People have been talking a lot about fish oil benefits and side effects for quite a while now. I figured it was about time fish oil was brought up and Cleanse Your Body gave you some straight talk about another health and fitness hot topic.
Simply put, fish oil is just that. It is the oil extracted from various types of fish. If you take a quick trip down to your local Whole Foods you will see that fish oil can come from a pretty big variety of fish. We are talking everything from from salmon oil to cod to even shark! Fish oil has been known to have many benefits as well as a few side effects, which in case you haven’t been paying attention is the topic of today’s discussion.
Fish oils are probably most commonly know for their high concentration of Omega 3. Omega 3 belongs to a group of fatty acids often referred to as good fats. The benefits of Omega are almost to numerous to write about. They have been known to provide nourishment to the brain, kidney, heart, liver and eye. Omega 3′s also provide increase immunity, aide in the smooth digestion of food, and happens to be on of many natural anti aging products. Another little fun fact you can throw in the face of anyone who fancies themselves health know it all. . . Fish DO NOT produce Omega 3′s, that’s right. They actually consume them from eating micro-algae. The fish who like to eat other fish absorb the Omega 3′s from the fish they eat.
Fish oil has also been known to help lubricate your joints preventing your cartilage from wearing down and preventing or delaying arthritis. Recently fish oil has also been the talk in the psychological community for its mood stabilizing properties and its use as a potential treatment for bipolar disorder. The Omega3 in fish oil has also been known to prevent heart disease, treat cancer and protect the brain from Alzheimer disease. Fish oil really seems to be the end all cure all for just about everything. However, there are a few things to watch out for.
The caution you need to take with fish oil is not different than the same precaution you need to take when eating fish. Certain fish are known to contain high levels of mercury and PCB. (PCB is used in coolant, if you need to know why this is bad, you should stop reading) This means certain fish oils are also going to have a high concentration of all those fun things. Fish oil extracted from livers (cod liver oil) tends to have a higher concentration of those nasty things, specifically because a fish liver (just like ours) is used to cleanse all the chemicals a fish digests. It would be like using the liver of a 10 year alcoholic. In other words, not good!
Recently there has been a lawsuit against several commercial fish oil manufacturers for the high levels of PCB in their fish oil. There are a few things you can do to stay away from the dangers of fish oil pills. First, stay away from fish liver oils. Second, please buy your supplements from places like Pharmaca or Whole Foods, they tend to sell products with much higher standards than you would in say a gas station. Third, like everything don’t take more than the daily recommended dosage.
I almost forgot one important thing, especially given the theme of our site. Fish oil can oxidize releasing free radicals into your body, so I definitely recommend you take them with antioxidants. These antioxidants can be in either pill form (Vitamin C and E) or you can take liquid fish oil with a smoothie that had plenty of acai berries and blue berries.
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