Omega-3: Essential Nutrient to Improve Your Overall Health

【Omega-3: Essential Nutrient to Improve Your Overall Health】

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Do you guys know what and how omega 3 works in your body?
Vegans or vegetarians must read! But also for non-vegans who don't know too much about it, please read through this article to get an idea because omega 3 is really the essential nutrient that is needed for maintaining our health, from toes to head. Especially heart and cardiovascular system.

So in this article, you'll find some deep stories of how omega 3 works, what our body happens if deficient, omega 3 rich food and more!

WHAT IS ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS?
Have you ever heard of essential fatty acids before? If not, don't worry. I'll break that down for you to understand a bit :)
Essential fatty acids are fats that our body cannot synthesize by itself and we have to obtain through foods. Omega 3 that I want to mainly talk about is one of the essential fatty acids.

Omega 3 (α-linolenic acid), mostly known as EPA (eicosapentanoic acid) and DHA (docosahexanoic acid), can be obtained through fish products. These 2 essential fatty acids are very important for our body.
The other essential fatty acid is called omega 6 (linoleic acid). We're consuming more than enough amounts of omega 6 on a daily basis, so we don't necessary have to try to get it from foods. Actually we don't want to eat foods rich in omega 6 like junk foods and store-bought foods because excess intake of omega 6 may harm your body. In the process of metabolism of omega 6, arachidonic acid is produced from omega 6. Not only from omega 6 rich in food, but also it's obtained by meats and dairy. Arachidonic acid is considered a pro-inflammatory that increases inflammation, blood pressure, risk of cancer, allergy response and decreases immunity. That"s why we want to keep it as low as possible by avoiding eating ready-to-eat food and food cooked with cheap vegetable oils.
Omega pathways and their cofactors

MAIN FUNCTIONS OF OMEGA 3

Promotes producing neurotransmitters：improves brain functions and support hormone production
Improves mental health
Improves immune system：activates T cells
Anti-inflammation：prevents/heals eczema, arthritis, autoimmune diseases
Membrane components：prevents/heals dry skin, promotes wound healing
Regulation of insulin
Improves metabolisms
Produces hemoglobin
Helps reduce blood pressure
Inhibits blood clotting
Reduces risk of heart disease and cardiovascular diseases
Inhibits production of arachidonic acid

Omega 3 Deficiency:

Impairment of vision
Lack of energy
Fatigue
High triglyceride levels
High blood pressure
Sticky platelets
Inflammation
Edema
Dry skin
Mental fatigue
Low metabolic rate
Low immunity
Heart disease and cardiovascular diseases

As you can see the list above, omega 3 has a huge role to play in our body including cadiovascular system.
There's evidence reported in 2007 that Japanese researches conducted EPA Intercention Study and the result was that consumption of EPA reduced risk of heart diseases.

FOOD RICH IN EPA/DHA

Salmon
Mackerel
Herring
Sardines

The reason why I said "Vegan and vegetarians must read" is because they are usually deficient of EPA and DHA since they are only consumed through fish and other fish products. So vegans and vegetarians hardly consume efficiently an adequent intake of EPA and DHA.

CAN VEGANS OBTAIN OMEGA 3？
Yes!
Even though EPA and DHA mainly come from fish, there are some plant based food that vegans/vegetarians can obtain them because in the metabolism of omega 3, it's possible to produce EPA and DHA by metabolizing omega 3 that comes from plants. (see diagram)
Here is the list of plants high in omega 3:

Flax seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Hemp seeds
Chia seeds
Walnuts
Brussels Sprouts
Tofu

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Howecer, there're some things that you want to be aware of.
Omega 3 from plants cannot efficiently produce stearidonic acid which is the very first step in the metabolism when lacking micronutrients, such as vitamin A, B3, B5, B6, folate, calsium and magnesium, and excess intake of trans-fats and sugar. So make sure you limit the consumption of sugar and trans-fats as well as increase amounts of micronutrients.
In addition, most importantly, you may want to keep it balanced in consuming omega 3 and 6.
My recommendation of the reatio of omega 3 and 6 is 4:1
Even if you're eating lots of food rich in omega 3, it is not efficient at all to obtain EPA and DHA when you're also consuming high amount of omega 6 due to arachidonic acid, pro-inflammatory. So try to consume more omega 3 than omega 6 through your daily diet.

VEGAN OMEGA 3 SUPPLEMENTS
There're also vegan omega 3 supplements available in stores, other than fih oil. It comes from algae. If you feel like you're deficient in omega 3, consider taking vegan supplements for more reliable intake.

aor.ca

RECIPES WITH OMEGA 3 FOOD