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	<title>Medical Conditions Explained &#187; Peter Bertonach</title>
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	<description>Medical Conditions Explained, Reviewed, and Debated</description>
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		<title>What Is The Omega3 Omega 6 Ratio And Why Should You Care?</title>
		<link>http://medicalconditionsexplained.com/heart-disease/what-is-the-omega3-omega-6-ratio-and-why-should-you-care/</link>
		<comments>http://medicalconditionsexplained.com/heart-disease/what-is-the-omega3-omega-6-ratio-and-why-should-you-care/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:42:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Bertonach</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Heart Disease]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benefits of omega 3]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cardio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fish oil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health and fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omega 3 fats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omega 3 fatty acids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omega 3 omega 6 ratio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omega 6]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omega-3]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[supplements]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://medicalconditionsexplained.com/heart-disease/what-is-the-omega3-omega-6-ratio-and-why-should-you-care/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Perhaps you're already aware of the health benefits of essential fatty acids, and in particular Omega 3 fatty acids. There's been plenty of news lately about these health benefits and many people now understand about the importance of maintaining an adequate intake of Omega3 fats, in which most of us are deficient. But have you heard about Omega 6 fats, and do you know what the Omega 3 Omega 6 ratio is?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Perhaps you&#8217;re already aware of the health benefits of essential fatty acids, and in particular Omega 3 fatty acids. There&#8217;s been plenty of news lately about these health benefits and many people now understand about the importance of maintaining an adequate intake of Omega3 fats, in which most of us are deficient. But have you heard about Omega 6 fats, and do you know what the Omega 3 Omega 6 ratio is?</p>
<p>Essential fatty acids are important for good health. We cannot manufacture these in our body and so we rely on a daily intake of these in our diet. Omega 3 fats are primarily found in fish and research has shown that most of us are deficient in Omega 3 in our diets.</p>
<p>However Omega 6 fatty acids are generally found in a range of plant-based food sources that we are not deficient in in our diet. You find Omega 6 fats in sunflower oil, sesame oil, peanut oil, corn oil and more, and soy oil is almost totally comprised of Omega 6 fatty acids.</p>
<p>Generally these vegetable oils are extremely cheap. Because they are cheap they are used in almost all processed foods requiring oil, including margarine. Most of us eat a diet high in processed foods and cook with vegetable oils and as a result our diets are too high in Omega 6.</p>
<p>In the past, according to research, we ate roughly as much Omega 3 as Omega 6 fats. This produced an Omega 3 Omega 6 ratio around 1 to 1. But because of our dietary reliance on food sources such as vegetable oils and processed foods there are estimates suggesting that our Omega 6 Omega 3 ratio has changed to around 10 to 1, and some estimates are that it is now as high as 30 to 1. Most of us are eating way too much Omega 6 fatty acids.</p>
<p>It is true that Omega 6 fats are important to our health however it is also true that the Omega3 Omega 6 ratio, or the ratio between how much of each of the 2 types of fats that we eat, is also very important, and that by eating too much Omega 6, whilst at the same time eating too little Omega 3, we are running the risk of a range of health problems including the possibility of a range of cancers as well as coronary artery disease and inflammatory diseases like arthritis.</p>
<p>And there is also an issue with our meat. Traditionally our farm animals have been raised on grass and this produces meat higher in Omega3. However farming practices have changed over the last hundred years and most of our meat now comes from grain fed animals which produces meat lower in Omega 3 and higher in Omega 6. </p>
<p>For all these reasons we need to reduce our reliance on foods high in Omega 6. We can do this by changing our diet to a lower intake of processed foods and by changing our cooking oils from vegetable oils to healthy oils such as olive oil. And equally important is to increase our intake of Omega 3 and the single best way to do this is to take daily fish oil supplements.</p>
<p>Note that although fish oil supplements are extremely cost-effective not all are as good as others, you need to know how to compare the different fish oil supplements available to make an effective choice.</p>
<p>Visit my website to find out more about the Omega3 Omega 6 ratio and also about how to compare the different fish oil supplements available.</p>
<p>Want to know more about the best <a href="http://healthyomega3.com/">Fish Oil Supplements</a>? Or more about the <a href="http://healthyomega3.com/omega-3-omega-6/">Omega 3 Omega 6 Ratio</a>? Visit Peter&#8217;s Website Healthy Omega 3 Fish Oil.</p>
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		<title>Does Taking Fish Oil Tablets Help Prevent Bowel Cancer?</title>
		<link>http://medicalconditionsexplained.com/colon-rectal-cancer/does-taking-fish-oil-tablets-help-prevent-bowel-cancer/</link>
		<comments>http://medicalconditionsexplained.com/colon-rectal-cancer/does-taking-fish-oil-tablets-help-prevent-bowel-cancer/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:56:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Bertonach</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Colon Rectal Cancer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benefits of omega 3]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cardio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fish oil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fish oil tablets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health and fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omega 3 fats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omega 3 fatty acids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omega 3 tablets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omega-3]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://medicalconditionsexplained.com/colon-rectal-cancer/does-taking-fish-oil-tablets-help-prevent-bowel-cancer/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are 2 important essential fatty acids that we need in our diet called DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), and these are found in fish oil and in fish oil tablets. These are called omega 3 essential fatty acids and over the last 4 decades there are many studies which have established the health benefits of increasing our intake of omega 3 fatty acids. These benefits include heart health benefits, prostate cancer prevention and breast cancer prevention, and now extend to helping to prevent bowel cancer.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There are 2 important essential fatty acids that we need in our diet called DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), and these are found in fish oil and in fish oil tablets. These are called omega 3 essential fatty acids and over the last 4 decades there are many studies which have established the health benefits of increasing our intake of omega 3 fatty acids. These benefits include heart health benefits, prostate cancer prevention and breast cancer prevention, and now extend to helping to prevent bowel cancer.</p>
<p>A study in Scotland on the benefits of increasing your intake of Omega3 fats found that more DHA and EPA in your diet can help to reduce your risk of colorectal cancer by up to around 40 percent. The study specifically noted that increasing intakes of DHA and EPA achieved this result, but that increasing the intake of ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), a plant-based Omega 3 fat, did not produce the same result.</p>
<p>Clear evidence was that those who ate more fish had a lower risk of colon cancer and that those who ate less fish had a higher risk of colon cancer.</p>
<p>A Dutch study also established, by comparing the results of&#8211; other studies, that one meal of fish every week reduced your risk of bowel cancer by an estimated 4 percent. Therefore if you eat 2 meals of fish each week your risk of bowel cancer reduces by around 8 percent.</p>
<p>We eat too little fish in the US, and in particular we eat too little fish to achieve these results in helping to prevent colon cancer.</p>
<p>Of course increasing your intake of fish or fish oil is only a part of an overall strategy to help prevent colon cancer, but it is also now firmly established that increasing your intake of Omega3 fats is also important to a wide range of other health considerations and can have significant heart health benefits.</p>
<p>The next question is how to achieve these benefits. In the US we don&#8217;t generally eat a lot of fish. Fish is extremely expensive and it is only certain types of fish that have high levels of DHA and EPA. Combine that with the fact that most of the fish we eat is contaminated to a degree with mercury and other nasty toxins, and that the FDA advise discretion when eating fish for this reason, and it is fair to say that increasing our intake of fish substantially and weekly will be too expensive and can have other problems.</p>
<p>But the best way to get more fish oil into your diet is by way of fish oil tablets. These contain DHA and EPA, and are very cost-effective when compared to eating fish, and can be taken daily. And the best fish oil tablets have no contaminants.</p>
<p>Unfortunately there is a wide variation in the quality of the different brands of fish oil tablets, and in particular the quantities of the important ingredients DHA and EPA, the best fish oil tablets having 2 to 3 times more DHA and EPA than average omega 3 tablets.</p>
<p>It seems clear from the research that increasing your intake of omega 3 fatty acids is a big part of staying healthy, including in helping to prevent bowel cancer. And as we are all eating too little fish we should all be considering daily supplementation with fish oil tablets.</p>
<p>For this reason sales of fish oil tablets are increasing faster than any other supplement in history, and I have taken daily fish oil tablets for a long time. To find out which Omega 3 supplements are my choice visit my website.</p>
<p>Want to know more about the health benefits of <a href="http://healthyomega3.com/">Fish Oil</a>? Or how to find the <a href="http://healthyomega3.com/fish-oil-tablets/">Best Fish Oil Tablets</a>? Visit Peter&#8217;s Website Healthy Omega 3 Fish Oil.</p>
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		<title>Is There An ADHD Omega 3 Link?</title>
		<link>http://medicalconditionsexplained.com/depression/is-there-an-adhd-omega-3-link/</link>
		<comments>http://medicalconditionsexplained.com/depression/is-there-an-adhd-omega-3-link/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:32:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Bertonach</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Depression]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adhd fish oil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adhd omega 3]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benefits of omega 3]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[dietary supplements]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[family]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[health]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[heart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omega 3 fats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omega 3 fatty acids]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omega-3]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Is there someone in your family with ADHD? Fish oil may well provide an answer. Although it has not been conclusively proven it seems that using fish oil for ADHD relief may well be useful.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style='font-style:italic' class='byline'>by Peter Bertonach</div>
<p>Is there someone in your family with ADHD? Fish oil may well provide an answer. Although it has not been conclusively proven it seems that using fish oil for ADHD relief may well be useful.</p>
<p>ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is estimated to affect around 7 percent of children in the US. Most are boys and around 70 percent of sufferers will progress to adulthood still suffering from ADHD. Omega 3 fatty acids have been shown to be important in the development of the fetal brain and also in reduction of the symptoms of depression and there is now evidence that using fish oil to treat ADHD may be worthwhile.</p>
<p>There are studies on ADHD sufferers that show that they have very low levels of the essential fatty acids known as Omega 3 fatty acids. The 2 most important of these are the Omega 3 fats called DHA and EPA. These are mainly found in fish and fish oil and can also be taken as fish oil supplements.</p>
<p>The  Inflammation Research Foundation has concluded a study recently done on 3 boys and 6 girls, all of which had been diagnosed with symptoms of ADHD. The symptoms are, amongst others, an inability to focus on any task over a period of time and such disruptive behaviour as hyperactivity.</p>
<p>Study went over 8 weeks during which time the children were given high doses of Omega 3 fatty acids by way of fish oil supplements. Their are DHA and EPA levels were monitored and other factors relevant to their degree of ADHD were also monitored.</p>
<p>During the 8 weeks their levels of EPA and DHA increased significantly and the indicators of the degree of ADHD will sell. Their hyperactivity score fell to less than half, from 11 to 5. Their inattention school fell from 18 to 10. These are impressive results for sufferers of ADHD. Omega 3 supplementation seems to have worked to reduce their symptoms of ADHD.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s too early to say that using fish oil to treat ADHD is an adequate treatment regime, certainly as a stand-alone treatment. However it does seem that there is now clear evidence that using fish oil ADHD relief is well worth considering. There seems to be clearly between levels of Omega 3 and ADHD hyperactivity levels.</p>
<p>It is also as yet not clear what dosage of fish oil is appropriate for ADHD sufferers. In the study dosage levels were high, higher than is generally recommended.</p>
<p>But there is now little doubt that just about everyone in the US should be taking Omega 3 fish oil supplements, not just sufferers of ADHD. Omega 3 supplements benefit our health in a wide range of ways, including, it seems, in improving our mental state. It seems that adequate levels of essential fatty acids in our body to have an impact on conditions such as depression and ADHD.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s a wide range of reasons, both the general health and to improve their mental state, why children with ADHD should be taking daily Omega 3 fish oil supplements.</p>
<p>Remember though that not all fish oil supplements are the same and that some have much higher levels of DHA and EPA than others do, and that therefore some offer much better value than others. </p>
<p>Visit my website to find out how compare the various Omega 3 fish oil supplements available.</p>
<div class='resource'>
<div style='font-style:italic' class='about'>About the Author:</div>
<div class='links'>Want to know more about <a href="http://healthyomega3.com/">Fish Oil Benefits</a>? Or more about using <a href="http://healthyomega3.com/adhd-fish-oil/">Fish Oil for ADHD</a> relief? Visit Peter&#8217;s Website Healthy Omega 3 Fish Oil.</div>
</div>
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