Oils Newsletter

Fish Oil is it Magical?

The short answer is no. It must be remembered though that fish oil is an omega-3 essential fatty acid. Essential means the human body can not make it, and it must be ingested. Fish oil is not the only omega-3 oil and not the only one we require. Fish oil contains a few of the omega-3 family of oils. Most notably the long chain omega-3’s. To some degree the human body can convert short chain omega-3 oils to long chain omega-3 oils. Fish get their omega-3 oils from eating seaweed.

At this point an analogy might be useful. Most of us have a car, or have owned a car at some point in our lives. When super petrol was the main fuel most cars were designed to run on it. With the advent of unleaded petrol some people ran their cars on unleaded, even though their cars may have been designed for super petrol. Some cars were able to cope well with the new fuel others did not, depending on their design and on the demands the cars were put through.

Some cars could quite happily take us to and from work without any trouble. Although, there may have been a lack of power when overtaking or towing a trailer. Some cars would be difficult to start in the mornings or cough and splutter on the new fuel. Some ran so poorly that they developed high-octane fuel for them.

The human body was designed to run on fuel that was available a couple of hundred years ago. Omega-3 was more readily available in the food supply at that time. Fresh plants, seeds and even meat from animals that fed on the plants, contained omega-3. Fish oil or omega-3 to be more exact simply allows us to run at our full potential. So fish oil is the equivalent to running your car on super petrol. It not a magic cure. It only allows us to do what we were designed to do.

Just like the cars some of us will be able to handle being deficient in omega-3 better than others. The same also applies to deficiencies in vitamins and minerals.

If all you want to do is drive from home to the office and don’t need to overtake or tow a trailer everything would be fine. The trouble is we compete at school and at work. Our bodies need to tow an extra load, when we fight disease and repair injuries.

If you are deficient in omega-3 taking some will make a big difference. If you are not deficient, taking some will have no effect. However, I would suggest talking to your doctor. Although, omega-3 is in our food supply and is relatively safe, large doses can be detrimental in certain conditions. For example, omega-3 slows the heart, reduces blood pressure and thins the blood – in congestive heart failure this is undesirable