The US and most of Europe have recently been trying to copy a strategy that has been common in the East for centuries. It is very actually very simple - get essential omega 3 fatty acids into your diet as much as possible. Consumers are increasingly adopting this method but want to know what are safe levels and are there side effects of omega 3 fatty acids at these doses?
Many health experts are not overly concerned with the side effects of omega 3 fatty acids. They believe that the biggest nutritional problem the Western world faces is not having too much but too little of them in the diet. The FDA and others think that taking somewhere around 2-3 grams per day will put a normal adult back into a healthy balance. The typical western diet has nowhere near that amount.
There are three main sources of omega 3s. 1] flax seed 2] cod liver oil and 3] fish oil.
1] Flax seeds have an omega 3 in it called ALA. By itself, ALA does not do much. The body must convert it to other omega 3s that it can use. In a healthy adult this conversion is about 20% efficient. No conversion is needed with the omega 3s in fish.
Put another way, you would have to take five times more flax seed than fish oil to get the same value. Small amounts of flax seeds can help the gastrointestinal tract. Large doses can cause severe irritation.
2] Most of the serious side effects of omega 3 fatty acids are related to cod liver oil. Unlike normal fish oil, it is sourced from the liver. The difference is that it is loaded with vitamins A and D.
There is nothing wrong with vitamins A and D, except at high dosage levels. These two vitamins are fat soluble, which means that any excess is stored in the body. To get the full benefits of the normal fish oil you would have to take enough of a cod liver supplement to almost guarantee a vitamin A toxic overload.
These effects of toxicity include headaches, blurred vision, nausea, fatigue, bone swelling and high blood pressure.
3] There are very few problems with a good fish oil supplement. There should be no aftertaste, belching or intestinal gas. You get these results from products that have freshness issues.
Fish oil may be the best natural blood thinner that exists. This is one reason why people take it - for better heart health. However, if you are already taking a blood thinning medication such as Coumadin or even aspirin, check with your doctor. This advice also applies to anyone who has a bleeding disorder.
It is likely that the most important of the side effects of omega 3 fatty acids does not actually come from the essential fats themselves. Your main concern should be the pollutants the various species of fish have absorbed from their food chain. Good companies are aware of this problem. They will prove their purity claims by publishing independent lab reports on their websites. They should also tell you where the fish come from, where they are processed and how soon they were processed after the catch.
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