We all understand the importance a healthy heart has in our general health. If our heart is unhealthy, all the systems in our body are compromised because of the reduced circulation of blood, carrying oxygen and other nutrients to the various organs. Contributory factors to heart disease include drinking too much alcohol, smoking, eating a high saturated fat diet and failing to exercise regularly; it is important to avoid these factors, but it has now been found that omega-3 fish oils can improve the health of your heart.
Here are some of the benefits to your heart of taking fish oils or a vegetarian high fatty acid supplement:
- Fish oils act on the blood as an anticoagulant. This means that they thin the blood. This is a huge advantage to us all, because our increasingly saturated fat diet has meant that our arteries are becoming clogged by unwanted fatty deposits, such as the ‘bad’ type of cholesterol. These fats narrow the arteries and restrict the blood flow, making the likelihood of clots forming in any of the major arteries a real health problem. If a clot forms in the arteries around the heart, you will suffer a heart attack. So high levels of essential fatty acids greatly reduce the risk of heart attacks by keeping the blood flowing more smoothly and reducing its tendency to clot
- Fish oils enhance the production of red blood cells, which carry oxygen round the body. Oxygen is vital for the healthy function of all the organs in the body. This is why exercise is so important, because it increases your heart rate, making the blood, and therefore the oxygen, move more quickly through the body.
- Fish oils lower unhealthily high blood pressure by ensuring the smooth flow of blood in the arteries and reducing strain on the heart This is good news because the current drugs
used to lower blood pressure all have, like antidepressants, a worrying list of side effects. These can include impotence, headaches and drowsiness. But if you are currently on anti-hypertensive drugs, do not stop taking them without consulting your doctor. This is very important, as sudden withdrawal can send your blood pressure rocketing up. Take a high fatty acid supplement alongside your antihypertensive drug at first, then gradually reduce your medication under professional supervision if your blood pressure responds to the supplement.
- Fish oils and vegetarian help control irregular heart beats, known as cardiac arrhythmia, by improving blood flow to the heart. Arrhythmia can be a cause of heart attacks.
- Taking a high fatty acid supplement can help prevent heart disease, just as it helps prevent depression. So even if you are not currently suffering from heart problems, it still makes sense to increase your intake of oily fish.
If you are depressed, taking a fish oil supplement is important for your heart as well as your depression, it seems, as studies have shown there to be a curious link between depression and heart attacks, and there is some evidence to suggest that becoming depressed may often predict the possibility of a heart attack. Although these findings have been replicated in a number of studies, there is no obvious reason why depression should increase heart attack risk, but it makes sense to keep both depression and heart disease at bay by increasing your intake of fatty acids.
