If you surf the Internet from time to time I bet you’ve seen some sort of promotion for supplements. If you are part of the fitness world I bet you’ve been bombarded with everything ranging from proteins to fat burners to some weird stuff that will make you fly (I bet someone will say that one day).
The honest truth is almost anything you need from supplements can be found in a well balanced diet. But supplementation can help in a couple of ways:
- Maybe 95% of us don’t everything we need to eat; so supplementation can assist you in nutrients you might be lacking.
- If you are looking for a body composition change, supplementation can speed that process.
- You can measure your nutrients intake.
- It’s easy and you don’t have to have a full stomach from eating a lot.
In this piece I would like to talk about what I consider to be the best supplement of all. In my opinion it’s the supplement that can have the most dramatic effect on your body composition, it can improve your immune system and can reduce your bad cholesterol levels.
OMEGA 3
Omega 3 fatty acids are essential fatty acids, meaning that humans can’t produce it and must ingest them because it is needed for overall good health.
There are three types of omega 3 acids, ALA (a-linoleic acid) that is found in plant oils like seeds, nuts and some vegetable oils. The EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) found in fish oil, cod liver, salmon, sardines, etc and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) found in cold water oceanic fishes; this fatty acid is primary structural component of the human brain, cerebral cortex, skin, testicles and retina.
I know Omega 3 acids might sound like a boring scientific term, simply explained it iss composed of three fatty acids and that they are important for your brain and health and fish contain lots of it.
BENEFITS
There are many benefits associated to the Omega 3 fatty acids consumption a few of these are:
Lower triglycerides: There is no scientific study proving that Omega 3 prevents heart disease, what happens is when you start consuming Omega 3 along with a healthy diet you start preventing blood clots and reducing your triglycerides therefore reducing heart disease risk.
Omega 3 to loose body fat: I am not saying that this is a fat burner by any chance nor that you should take this supplement for that purpose. Now there are some studies supporting the fact that Omega 3 improve fat synthesis and increase the adiponectin levels (better insulin resistance) and lowers cortisol levels (less stress more muscle).
Anti-inflammatory: In a study conducted by Publimed on 250 patients suffering form joint pain, where the patients where asked to take 1,200mg of Omega 3, the results concluded that 60% of the patients said their pain had improved. This could be a placebo effect, who knows, but the results are there.
Brain Function: Breat milk is flooded with DHA, so it is essential in children brain development. There is a study where 33 healthy boys were given a daily dose of 400mg and 1,200 mg of DHA and concluded that the patients receiving more Omega 3 the brain membrane blood cells increased by 70% in contrast to the ones receiving 400mg
WHICH OMEGA 3 SHOULD I BUY?
We are not sponsored by any supplement company, so I can’t name a particular brand. But there are a couple of things to keep in mind:
- Anyone who has two fingers of forehead should now that when buying stuff for your health the cheapest option is not the best.
- Look for mercury free fish oils
- A healthy ratio of DHA to EPA should be 2:1 or 2.50:1
