The truth about fish oil and cholesterol

In the last few years, there is a lot of debate about fish oil and cholesterol numbers. Owing mainly to media coverage, there is a widespread belief that by including omega 3 acids in your diet (contained in fish oil), this is a sure fire recipe to knock your high cholesterol numbers down.

As you probably know, the best source for omega 3 acids is fish oil. Although it is true that there is a relationship between fish oil and cholesterol as I explain right below, there is no conclusive medical evidence yet that taking fish oil will definitely have a positive effect on you cholesterol reading. The issue is a little bit more complex than that.

As a rule, you should stop worrying about your cholesterol numbers being too high. What you should focus instead, is to minimize the risk of heart disease you are exposed to. Fish oil supplements can do you a world of good on that area. Permit me to get into more detail.

Talking about cholesterol, there are two kinds. One is good and the other is bad. The bad is called LDL and this is what is causing the build up of plaque in your arteries. Too much plaque clogs your arteries, restricts the flow of blood and inevitably leads to heart attacks.

The good one is called HDL and its function is directly opposite to the function of LDL. What it does is removing the plaque from your arteries. Now, the amount of risk you are exposed to as far as heart disease is concerned, is directly proportional to the ratio of LDL (bad) to HDL (good) cholesterol. The higher this ratio is, the higher the risk is.

Therefore, judging your heart disease risk by your LDL reading alone, it surely is wrong.

In addition to cholesterol, triglycerides are the fatty substance in your blood that might increase your heart disease risk. If there is too much of this, then your arteries might be clogged, leading again to undesirable health complications.

It gets a little bit more complex than this. Besides cholesterol and triglycerides, there is an additional risk factor, which is a relatively new finding of the medical community.

Due to a complex chain of events, your blood might suffer from inflammation, which again might be the underlying cause of heart disease. Doctors measure the extent of inflammation in your blood by monitoring a protein called C-Reactive. And mind you, inflammation has no connection whatsoever with cholesterol.

Having said all the above, it is easy to see that it is wrong to base your estimate of the risk of heart disease on cholesterol numbers alone. It is a much more complex issue, with many factors in interplay.

Coming now to the issue of fish oil and cholesterol, you can better appreciate the amazing health benefits of fish oil when you consider the following:

1. Studies have shown that fish oil is a very potent anti-inflammatory, thus reducing possible inflammation in your blood.

2. It prevents clumping and stickiness of the blood, thus enhancing its flow in the arteries.

3. Clinical evidence suggests that regular intake of fish oil will reduce the amount of plaque build up in your arteries. This will reduce the risk of heart disease.

As a final note, please remember that the omega 3 acids contained in fish oil are beneficial not only for your heart, but for your well being in general.

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