What Is Fish Oil Good For?

Interesting question, what is fish oil good for? Let’s go right back to the very start.

Someone, I don’t know who, discovered that the Inuit’s who live in Greenland had very low levels of cardiovascular disease. And this particular discovery precipitated studies to discover why these people had such low levels of cardiovascular disease when so many of us in the Western world have much higher levels of cardiovascular disease. And these studies started to uncover an answer to the question what is fish oil good for.

And in fact the answer was, after some investigation, that fish oil is good for your heart. Since that time there have been numerous other studies on the health benefits of fish oil. Or to be more specific there have been numerous studies on the health benefits of the omega 3 essential fatty acids, which are found in fish oil.

That’s because it’s been discovered that the omega 3 essential fatty acids are good fats, and they have positive health implications. That’s provided you eat them.

Of course no matter how much health benefit you get from the omega 3 fats there is none if you don’t eat them.

And if you’re searching for an answer to the question “what is fish or good for” then the first answer is that it’s good for your heart.

And in fact this is now sufficiently established that the American Heart Association recommend a minimum intake of fish each week to help protect you against cardiovascular disease and in particular against heart attack.

Of course eating fish doesn’t remove the risk of cardiovascular disease, there’s a whole lot of other factors which also impact on this, however according to the American Heart Association it reduces the risk.

However since that time there have been a wide range of studies examining the health benefits, or otherwise, of the omega 3 essential fatty acids. These studies have suggested a wide range of other health conditions which might be positively impacted or even prevented by increasing our intake of the omega 3 essential fatty acids.

You can read about some of these other health benefits elsewhere on our website.

However, as is always the case, there are also studies which contradict this. For instance studies in the past have suggested that increasing your intake of the omega 3 essential fatty acids, found in fish oil, can help prevent prostate cancer.

New studies are now suggesting that this is not the case, though there is significant debate about whether or not these new studies actually prove this.

So sadly there is no real clear-cut answer to the question “what is fish oil good for”. Whilst there seems to be general agreement that fish oil is good for your heart, there are always studies which suggest the opposite.

It’s confusing, it’s unclear and it’s frustrating. Unfortunately that’s how medicine goes. 2 steps forward, one step back and then maybe a step or 2 sideways.

Whether or not you choose to take fish oil supplements is up to you of course. I choose to take them every day and have done for a long time because as far as I can see there is significantly more evidence that if you’re asking the question “what is fish oil good for” you can be comfortable with the fact that there is evidence reasonably solidly suggesting that it is good for your health.

But of course you should make up your own mind.