The New “Fish Diet”

Everyone knows that eating oil-rich fish like salmon is good for you. After all, these fish contain high levels of omega 3 fatty acids, which are essential to the effective performance of your memory, your cardiovascular system and your overall mental health. However, scientists now speculate that instead of eating the fish themselves, maybe we should be cutting straight to the source and eating exactly what the fish eat.

In March of 2009, a group of scientists released a study that included a description of exactly what salmon eat in the wild that leads them to be so high in omega 3 fatty acids1. Not surprisingly, vegans, vegetarians and many other concerned health aficionados immediately jumped on the opportunity to develop a new “diet” that would enable them to avoid consuming fish and fish byproducts in an effort to remain healthy. Sadly, the results were far less positive than anyone expected.

Most people have an omega 3 deficiency because the human body cannot manufacture omega 3 from other substances, even when all the substances that come together to make omega 3 are present in the right quantities. This is one reason that flax seed oil is not a particularly effective substitute for salmon oil, because the omega 3 in flax seed oil still has to undergo some changes before it is fully effective.

In the same way, eating the new fishless “fish diet,” which included lots of green things and underwater plants and microorganisms also did not result in higher levels of omega 3 because that diet requires the body to put all the omega 3 components together itself. As a result, you are just eating a lot of fish food, but not reaping any real benefits from the aquatic menu.

The conclusions took another hard blow when it turned out the scientists in the field, all of whom are aware of the importance of omega 3 in one’s daily diet, were taking fish oil supplements themselves rather than eating the fish food that was the subject of their research.

To learn more about fish oil health benefits and why omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil are so important to your health, visit www.omega-3.us.

_{1 http://www.montrealgazette.com/Health/Search+ways+omega+intake/1366723/story.html}