Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Strokes

By Lee Cole


DHA supplements are so important to brain health because of all the omega-3 efas, DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid is the one which is most prevalent in the brain. Although reports have not shown that omega-3 fatty acids can help cure Alzheimer's, there's a link between getting the right amounts of omega-3 essential fatty acids in your diet and not developing Alzheimer's to start with. Not only has a link between omega-3's and Alzheimer's been found, but a link between omega-3's and strokes exists, too!

The challenge with omega-3 efas is we can't manufacture them in our bodies from other substances. We have to get our omega-3's from our diets. This is a difficult issue, because our diets don't contain the omega-3's they used to. One big way people get omega-3's nowadays is through eating fish, specifically cold water fatty fish. So, you would probably expect that folks who eat a lot of fish don't develop as many problems like strokes as individuals who don't. And usually this is basically the case...but not always.

In the USA, we have an area referred to as "stroke belt". This is a section of the South where stokes are statistically more prevalent than in other areas. Specifically, the stroke belt includes North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana. What's odd concerning the stroke belt is people who live there are more likely to eat more servings of fish in a given week than folks in other regions of the country. So, you'd probably expect people in the South to have less instances of strokes, not more.

Scientific study has been looking into this. And have determined that although people in the South eat more fish, they are surely more likely to eat fried fish. Apparently frying destroys many of the omega-3 essential fatty acids in the fish. So, it's not just eating fish that counts. It's how you cook it.

Another issue might be the species of fish eaten. Omega-3 fatty acids are much more frequent in fish that come from cold, Northern waters. Fish like tuna, for instance, tend to have a much higher omega-3 essential fatty acid concentration than fish from tropical waters. Moreover, farm raised fish of any species have less omega-3's than fish caught wild. Fish don't make omega-3 efas. They get them from their diet. Additionally , the diet of farmed fish is generally deficient in omega-3's.



About the Author:

Lee Cole is an avid health and exercise enthusiast! To find out more about dha supplements, take a look at this article on Lee's website about DHA Supplements.

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