these fats through our diet.
When we were eating a lot more fish we were getting plenty of the Omega 3 fats in our diet because fish, and in particular oily fish, are very high in these fats. Unfortunately burgers and fries are not high in the Omega 3 fats and are high in unhealthy fats.
The resultant effect has been that our intake of the good Omega 3 fats has declined dramatically over the last century and at the same time our intake of bad Omega 6 fats has increased just as dramatically, and it is considered by medical professionals that this may well be a substantial factor in the increase in the incidence of a wide range of lifestyle diseases including heart diseases, cancers and much more.
There is now some suggestion that those who are prone to high blood pressure may also benefit from increasing their intake of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids by lowering their blood pressure. In a study referred by the American Heart Association a large group of men were split into smaller groups and given a range of different dietary intakes, some higher in fat and some lower in fat, some with Omega 3 supplementation by way of fish oil capsules, some eating more fish and some taking placebo capsules.
The object was to examine the link, if any, between Omega 3 and lower blood pressure.
The result was interesting and encouraging, and the conclusion drawn was that in subjects who took either the fish or the fish oil, particularly those in the low-fat groups, diastolic and systolic blood pressures dropped.
It is always difficult to say at what point something is sufficiently proven. Of course these questions will continue to be studied, and as seems to be the case with all these things some studies will confirm this conclusion and some will reject it.
However whether it is sufficiently proven that taking fish oil capsules reduces your blood pressure, there is now no doubt that all that all of us should be taking fish oil capsules every day, or eating more fish, to attract a wide range of well recognised health benefits to ourselves, including reducing the risk of dying from heart attack.
The evidence supporting the conclusion that our reduction in intake of the Omega 3 fatty acids is severely affecting our health is mounting. And the evidence that increasing our intake now will attract significant health benefits to us is also mounting.
There are excellent high quality Omega 3 fish oil supplements available on the market which are both cost-effective to take every day, and, provided you buy quality supplements, are free of the Mercury contamination commonly found in fish.

Do Learning Difficulties In Children Respond To Omega 3 Supplementation?

Learning difficulties amongst children seem to be on the rise. Whether it's autism or ADD, or dyspraxia or ADHD or dyslexia or any one of a number of other learning difficulties, the incidence of these problems seems to be on the rise. So why could Omega 3 supplementation have anything to do with the solution?
It's a good question. Omega 3 essential fatty acids and in particular DHA and EPA are found primarily in seafoods and in particular in oily fish. A century or more ago seafood was high in our list of important and much consumed foods. Virtually everyone ate fish at some stage during the week.
And because they ate fish regularly, and because fish, and in particular oily fish, is extremely high in the essential fatty acids, our forebears got an adequate amount of the essential fatty acids in their diet.
However fish has now been supplanted in our diets with such foods as burgers and coke. And as a result most of us if not all of us are nutritionally deficient in a range of the important nutrients, and this has a range of implications for all of us.
Study after study has shown that increasing our intake of the essential fatty acids, most commonly by taking quality Omega 3 fish oil supplements, will help prevent a wide range of health conditions, including reducing our risk of dying.
A study undertaken in the UK on more than 100 children with learning difficulties has shown that increasing the amount of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids in the diet of these children helped a percentage of them, though not all, to function better and to achieve more at school.
All of these children were selected on the basis that they had average ability but were performing badly at school. They were given Omega 3 supplements every day for 6 months and tested on their performance amongst other things.
Of course you cannot conclude from this study that giving Omega 3 supplements to your children will cure their learning difficulties, there is certainly much more to it than that. However it does seem that adding more Omega 3 essential fatty acids to their diet, commonly by way of Omega 3 supplementation, is one tactic that ought be considered by parents and medical professionals.
And there is solid scientific evidence to support the conclusion that our children will perform better with adequate amounts of essential fatty acids and their diet. The omega 3 fats, and in particular DHA, make up a large percentage of the brain and a higher supply of DHA during the early years has been shown to improve cognitive performance.
So if you're a parent of a child with learning difficulties, along with consulting the appropriate medical professionals, it may well also be worth considering Omega 3 supplementation. It's not just learning difficulties that may benefit, is a wide range of other health benefits from adding more of the essential fatty acids to the diet, both to yourself and your children.
And the best way to do this is by taking high quality Omega3 capsules, though not all fish oil supplements are high quality

Are You Getting Much Omega 3 In Fish That You've Fried? And If Not What Should You Do?

So you're eating fish tonight. Is there much Omega 3 in fish that might be served up to you tonight? Surely there is because everyone now knows that fish is the best source of those all-important Omega 3 essential fatty acids.
Not necessarily. The amount of Omega 3 in fish varies greatly depending on the type of fish and a number of other factors, including, if it's salmon that you're having, whether it's wild or farmed.
But a new factor that seems to affect the amount of Omega 3 in fish that we are eating has also been uncovered in a recent study. It would seem that how you cook your fish affects how much of those all-important essential fatty acids you'll be eating tonight.
A recent study undertaken and published in Neurology journal seems to be showing that how you cook your fish determines whether or not you're getting the maximum benefit from those Omega 3 fats.
The study was undertaken on residents of what is sometimes called the "stroke belt", a string of southern States which includes Mississippi, Alabama, North and South Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia and more. In these States the rate of death from stroke and the rate of stroke in general is much higher than the rest of the country, and in particular much higher amongst African-Americans.
And the study established that people living in these States ate much higher than levels of fried fish than in other states.
In other words there was a correlation between the amount of fried fish consumed by those residents and their rate of stroke. And in particular it was found that African-Americans in those states have extremely high rates of consumption of fried fish.
Now of course this doesn't establish that all these people are getting strokes from eating fried fish, it would require much more study to firmly establish this. However it is certainly worrying and offers a powerful suggestion to those amongst us who understand the health benefits of more Omega 3 fatty acids in the diet that they should be baking or steaming their fish rather than frying it.
Of course there are problems with getting your Omega3 fats by eating fish, regardless of how you cook it. Fish is becoming extremely expensive and we are now warned by our government not to eat too much due to contamination with Mercury and other toxic contaminants.
And for this reason, in my view, the most cost-effective way to get a regular daily intake of the Omega3 fats is through the use of high quality Omega 3 supplements.
However there is no doubt that fish is good to eat, provided you don't eat too much. But if you're eating your fish confident in in the knowledge that you're getting all those good fats in your diet you may be fooling yourself, there may not be so much Omega 3 in fish that youv'e fried.

Omega 3 Oils Are Now Essential in Everyone's Diet, Including Yours

In many cases claims about the health benefits of various alternative and nutritional supplements are little short of voodoo. However it is now clear that this is not the case when it comes to the health benefits of Omega 3 oils.
Many of the alternative and health supplements available on the market are backed up with very little solid scientific evidence to support the health claims made about them. Often mainstream science and medicine is extremely sceptical about any of the health claims made for so many alternative products.
But there is one nutrient that must be in your diet. It's the Omega 3 oils, and there is now solid scientific and medical agreement worldwide about the health benefits of these essential nutrients.
These can sometimes be known as the essential fatty acids, and the 2 most important of these are DHA and EPA, which are primarily found in seafood and in particular in oily fish.
The recognition of the health benefits of the Omega 3 oils has just received a substantial boost. On the 3rd and 4th of March 2011 there was an Omega 3 summit held in Bruges in Belgium. This summit was addressed by some eminent experts in the health care field, and the intentions of the summit were to examine the evidence of the health benefits of the Omega oils and to "start the turnaround" in the consumption of the long chain essential fatty acids worldwide.
In its press release the summit made a very significant statement about the health benefits of the essential fats, known as the long chain Omega 3 fats. This press release observed that disorders of the brain and heart resulting from a deficiency of the long chain Omega 3 fats called DHA and EPA are "the biggest challenges to the future of humanity".
This is about as mainstream as you can get. This is a significant recognition by mainstream medicine and science that many of the lifestyle diseases that afflict so many of us may be prevented by an increase in the intake of the Omega 3 oils. The best way to do this is by taking high quality Omega 3 supplements.
Not only that but the summit recognized the financial burden placed on health care systems worldwide of the costs of dealing with what are, in many cases, diseases preventable by some simple measures such as Omega 3 supplementation.
There is now no doubt at all that everyone should be sustaining a minimum level of intake of the long chain essential fatty acids. It is not difficult to do. There are excellent fish oil supplements available which contain high levels of DHA and EPA, and they are entirely accessible to everyone, and are cost effective to take.
For a collection of mainstream experts such as this to recognize that health and lifestyle diseases resulting from deficiencies in the Omega 3 oils can be this serious is a very powerful message to us all, and everyone should hear the message.

What Is Fish Oil Good For? Your Health Of Course

What is fish oil good for is a question asked from time to time by people who are interested in improving their health. The question is usually asked because they have started reading about the health benefits of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids found in fish oil, and their interested in finding out more about what fish oil is good for.
Increasing your intake of fish oil, or more specifically the Omega 3 essential fatty acids DHA and EPA found in fish oil, benefits your health in a wide range of areas.
The first of these is your heart health. There is significant evidence that increasing your intake of the essential fatty acids known as the Omega 3 fats has significant benefits to your heart including reducing your risk of dying from heart attack. That's a very significant health benefit indeed.
In fact the amount of scientific evidence in support of the fact that the Omega 3 essential fatty acids have significant heart health benefits is so overwhelming that the American Heart Association now recommends that all of us have a minimum intake of the Omega 3 fats for the sake of our heart.
However it doesn't just stop at heart health. Fish oil is good for a wide range of other health problems. That's because it's one of the most powerful anti-inflammatories that we know of.
An anti-inflammatory is something which reduces inflammation in our body. Given that inflammation is a significant factor in a wide range of health problems, reducing inflammation must be good, and it is.
The health benefits of increasing the amount of fish oil in your diet are widespread. They include reducing your risks of allergies, a range of cancers, reducing blood pressure, improving vision, helping improve a weight loss outcome, helping improve diabetes, helping improve depression and lots more.
It would almost seem from that list that fish oil is the new wonder drug. And the good news is that it's not even a drug, it just comes from fish.
So if the Omega 3 essential fatty acids DHA and EPA found in fish oil are so good for you should and should be getting more fish oil in your diet?
Probably, because the evidence is that almost all of us now are deficient in our intake of the Omega3 fats, and this is due to the fact that almost all of us are now eating much less fish then we did 100 years ago.
Yes the evidence is that this decline in our intake of fish, and with it our intake of the Omega 3 essential fatty acids, is responsible for increasing our risk of a wide range of health problems.
Of course you can always eat more fish, but fish is very expensive. The good news is that there are excellent high quality Omega3 supplements made from fish oil, and they are much more cost-effective to add to your diet every day. It's a simple matter to pop a simple Omega 3 capsule every day than it is to eat fish.
So if you're asking yourself what fish oil is good for then there's the answer. It's good for your health. It's extremely good for your health, and you should be getting more fish oil in your diet, by taking high quality essential fatty acid supplements, every single day of your life.

Can You Use Omega 3 Fatty Acids To Combat Pancreatic Cancer?

Pancreatic cancer is a severe cancer. It is estimated that almost 37,000 people will die from pancreatic cancer every year. Will using fish oil dietary supplements that contain daily fish oil supplements help prevent pancreatic cancer?
While cancers like prostate cancer and breast cancer are commonly in the news pancreatic cancer just isn't. But it is the 4th greatest killer in the US when it comes to cancers. Sadly the prognosis for people who experience cancer of the pancreas isn't great, and just like all cancers it is much better to prevent pancreatic cancer than it is to try to cure it.
There is a growing body of data that many cancers could well be positively benefited from a rise in the consumption of the mega 3 essential fatty acids DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) and EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid). These are known as important fatty acids because they are essential for good health, however they cannot be made in the body and must be taken in through the diet.
And during the last hundred years our consumption of Omega3 high foods has dropped considerably. The two most important of the fatty acids are EPA and DHA, and these are found mainly in seafood and in particular in oily fish, and our intakes of fish and seafood in general have dropped considerably. Other sources of the omega3 fatty acids have included grass fed beef and free range eggs, however our beef has become mainly grain fed, which decreases the Omega 3 content, and the same pertains to our eggs.
A new study done on inhabitants of the San Francisco Bay Area finds that improving the intake of omega 3 fatty acids, in conjunction with an increase in intake of vitamin E and vitamin C may lessen the risks of pancreatic cancer by up to 30 %.
Plus the study noted also that a high intake of saturated fat may in fact increase the risk of pancreatic cancer by anywhere up to 60 percent.
Obviously it is always difficult to say when this is sufficiently proved, and clearly more studies are needed, however this also lines up with other research suggesting that increasing the consumption of omega 3 fats could help prevent other cancers, in particular breast cancers and bowel cancer.
Even so the health benefits of taking high quality Omega 3 supplements are much more than just the chance of preventing pancreatic cancer. Lots of the health benefits of an increased intake of essential fatty acids are now accepted by mainstream medicine, and mainstream organizations such as the American Heart Association are suggesting that we should ımprove our intake of the essential fatty acids to avoid such health conditions as heart disease.
So whether you are worried about pancreatic cancer or you're not there's numerous benefits to be gained from increasing your intake of essential fatty acids. You do that if you take high quality fishoil dietary supplements containing Omega 3 daily.