What We Know About Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Every day the list of benefits from these fatty acids grows as new studies confirm the benefits of increased consumption.

Reduced Risk of Stroke and Heart Attack

Two long-term Harvard studies reported in the New England journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association (one among 84,688 women and another among 22,000 men) indicate that several weekly helpings of fish—a prime source of omega-3 fatty acids—appear to protect men and women from heart disease.

While the exact cause of this apparent link between increased consumption of omega-3 fatty acids and reduced incidence of coronary heart disease is not yet known, the bottom line is that an increasing amount of evidence strongly suggests that increasing omega-3 fatty acids in the diet helps prevent heart disease in all people and, at increased consumption levels may dramatically cut the mortality rate in heart attack survivors.

Reduces Inflammation and Joint Pain

Numerous studies show that omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and joint pain.

 

Alzheimer's Disease

A recent study at the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging shows consumption of fish once a week among people aged 65-94 reduced the incidence of Alzheimer's disease by 60 percent, compared to those who rarely or never ate fish. This study supports the findings of two previous European studies.

 

Depression

Several studies indicate the possibility of beneficial effects of omega-3 fatty acids on various forms of depression.

A large-scale study published in 1998 in The Lancet by Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, chief of the outpatient clinic at The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, showed a connection between people in countries that consume large amounts of fish and low rates of depression.

A more recent and more specific study by Dr. Andrew Stall at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA, focused specifically on patients with bipolar disorder. Half of the subjects were given fish oil tablets, the other half a placebo. After four months, half of the placebo patients had relapsed into depression while only two of the 15 fish oil patients had relapsed.

An Important Nutrition Component for Unborn and Breast-Fed Babies

DHA, one of the types of omega-3 fatty acids in salmon, is critical to normal eye and vision development in infants. And, other studies show signs of improved brain development.