Is It Possible to Lower Triglycerides Taking Omega 3 Supplements?

It is now firmly established that there is a wide range of heart health benefits to increasing the amount of omega 3 essential fats (DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid)) in your diet. One of these important heart benefits, for anyone with high triglycerides, is that increasing your intake of DHA and EPA can help lower triglycerides.

Research shows that over 90 percent of us are deficient in the important essential fatty acids found in fish oil. And research has also confirmed a wide range of heart benefits from remedying that deficiency by including more fish, or fish oil in the form of supplements, in our diet.

Some of the heart benefits of increasing your intake of omega 3 essential fatty acids include a reduction in the risk of arrhythmia, which can lead to fatal heart attack, a reduction in blood pressure and a decrease in the growth rate of plaque in the arteries. But for our purposes today the research also show a decrease in triglycerides levels.

Triglycerides are a fat that is found in your blood and which your body manufactures from the food that you eat. High triglycerides increases the risk of death and are basically linked to coronary artery disease. High triglycerides can also be linked to other diseases like 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 lowering triglycerides is very important for many people.

There are a range of things that you can do to lower triglycerides if you have a problem, including reducing the amount of fatty foods and in particular foods was saturated fats, eating less sugar and exercising more. Also important is reducing alcohol intake and try to lose weight if you are overweight.

But now it is also clear that if you increase your intake of omega 3 essential fatty acids found in fish oil that can also be a big part of any strategy for lowering your triglyceride levels.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition publishes many of the studies about the benefits of omega 3 and a statement on the website says that “A dose-response relationship exists between omega-3 fatty acid intake and triglyceride lowering” and also that “omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil decreased serum triglyceride concentrations by 25% to 30%,”.

So it is now clear that improving your level of intake of omega 3 essential fatty acids can help lower triglycerides and because this is now clearly established the American Heart Association tells people with high triglycerides to maintain a level of intake of 2 to 4 grams per day of DHA and EPA by way of fish oil supplements under the care of a physician.

Many people in our society suffer from higher than recommended triglyceride levels. This then is good news for them, providing them with another weapon in the arsenal to help lower triglycerides.

And as well as lowering triglycerides there are other heart benefits as well as a wide range of other health benefits from increasing your intake of omega 3 fats by way of fish oil supplementation.

This is difficult simply by eating fish because fish is contaminated with mercury and is expensive. However there are excellent fish oil supplements available which are not contaminated and which are much more cost-effective to be taken daily. But not all supplements are as good as others.

Visit my website to find out how to compare the various fish oil supplements available, (and which ones I take myself).

Want to know more about Fish Oil? Or more about Lowering Triglycerides with DHA supplementation? Visit Peter’s Website Healthy Omega 3 Fish Oil.