Do you experience dryness in your eyes, skin, hair, nose and vagina? If you do, you need the good fats, especially if you are on a weight-loss journey.
Omega 3 and 6 are termed ‘essential’ because we cannot make them and have to get them from food. Omega 6 is abundant in nuts and oils but omega 3 is harder to find. The best sources of omega 3 are oily fish, flax oil and flaxseeds/linseeds with smaller quantities in walnuts, soya beans and green veggies but lots of people dislike oily fish and may prefer the tastier seeds like sesame!
You may be getting plenty of the other fats – butter, coconut oil (saturated), olive and rapeseed oil (polyunsaturated) but you cannot make omega 3 from them.
So firstly try to get more food sources of omega 3 into your weekly diet.
You are probably sick of hearing this but AGE is a factor
Adults aged 40 years + can begin to experience difficulty in producing essential fats even if they eat the right food sources. Omega 6 can overpower omega 3 mainly because we eat more omega 6. Therefore even with a good diet, you may need supplemental help.
These fats play an important anti-inflammatory role in the body and this is why I am writing about them. A shortage of good fats can exacerbate the drying of the mucus membranes, mainly for women in the nose, vagina, eyes, skin and hair. This is linked with declining sex hormone levels in the peri-menopause and menopause years.
You may begin to experience painful breasts or cysts in breasts and in these cases a supplement of GLA, Evening Primrose Oil is incredibly effective. You may experience pain in the ovary area and low desire for sex. For men, a deficiency in omega 3 appears to affect the heart (blood pressure, cholesterol), eyesight and skin.
If you experience any of these symptoms, altering your diet is the first step as you get these essential fats from food. It takes 12 weeks for the body to absorb and build up these good fats in the cell walls so be patient and persistent. Supplementing is also good and I suggest doing both.
Do supplemental oils help reduce inflammation (pain, heat, swelling)?
Omega 3 Fish Oils or Flax oil (DHA & EPA) fatty acids have been scientifically proven to be effective in treating inflammation for both men and women in conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, peri-menopausal symptoms and skin conditions. They make cells more responsive to hormones or reduce overall damage to the cell walls and can help weight-loss.
PRODUCT: The omega 3 fish oils I recommend are MOREPA Platinum by Minani Nutrition, with a high potency of 1g EPA & DH or Think Krill by Biomedical Labs with 359mg EPA & DHA. Take daily on a full belly over a 12 week period to assess the benefit. Seek professional advice especially if you are on other meds.
Omega 6: Evening Primrose oil (GLA), which is an omega 6 oil, has been shown to be effective in alleviating painful and cyst-prone breasts in women. The highest concentration of this fatty acid occurs naturally in breast milk. GLA is also beneficial for men with blood vessel health and eczema conditions.
Evening Primrose oils (GLA) and fish oils (DHA & EPA) are a good combination to take together, one in the morning and one in the evening, balancing both omega 3 and omega 6 pathways.
Omega 7 (Palmitoleic acid) claims to target dry membranes. The best source of omega 7 is from Sea Buckthorn (40%), a deciduous shrub (photo above) followed by Macadamia nuts/oil (20%). The berries and seeds of Sea Buckthorn are used and when harvested are rich in vitamins, carotenes, omega 3, omega 7 and β‑sitosterol.
PRODUCT: Omega7® Membrasin® sea buckthorn oil capsule.
The best way of finding out if any of these oils works for you is to try one course for 12 weeks.
Summary
I rarely recommend supplements as I believe a good diet and plenty of activity are the to best solutions to a healthy body. However oils are a great preventative measure to protect the body from early inflammation which is the early phase of most diseases. I personally tool GLA from the age of 40 and it proved enormously effective for Fibrocystic Breasts.
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