According to Cleveland Clinic, early Arctic explorers noted that Eskimos had a low incidence of heart disease even though they ate high-fat, high-cholesterol foods. Physicians and scientists soon realized that the Eskimos' diets were rich in omega-3 fatty acids. This revelation impacts the way heart disease is treated today, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Fish oil is from fat-oily cold water fish such as cod, sardines, salmon and tuna. It contains the omega-3 fatty acids, docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA and eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA.
Docosahexaenoic Acid
DHA is an unsaturated-fatty acid that's important to the functional brain development in infants and in the normal brain functions in adults, according to a study by L. A. Horrocks and Y. K. Yeo published in the September 1999 edition of "Pharmacological Research." DHA is an essential component in lowering bad cholesterol, or LDL, which helps to lower the risk of heart disease and strokes.
Eicosapentaenoic Acid
Eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA, is another essential fatty acid that benefits a variety of conditions including lowering the risk of cardiovascular diseases, heart disease and strokes by reducing bad cholesterol, or HDL. It's also an anti-inflammatory that works to stimulate the immune system and to prevent Alzheimer's disease, according to PDR Health.com.
Consuming fish in your diet or taking fish oil as a supplement in doses recommended by your physician will supply both DHA and EPA, which will provide health benefits including blood pressure control and lowering the risk of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.
Precautions
Individuals who are allergic to fish or soybeans should not use fish oil. People who have diabetes, liver disease or a pancreas condition, drink more than two alcoholic beverages per day or who those who have an underactive thyroid should talk with their health care provider before taking fish oil. Pregnant or breastfeeding women should talk with their physician before taking fish oil; so should women planning get pregnant.
According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, even though some fish contain low levels of mercury, the Food and Drug Administration found that eating fish several times weekly was beneficial to health and did not pose a risk to healthy individuals.
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