A healthy and balanced diet is essential for a healthy life full of vitality and performance. Natural and, if possible, unprocessed foods play an important role here.
Unfortunately, modern lifestyles mean that many people are increasingly relying on processed foods in their diet. One important nutritional component with valuable nutritional properties is often left behind: omega-3 fatty acids.
This failure has devastating consequences, because omega-3 fatty acids not only affect heart health and mental performance, but Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in particular supports vision.
This is a particularly important aspect, especially in times when excessive use of mobile devices is the order of the day.
It is therefore almost mandatory for every health-conscious person to critically examine their own omega-3 supply.
But that is not all, because in the interest of your own health it is also important to have a balanced ensure balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
What exactly is Omega 3?
Omega-3 is a polyunsaturated fatty acid. The most important omega-3 fatty acids include alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). EPA and DHA have high health benefits and are therefore considered particularly valuable.
As an essential fatty acid, ALA must be ingested through the diet, while EPA and DHA can be obtained at least to a small extent from the ingested ALA fatty acids.
Nevertheless, this amount is far from sufficient to cover the needs, which makes it necessary to additionally ingest EPA and DHA through food.
This necessity is underlined by the fact that the conversion process from ALA to EPA and DHA is very inefficient. As a result, only small amounts of EPA and DHA with good bioavailability can be generated in this way. (1,2)
What health benefits do omega-3 fatty acids offer?
Omega-3 fatty acids have a particularly broad spectrum of nutritionally valuable properties. EPA and DHA play an important role, especially for heart health, as both fatty acids have been proven to support normal heart function.
Scientific studies have also concluded that a lack of omega-3 fats increases the risk of developing heart disease or even dying from a heart attack. (3) In addition, both omega-3 fats help maintain normal blood pressure, which is essential for the health of organs and blood vessels.
There is also evidence that mental performance suffers from an omega-3 deficiency. Studies have linked the development of depressive moods or actual depression to a deficient omega-3 supply. (4)
Brain performance also seems to suffer if adequate omega-3 intake is not taken into account (e.g. prolonged reaction times). (4) Interestingly, it has been proven beyond doubt that DHA in a daily amount of 250 mg supports normal brain function.
But omega-3 fatty acids also play a key role in maintaining eye health. Maintaining eye health is becoming increasingly important, especially in the age of intensive smartphone use.
This is where DHA comes into its own, because from a daily dose of 250 mg of Omega-3 fatty acid is scientifically proven to support normal vision.
Omega-3 : Omega-6 ratio: The right balance is crucial
Modern eating habits mean that the omega-3:omega-6 ratio is becoming increasingly unfavorable. While nutrition experts recommend ensuring a ratio of 5:1 (omega-6:omega-3) (5), the actual ratio in practice is often significantly higher in favor of omega-6.
Why this ratio is so important becomes clear when you look at the mechanisms of action of the different omega fatty acids. Omega-3 and omega-6 act as natural counterparts that ensure a healthy balance in the body.
While omega-3 fats, for example, have an anti-inflammatory effect, omega-6 fats promote inflammatory processes. An unbalanced ratio is considered to be the ideal breeding ground for many diseases in the Western world - for example cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. (6)
The excess of omega-6 fatty acids in today's diet is often due to the excessive consumption of animal products from factory farming.
This is based on the feeding behavior that is displayed there. Rearing feed that has a high content of omega-6 fatty acids (e.g. soy meal) has a negative impact on the fatty acid profile of both the animals' meat and animal by-products.
In addition, the increasing dominance of processed foods in many people's diets plays a central role. Processed foods are often enriched with inexpensive vegetable oils (e.g. sunflower oil) that are high in omega-6 fatty acids.
To make matters worse, many people avoid eating fatty fish, which is particularly rich in omega-3 fatty acids. This overall situation means that the optimal 5:1 ratio is in many cases massively out of whack.
In the interest of your own health, you should definitely take countermeasures here. On the one hand, this means reducing the amount of omega-6-containing foods in your diet and, on the other hand, increasing your focus on omega-3-rich foods.
Omega-3 supplements – what are the options?
In order to ensure an optimal supply of omega-3, dietary supplements are becoming increasingly important. This is especially true because a massive omega-6 excess has become established in the eating habits of many people.
While in the past fish oil was touted as the ideal dietary supplement for the supply of omega-3 fatty acids, other sources are now becoming increasingly important.
Algae oil in particular is becoming increasingly popular, which is not surprising when you consider its advantages over fish oil.
In particular, the increasing environmental pollution of the world's oceans is causing the heavy metal contamination in fish to rise rapidly. Interestingly, in contrast to fish oil, algae oil is not contaminated by heavy metals.
Algae oil also scores highly in terms of bioavailability. Studies show that the DHA supply from algae oil is in no way inferior to that from cooked salmon. (7) In addition, algae oil is the only plant-based source that contains EPA and DHA in a directly usable form!
Algae oil is therefore an optimal source of omega-3, especially for vegans.Of particular interest here is the microalgae Schizochytrium, which has the highest DHA content in the world.
Omega3
Conclusion: More health through the correct use of omega fatty acids
Omega-3 fatty acids are particularly valuable and play a central role in a health-conscious diet. For maximum health benefits, there should always be a balance between the intake of omega-3 and omega-6 fats. As counterparts, the two fatty acids create an important balance that is highly relevant for general health. In plain language, this means: away from the excessive consumption of processed foods and products from factory farming and towards regular consumption of fatty fish etc.
If fish is not one of your taste preferences, a high-quality food supplement is the solution. The same applies to those who avoid eating fish for fear of exposure to heavy metals or who follow a vegan diet.
We at JOY NATURALS support this approach with a very high-quality algae:OMEGA-3 from the microalgae Schizochytrium.
algae:OMEGA-3 not only demonstrably supports health, but is also easy to take and tasteless thanks to the practical capsule form.
Sources(1) GC Burdge, NCBI, “Metabolism of alpha-linolenic acid in humans,” at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16828546/ (last accessed on January 29, 2021).
(2) H Gerster, NCBI, “Can adults adequately convert alpha-linolenic acid (18:3n-3) to eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3)?”, at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9637947/ (last accessed on January 29, 2021)
(3) Elizabeth Hawkey, Joel T Nigg, NCBI, “Omega-3 fatty acid and ADHD: blood level analysis and meta-analytic extension of supplementation trials,” at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25181335/ (last accessed on January 29, 2021)
(4) Clemens von Schacky, Maximilian Kemper, Robert Haslbauer, Martin Halle, NCBI, “Low Omega-3 Index in 106 German elite winter endurance athletes: a pilot study”, at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25203220/ (last accessed on January 29, 2021)
(5) German Nutrition Society (DGE) eV, “Exercise more and reduce fat intake”, at: https://www.dge.de/presse/pm/mehr-bewegen-und-die-fettaufnahme-reduzieren/ (last accessed 29.01.2021).
(6) Artemis P Simopoulos, NCBI, “The importance of the omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio in cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases”, at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18408140/ (last accessed on January 29, 2021)
(7) Linda M Arterburn, Harry A Oken, Eileen Bailey Hall, Jacqueline Hamersley, Connye N Kuratko, James P Hoffman, NCBI, “Algal-oil capsules and cooked salmon: nutritionally equivalent sources of docosahexaenoic acid”, at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18589030/ (last accessed on January 29, 2021)
