How Do You Lower Triglycerides With Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids?
There are clear benefits of increasing your intake of omega 3 essential fatty acids, the 2 most important being DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid). In particular there are well established heart benefits to taking more Omega 3 in your diet, however for anyone with high triglycerides it is also now clear that increasing your intake of essential fats can help in lowering triglycerides.
Almost all of us eat a diet that is too low in the essential fatty acids known as omega 3 fats. These are found in fish oil and the research has clearly established that by increasing the amount of fish oil in our diet we improve our heart health and also attract a range of other health benefits.
Some of the important heart health benefits from increasing omega 3 in the diet include reducing blood pressure, reducing the growth of plaque in the arteries, reducing the risk of fatal heart attack and now also helping to lower triglyceride levels.
Triglycerides are a form of fat that can be manufactured in the body from the food you eat and exist in the blood. Having high triglycerides increases the risk of blood clots and can also lead to a lowering of your HDL (good) cholesterol. Basically high triglycerides are linked to coronary artery disease. And high triglycerides can also be a risk factor in some other diseases, for example diabetes.
A diet with high levels of saturated fat intake can increase triglyceride levels as can a diet of high sugar foods. Risk factors also include being overweight and drinking too much alcohol.
So for many people lowering triglycerides is very important, and they want to know how to lower triglycerides.
There’s a range of things that you can do to help lower triglycerides. If you eat less sugar and saturated fat in your diet, lose weight and reduce your alcohol intake these will all help lower triglycerides.
But it is now clear from the research that increasing your intake of omega 3 essential fatty acids by way of fish oil supplementation is an important part of a strategy to help lower triglycerides.
For example a statement published on the website of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concludes that “omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil decreased serum triglyceride concentrations by 25% to 30%,” and “A dose-response relationship exists between omega-3 fatty acid intake and triglyceride lowering”.
It is clear that increasing the intake of Omega3 fats has a role in lowering triglycerides and for this reason the American Heart Association recommends minimum levels of DHA and EPA of 2 to 4 grams per day by way of fish oil supplements under the care of a physician for people with high triglycerides.
Many people have a problem with lowering triglycerides and this is good news for them and gives them a way to lower triglycerides naturally.
And there is also powerful evidence of a wide range of other health benefits from increasing your intake of omega 3 essential fatty acids, and for these reasons everyone, including people with high triglycerides, should seek to maintain a minimum level of fish oil in the diet.
Of course it is simple to eat more fish but unfortunately fish is contaminated with mercury and is generally very expensive. There are excellent fish oil supplements available which are not contaminated and which can be taken daily very cost effectively. Note however that not all fish oil supplements are of high quality.
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