Fish Oil Pills For Weight Loss

When it comes to weight loss, the average consumer has a range of new fads and products aimed at them. Omega-3s, a sub-group of fats, have featured in the human diet for hundreds of thousands of years but may play a big role in burning stored fat. Modern science provides an explanation as to how they do this and why an insufficient intake has negative consequences.

Omega-3s

Nutritionists can classify fats in a number of ways, including dividing them into polyunsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats and saturated fats. Udo Erasmus, Ph.D, an expert on lipid biochemistry and the author of "Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill," sub-divides polyunsaturated oils into omega-6s and omega-3s. He points out that 99 percent of the population require more of the latter, explaining that they can help reduce inflammation, improve mental performance and burn extra fat.

Fish Oil

Fish oil represents a rich source of omega-3s, offering around 300 mg of these compounds for every gram of oil. However, not all fish contain omega-3s. White fish contain very little fat overall and, as a consequence, almost no omega-3s. Oily fish like mackerel, salmon, herring, sardines and anchovies all provide a reliable dose of these useful compounds. The manufacturers of fish oil capsules often use anchovies as the base source of their products.

Weight Loss

Mike Roussell, a nutrition researcher and a contributor to T Nation, explains how omega-3s can increase fat-burning. The benefits appear to center around EPA, a specific omega-3 acid also known as eicosapentanoic acid. This compound increases insulin sensitivity, reduces the activity of fat storage enzymes and also encourages the liver to oxidize more fats. Although Roussell notes that experts cannot agree on which mechanism plays the most important role, he believes that people suffering from an omega-3 deficiency will be unable to burn fat effectively until they remedy this situation with fish oils.

Evidence

A number of studies have analyzed the effects of fish oil on the fat-burning process. One such experiment, conducted in 1997, spent three weeks looking at the differences in a group provided with fish oil versus a matched group who served as controls. The team, led by Dr. Charles Couet, found that the group receiving fish oils recorded almost three times the amount of weight loss seen in the control subjects. The results were featured in the "Nature" journal.