Get the Benefit
Of Fish Oil Supplement

Let's face it, when it comes to health claims, most of them are pure hype. Rarely does something actually live up to its media exposure.

In fact, in my time researching health topics, omega 3 fatty acids may be the only thing that deserves the praise heaped upon it.

What's particularly fascinating about omega 3 fatty acids is that both conventional and alternative medicine agree on its many health benefits.

If you know anything about alternative health or are knowledgeable about the natural health field, you'll know this is something that doesn't usually happen. Normally, conventional medicine supports the interventionist approach, not the preventative one.

Studies are often released by conventional medical sources on how vitamin supplements are worthless, and using herbal remedies are on par with witchcraft. Okay, I'm exaggerating---but only a bit!

In any event, it seems the evidence about omega 3 is so overwhelming that even most conventional medical practitioners recommend an increased intake through foods or via supplementation.

Many health experts and researchers believe that omega 3 fat is the one essential nutrient most missing in our modern day diet. This deficiency is believed to play a major role in heart disease, cancer, and brain disorders.

Not surprisingly, studies have shown that many of these diseases and disorders improve when omega 3 supplementation is used.

But before we talk about specific conditions that may strongly benefit from the use of omega 3 supplementation, of which purified fish oils are the best source, I'd like to tell you why omega 3 is so vital to good health.

The human body requires a tremendous amount of omega 3 fatty acids.

Our master organ, the one that controls our entire body, the brain, is made up of a large amount of fat by weight. Most people don't know this. And a significant portion of this fat is the omega 3 fatty acid known as DHA , short for docosahexaenoic acid.

This means that nature intended the human brain to be "powered" by fats, so to speak, and if you don't have enough, your brain won't be able to run properly. It's somewhat like trying to run a car without fuel.

However, it's even worse, because whereas a car would simply not run, the human brain instead begins to suffer from ailments and diseases.

So why do so many consider omega 3 practically a health miracle?

Brain Health

Deficiencies in omega 3 fats have been linked to:

depression
anxiety
mood swings
bipolar disorder
postpartum depression
Alzheimer's disease
ADHD
ADD

Millions of people suffer from just these conditions alone. Maybe even you do, or know a loved one who does.

Researchers from institutions as prestigious as the Harvard School of Public Health have shown some of these conditions greatly improving with increased omega 3 fatty acid intake.

Other studies have shown that memory and focus can improve with consistent use of fish oil supplements.

Heart Health

One of the best known and studied benefits of omega 3 fatty acids is for heart health. Until recently, heart disease was the number #1 killer in the Western world (it has recently been surpassed by cancer).

Fish oil supplements, very high in omega 3 fats, have been shown to help those with heart disease, and younger people who might be susceptible to it down the line due to family history.

How does it do this? Well, for starters, omega 3's can make platelets in the blood less sticky. This prevents them from clumping together. Platelet clumping can trigger heart attacks by stopping blood flow.

In addition, omega 3's can reduce tryglycerides -- these are blood fats closely related to cholesterol -- and when they are high along with cholesterol, your chances for heart disease go up markedly.

Research has also shown that omega 3's can help reduce or prevent heart rhythm abnormalities by strengthening the electrical system of the heart.

Heart disease is also characterized by inflammation, and omega 3's have potent anti-inflammatory properties that can counter this.

Speaking of inflammation...

Arthritis Aches and Pains

Did you know that a lot of the aches and pains associated with arthritis are due to inflammation? This is why studies have shown that fish oil supplementation, rich in omega 3's, can help alleviate the pains in rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.

Crohn's Disease and Inflammatory Bowel Disorders

The same is true for Crohn's disease, which is characterized by painful inflammation of the bowels. Indeed, in one particular year long study, 69% of Crohn's sufferers who used a fish oil supplement stayed symptom free as opposed to only 28% who were administered a placebo.

Pregnant or Nursing Mothers

The brain of the fetus needs a great deal of the omega 3's, DHA and EPA.

If you are a pregnant mother, you should strongly consider using a molecularly distilled fish oil supplement so your fetus's brain has the best chance of developing properly. Of course, speak with a doctor first or, better yet, a naturopathic doctor.

If you are a nursing mother, you should also be taking an omega 3 supplement or eating enough omega 3 fatty acid foods. The omega 3 you obtain in your diet is passed along to your baby when you breastfeed.

Even if you are no longer breastfeeding, you should be careful to take in enough omega 3 fat for your own health. If you have young children, adequate levels of omega 3 intake are associated with reduced attention deficit and hyperactivity and higher IQs.

Omega 3 in fish oil has also been shown to ease menstrual cramps.

Psoriasis, Acne, and Other Skin Disorders

If you know anyone who suffers from psoriasis or acne, you know how painful and embarrassing these conditions can be. Maybe you have them yourself. One of the primary problems in these conditions is inflammation.

Although fish oils are not going to cure these conditions, its anti-inflammatory properties often help make them much better.

Cancers

As I said earlier, cancer has now overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death in the US. Of course, there are numerous types of cancer. Recent research is showing that omega 3s may help prevent cancer from occurring and also help prevent it from progressing.

Although more studies need to be done in this area, DHA and EPA omega 3s, found in fatty fish and fish oil supplements, may protect against these types of cancers:

breast
prostate
testicular
ovarian

As we're all too aware, breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men, in particular, are very common and claim many lives.

In the meantime, although the studies that have been conducted are not conclusive, it seems increasing one's intake of omega 3 fats can help in the battle against cancer.

And The List Goes On

Please understand that this page is not exhaustive. I could write another 10 pages on the miracle of omega 3 fatty acids, and include a discussion of other conditions such as lupus and Raynaud's disease.

But I think you're starting to get the picture. And that picture is that if there's one supplement everyone should take to fight disease, keep the brain sharp, and stay in peak health, it is an omega 3 supplement.

And the best kind? I recommend purified fish oil supplements made from a fatty type of fish that is naturally high in DHA and also EPA.

Modern farming practices -- for both the meat and agricultural industries -- has made food a lot less nutritious than it used to be. One of the consequences is that foods that used to contain high levels of omega 3 fats are now a poor source.

In a nutshell, large scale farming raises meat for one purpose: profit. There's nothing wrong with profit per se, but when you are feeding millions of people, you want to raise the animals as fast as you can, make them as fat as you can, so you can produce as much meat as you can.

By contrast, it's the animals' natural diet, grass-grazing, that makes them such naturally rich sources of omega 3's. Forcing farm animals to eat grain-based feed to fatten them up removes their omega 3 content.

You've all heard the saying that you are what you eat. Well, animals are what they eat too. And if you eat the animals....then you are what they eat. And that is largely grains and corns.

What about fish? Unfortunately, fatty fish, the formerly best source of omega 3's, contain many pollutants. And many of these are very dangerous, like PCB's, mercury, and lead, to name a few. This is due to accumulated industrial pollution in our oceans, lakes, and waterways.

So what's the solution?

Well, if you want all the benefits of omega 3 fatty acids without the harmful toxins that you'd get by eating a lot of fish, the solution is to take a molecularly distilled fish oil supplement.

Molecular distillation allows the oils to be separated from the bad contaminants. The rich, healthy omega 3 oils can then be encapsulated into soft gels for easy swallowing. Of course, there's a little more to it than this, but this is the most important point to understand.

Not only are purified fish oil supplements the best source, they are also the most economical. A month's supply of top notch product will set you back less than $20 a month. If you go buy a few fillets of salmon or tuna at the local fish market, you'll spend that much just for one dinner.

If you've decided that you should start including a fish oil supplement as part of your daily health regimen, what you need to do now is know how to compare one brand with another. This, of course, will allow you to get great value for your money.

I looked over dozens of brands before deciding on one.

What's I've found is it's neither the most expensive nor least expensive products that are best. Some products cost more because they are heavily marketed or have celebrity endorsements. This means they charge more so they can pay for all that marketing.

On the other end of the spectrum, some products are ridiculously cheap. Upon further investigation you find out the oils aren't molecularly distilled (which means they contain contaminants), or the fish species being used isn't rich in omega 3s, or that the oils have no process to keep them fresh.

Fish oils are subject to oxidation quickly....that's a process by which they go rancid. Taking oxidized fish oils can actually harm your health!

Here are my criteria for evaluating fish oil supplements:

• Type of fish being used -- is it naturally high in DHA and EPA omega 3? And especially DHA?

  
  

• Is it purified/molecularly distilled?

  
  

• Is the fish caught locally to where the product is produced, ensuring freshness? Or is rancidity a concern?

  
  

• Does the product tell you the exact breakdown between DHA omega 3 and EPA omega 3 and not just the total omega 3 content per serving? Does it even tell you the total omega 3 per serving?

  
  

• How many servings does it contain per bottle?

If you have the answer to these types of questions, then you can do true price comparisons to see what kind of value you are getting.

For example, if product A costs $18 dollars for a month's supply, and product B costs $16 dollars for a month's supply, most people just think, well, product B is a better buy. Not so fast!

Let's just take one of the above criteria. What if product A has 1,000 mg of omega 3 per capsule, and product B has 500 mg. They both have 60 soft gels, and the recommended dosage is 2 per day, which means it's a one month supply of product for each.

Well, now the $16 dollar product definitely doesn't seem like the better buy because product A is only $2 dollars more but contains twice the omega 3 fats per capsule.

So, you see, there's a little analysis and research that goes into this. And none of that analysis is difficult.

And, believe me, it's worth doing it. Omega 3's are indisputably one of the most important substances for good health and well-being.

If you are going to use a product and conceivably take it for the rest of your life, doing a few minutes of research as you have just done by reading this page, will pay off immensely over the years when it comes to your health and your family's health.

After researching the market and doing just the type of comparisons I mention above, I picked a fish oil supplement product from New Zealand.

Here's why I decided on this product.

1. It is made from a fish species called hoki. Hoki are a sustainable, natural resource regulated by the New Zealand government. They thrive natively in the cold, deep waters off the Southern coast of New Zealand, one of the most pristine areas of the world, virtually untouched by industry and pollution.

   
   

2. More importantly, hoki are one of the few fish species naturally high in omega 3's, particularly richer in DHA omega 3 than EPA omega 3. DHA can be converted by the body into EPA when more EPA is needed, but not the other way around. It's very important your fish oil supplements have more DHA than EPA.

   
   

3. The fish oil product, produced by Xtend-Life Natural Products, is molecularly distilled. Why does it need molecular distillation if the fish comes from a pristine waters? Because nature creates pollution too! For example, just think how much contamination an erupting volcano spews into the air and water. All fish oil products should undergo molecular distillation, period.

   
   

4. Cost. Given the amount of DHA and EPA, and total omega 3 per serving, I have yet to find a better priced product than the pharmaceutical grade Omega 3 fish oils produced by Xtend-Life. This is when you do a real apples to apples comparison.

I have been using the Xtend-Life Omega 3 fish oil product for years. In my opinion, it has been one of the best health decisions I have ever made. Especially when it comes to dollar to dollar value.

It amazes me that people will spend hundreds of dollars (sometimes well over a thousand dollars) per month for organic produce, grass-fed meats, smoothies, and gym memberships to try to live a healthier lifestyle.

All of these things can be good -- but for less than $20 a month they can be doing more good for their health with a supplement.

Even if you choose a brand other than the Xtend-Life fish oils, you should read the information presented at their page, as it will educate you much further on how to choose a really good omega 3 product.