Fish Oil - 2 Ways It Prevents Heart Disease And Improves Cardiovascular Health

The benefits of fish oil supplements have been much discussed. However, I believe that it is important to emphasize that there is one condition in which fish oil capsules are an essential supplement to take and that nobody who suffers from it or who has a genetic tendency towards it should be without. That condition is heart disease and cardiovascular problems. Fish oil has two pathways in its beneficial action in these conditions.

1. Fish oil raises levels of good cholesterol. Plenty of university researchers now believe that it is not the level of total cholesterol in the blood that causes plaque buildup, but the high ratio of bad to good cholesterol. This means that the higher your good cholesterol, the more of the "bad" cholesterol you can have in your blood without any negative effects. You want to raise your good cholesterol and lower your bad cholesterol.

As a case study, I was recently informed that a female family member of mine had a total cholesterol of 260 mg/dl and her doctor in Toronto gave her a clean bill of health. This is because her HDL, the so-called good cholesterol, was at 97 mg/dl, which is very good, and her bad cholesterol at 170 mg. When dividing the HDL by the LDL we should get a number of two or less. In this case, the ratio is 1.76, which means that there should be very little or no plaque build-up at all. According to many medical doctors, it is this, and not total cholesterol, that is the real predictor of heart disease when it comes to cholesterol.

2. Fish oil lowers triglyceride levels. High triglycerides are a definite predictor of heart disease. But as with cholesterol, it's the ratio that counts. Ideally, according to the life extension foundation, blood triglycerides should be below 100 mg/dl and the ratio of triglycerides to good cholesterol should be below two. The family member I mentioned padded triglycerides of under 100 and a ratio of below one.

My personal blood tests have very similar results, but with a lower total cholesterol.

About two years ago, I began experimenting with DHA/EPA capsules, and now I have put my entire family a top-quality, molecularly distilled fish oil from New Zealand. This is because I firmly believe that since our hunter gather ancestors ate a diet high in fatty fish and omega-3 fatty acids and had a level of heart disease that was almost zero, combined with the fact that many studies have been done, all over the world, but especially in Scandinavia, that corroborate these findings, there is no better investment in my own health than spending a small amount of money every month to get these benefits.

DHA and EPA not only lower the damaging blood parameters like triglycerides, but they also raise HDL, thereby providing a double attack on this horrible, degenerative disease. And after the last two years of observing myself, my family and one close friend, I can see that fish oil actually works. I believe that it's the most important supplement that I take.