This article is a copied from EZinearticles.com and written by David Mcevoy.   You can find the article by clicking here.

Why Take Fish Oil As A Dietary Supplement By David Mcevoy

The human body is a complicated system that no one really understands completely. Even science and doctors have admitted to being clueless when it comes to how the body works and how a person might be able to help their body maintain its health. But recent research into supplements has come up with a sort of panacea for many of the current health concerns - fish oil. While it sounds like the snake oil of times passed, the relevance of this supplement to your future is something you might want to think about.

Fish oil is a substance that comes from fish that contains Omega 3 fatty acids. These essential fatty acids can not be produced by the body so they need to be ingested either through diet or through direct supplementation. Since so many people have troubles maintaining a healthy and balanced diet, it's no wonder that this might be the reason for the turn towards an unhealthy life. The fatty acids in fish oil are connected with a number of benefits for the body, but also for your life and for your well being.

Easy

Taking fish oil as a dietary supplement is one of the easiest steps that someone can take for their health. Not only can you simply take the recommended dosage and be done for the day, but you can also rest assured knowing that fish oil supplements are tested and retested to meet high quality standards. This will ensure that you're not getting too high of mercury levels in your fish oil routine as well as making sure that you are getting the right amount of fish oil on a consistent basis.

Inexpensive

What's more is that fish oil is a relatively inexpensive investment when it comes to your health. Not only is it low in price, but you can also get a high number of pills for this lower price. Of course, there are a range of prices that you can pay for fish oil supplements, but by shopping around, you will be able to find one that suits not only your budget, but also your needs. The only thing to be concerned about is the supplement that extremely low priced as it may not have the higher quality that more moderately priced supplements will.

Protective Benefits

One of the most interesting facts about fish oil is that it seems to protect the body from future ills. Studies done in 2003 at Harvard Medical showed that taking fish oil on a daily basis can help to protect the heart from damage and disease. Something in the chemical structure of these Omega 3 fatty acids helps to keep the heart muscle healthy and strong.

In addition, fish oil has also been linked with protecting the body from many cancers. Cancers like breast, ovarian, stomach and colon cancer have all been linked with fish oil - that is, they seem to be reduced in incidence when those studied took fish oil supplements.

The use of fish oil also seems to boost concentration and brain development in all ages. Since the fish oil works to help messages be transmitted from one part of the body to another, the mind is able to focus better when the fish oil is taken on a regular basis. As you age, this becomes all the more important in terms to preventing things like Alsheimer's and dementia.

Repairing Benefits

Other recent studies have concluded that fish oil may also have a part to play in the reparations of damage that's already been done to a body. In the matter of a damaged heart, this is especially promising. When the heart is weakened or a part of it dies (as it does during a heart attack), it needs all the help it can get in order to get back to its previous state of health. Fish oil supplements have been linked with helping this reparation to occur.

Your skin is also helped by the use of fish oil, helping to repair the damage caused by the sun and other environmental factors. Instead of the skin showing early signs of wrinkling, the use of fish oil can help to add moisture and firmness to the skin, shaving years off the face.

Your Body Needs It

And since fish oil contains essential fatty acids, the truth is that your body needs to take this drug in order to survive and to thrive. When the body gets enough of the fish oil supplements, it will be able to handle many health problems in the early stages.

When You're Pregnant

If you are pregnant (and if your doctor agrees), taking fish oil can help to boost the intelligence of the child whose brain is still developing. This can lead to reduced problems with behaviour as well as with ADD and ADHD>

Conclusion

Fish oil as a dietary supplement isn't just something that you should consider, it's a medically studied and supported way to help your body maintain ideal health.

Dave McEvoy is an expert in omega 3 fish oil EPA with over 20 years experience; for more information about fish oil and how it can form part of a weight loss programme please come and visit our site.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Mcevoy
 
 
Nutrition Intent

As a disclaimer I'm not a nutritionist and you have to decide for yourself if this is something worth pursuing.

I went into a large chain bookstore on the other day and noticed two good sized tables full of different books on losing weight.  All of them were about trying to make the reader believe that if they followed the eating plan outlined in the books, then they would look great in a swimsuit.  I didn't read all of those books so I can't say whether or not their programs were wrong, but in my estimation the focus isn't where it should be.

I don't mean to say that wanting to look better isn't a valid reason to eat better and workout, but it definitely has lead to a lot of ineffective and some borderline dangerous nutrition programs.  It's been my experience that when you use your nutrition to improve your performance your health and appearance improve more than if you use a nutrition program solely for improving your appearance and performance declines and sometimes health as well.

So what do we do to eat better to improve performance thereby improving appearance.

First a paradigm shift is required.  You have to look at your food choices in the light of performance rather than "will this make my butt big".  Second you have to learn what foods improve performance and  what foods impede performance. My answer to this 64 million dollar question is based on my personal experience and research, how it has effected me and the people that that have done it.   This is taken from CrossFit, "eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, a little starch and no sugar".  That's it.  It's simple and fairly easy.  If something isn't on that list I don't eat it.  There are far smarter people than me that have written extensively on this.  So if you want to check out all the technical stuff check out the book called "The Paleo Diet" and Google a guy by the name of Robb Wolf, he has some amazing writings on nutrition.