Article by Konstantin Eriksen
I’ve been involved in the natural health field for quite a few years now and one of the questions that people always ask me is how long it will take for a concentrated fish oil supplement to have a positive effect on their health. This is a complex matter, but basically it depends on 2 variables. The first is the quality and potency of the product and the second is the reason you’re taking it.
First and foremost, you must make sure that you choose a fish oil that is very high in DHA, is molecularly distilled and is free of toxicity. As long as the product you choose is a high quality one with a high dose of DHA and EPA, then the speed with which concentrated fish oil will work for you will depend on the state of your health and on what you expect it to do for you.The Benefits Of Fish Oil – Get 9 Amazing Health Benefits NOW
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I’ve been taking nutritional supplements for years now and consider that some of them are essential to take on a daily basis in the modern world. One of the most important of these is concentrated fish oil.
Concentrated fish oil is mainly composed of omega 3 fatty acids. The most important of these are DHA and EPA, and they are responsible for most of the benefits of fish oil. Hundreds of years ago, EPA and DHA were plentiful in the human diet, mainly coming from fish and grass-fed, natural meats.
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Many of today’s so-called diseases and chronic conditions are actually related to, or at least exacerbated by, a deficiency in omega 3 fatty acids that results from the inadequacy of the modern diet. Here are some of the most important benefits of fish oil, briefly explained.
1. Cardiovascular health and Prevention of Heart Disease.
The omega 3 acids EPA and DHA decrease LDL cholesterol, triglyceride and homocysteine levels, while at the same time increasing HDL cholesterol. High triglycerides and excessive LDL relative to HDL are definite predictors of heart disease. Concentrated fish oil actually cleans your blood vessels and helps keep them free of obstruction.
Cholesterol is mainly created by your liver and is transported to the blood vessels to repair damage. So in reality, it is a good thing. However, when too much of the substance is being produced and not enough is being removed from the bloodstream, this can result in the excess cholesterol sticking to the blood vessel walls and causing them to narrow. This, in turn, can cause blockages and therefore heart disease. Fish oil decreases the “bad” cholesterol and increases the “good” cholesterol, thereby creating a much healthier cholesterol balance in the blood.
2. Reduced cancer risk.
Plenty of serious research undertaken in some of the world’s top research facilities has proven that a high intake of omega 3 fatty acids can prevent and inhibit the growth of cancer cells. This is especially true of hormonal cancers, such as prostate and breast cancer. These types of cancer are actually fed by hormones and the hormones are effectively blocked by EPA and DHA. Specifically, in the case of breast cancer, concentrated fish oil capsules have been shown to decrease the amount of estradiol in the blood. Estradiol is the hormone that feeds breast cancer cells and so a reduction in estradiol can actually help prevent and treat breast cancer.
Fish oil decreases estradiol levels. For the last 20 years, study after study has shown that the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, found in deep ocean fish and concentrated fish oil can decrease the amount of estradiol in a woman’s blood and therefore stop the creation of cancer cells. One study, done at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, and which followed more than 35.000 women who did not have breast cancer, found that those women who took fish oil supplements regularly had a 32% lower risk of developing breast cancer.
A similar mechanism applies to Prostate Cancer. Two large-scale, long-term studies have now proven that consumption of concentrated fish oil or oily fish can slash the mortality rates of men afflicted with the disease.
fish oil
In the Physician’s Health Study, over 20,000 men were followed for 22 years. The study conclusively proved that men who ate at least five portions of oily fish every week were 48% less likely to die of the disease than those who ate only one portion per week. Concentrated fish oil is particularly effective at blocking metastatic cancers. It achieves this by blocking the conversion of arachidonic acid into the hormones which feed the cancer cells. In this way, it actually helps to stop prostate cancer from spreading.
When tumor cells of the prostate gland metastasize and invade other parts of the body, such as the bone marrow, prostate cancer becomes a much more serious disease. It is precisely in this process where the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil intervene. Researchers at one British hospital, the Christie hospital in Manchester, found that concentrated fish oil omega 3s can inhibit invasion of the bone marrow by prostate cancer cells.
3. Alleviates depression.
Many scientific studies have linked depression of all types to a dietary deficiency in DHA. Regular daily intake of significant amounts of concentrated fish oil can eliminate depression and other psychological problems, such as anxiety or brain-fog.
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4. Superior brain function and mental processing.
Since the brain is essentially built with DHA, an omega 3 fat, high consumption of DHA has been proven to improve memory, concentration and ability to complete complex tasks. This is particularly important in young children and adolescents, whose brains are in the growth stage and in pregnant women, nursing mothers and the babies that depend on them for nourishment.
If you’re taking concentrated fish oil in order to lower your triglyceride or homocysteine levels, then it can be effective in as little as two weeks. In most cases, after four weeks, there are noticeable declines in triglycerides. Most issues relating to blood tests respond in a similar manner.
For diseases such as heart disease, atherosclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, research shows that it takes about three months for the positive effects to appear. This is due to the fact that it takes your body several months to make up for all the negative effects of past dietary habits, drinking, smoking, etc…
In cases of depression, the results can vary widely. Depression is a very complex problem, which includes both psychological and organic components. In many cases, depression has been linked to DHA deficiency in the brain. In cases such as this, high doses of concentrated omega 3 have been shown to work very quickly. Other cases take more time. Regardless, depression often responds better to higher doses rather than to lower ones.
In summary, the most important thing is to choose a top-quality product and to take it consistently without giving up. If the product itself is of the highest quality, then the time it will take for it to be effective will be a lot shorter.
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