Society nowadays is becoming health conscious with lots of information and advice on health as it is accessible. There are also a lot of healthy menus in the restaurant and even weekly subscriptions meal plans for those who can spend extra bucks and have the time to indulge. However, as this is very expensive, not everyone has the time or the money. Hence, it is easy to eat less nutritious meals like fast food or snacks. In order to improve health, some would opt for daily multivitamins or health supplements. One of the known health supplements in the market and is here to stay since the 1970’s is omega-3.
Is it good to take omega-3 everyday? In order to answer that, perhaps we should know a little bit more about it. Omega-3 is fatty acids that are mostly contained in food and bring so many benefits to humans, especially relating to the heart. There are quite a number of different omega-3 kinds but most that have been researched on are alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). EPA and DHA are high in fatty fish such as salmon, sardine, mackerel, cod and sea bass while ALA can be found in plant oil such as soybean and canola oil. DHA and EPA show much more benefits than ALA since the rate of ALA converting to EPA and DHA is small while our body needs to use DHA and EPA in large amounts, especially the brain.
Omega-3 has been studied countlessly in clinical trials and research for many decades. One of the most renowned importance of omega-3 is for brain development. It helps improve brain function and helps with improving mood among people struggling with mental health issues. Another famous omega-3 effect is to the heart by reducing risk of heart diseases such as coronary heart diseases and improving level triglyceride (a type of fat in the body) which plays a role in heart disease. Some people with osteoarthritis or any arthritis can walk better and less painful movement upon supplementation of omega-3.
Now we know roughly about omega-3, is it good to take omega-3 everyday? It is good and it is bad. Do note that omega-3 supplement is something you want to add on top of the meal you are having every day since it is not enough to cover your body needs or you cannot have meal with enough omega-3 such as seafood or fish because you are either on vegan or vegetarian diet, you are allergic to seafood or fish, or simply hate eating one. Surely it is good to take omega-3 every day given the conditions mentioned just now. Otherwise, if you are healthy with no known risk or low risk of any heart diseases and obviously can fish or seafood every week, you probably do not need to take the supplements and probably if you take the omega-3 supplement, it will probably bring more bad effect like bad breath, nausea, heartburn and diarrhea.
A recommendation from The American Heart Association stated that two servings of fish (a serving is approximately 3 ounces of cooked fish) a week, especially fatty fish, helps to optimise intake of omega-3. It is much more advised to get any nutrients, and in this case, omega-3, from food as food contains other complimentary nutrients such as vitamins and minerals to fulfil our daily body needs. Honestly, cooking fish or seafood might help you steer away from just having fast food or instant food because surely you will need time and attention to create those hearty warm balanced meals.
