Will Omega 3 Fatty Acids Lower Cholesterol?

Omega 3 Fats and Cholesterol

Omega 3 fats are a type of essential fatty acid that is required for healthy functioning of the human body.  Specifically, Omega 3 fats maintain the health of cell membranes, nerves, portions of the brain considered ‘grey matter’ and the cardiovascular system. 

Of these various elements, the affect of Omega 3 fats on the cardiovascular system has garnered the most attention by the medical community at least recently.  Omega 3 fats are so powerful they can actually help to prevent heart attacks by reducing the prevalence of inflammation and blood clots within the heart’s vessels.

However, there is another way that Omega 3 fats can help lessen the chances one gets a heart attack; it is through how the substance interacts with cholesterol.  When it comes to cholesterol, Omega 3 fats work by pumping HDL cholesterol, (which you already learned is the ‘good’ type of cholesterol), into the body.  This offshoots the LDL cholesterol level, (the ‘bad’ type of cholesterol).  According to Maggie B. Convington, an author on AAFP.org, the actual physiological process Omega 3 fats use to achieve this is by preventing the synthesis of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides that are found in the liver.  However, this doesn’t give a person free reign to take as many Omega 3 fats as they want.  Some studies indicate that if too much Omega 3 fats are consumed, they could actually make LDL cholesterol levels higher. 

So, how can one go about incorporating more Omega 3 fats into their diet?  If you eat a lot of salmon, halibut, tuna and scallops, you are probably already getting a healthy serving of Omega 3 fats.  Yet, there is a downside to eating too much fish.  This downside is the mercury level found within the fish.  For pregnant or breastfeeding women, too much mercury could harm their babies’ neurological health. 

For average adults too much mercury could just make them sick. 

An example is Suzie Piallat, a self-proclaimed ‘health nut’ who ate eight meals containing fish a week.  Her tiredness, inability to concentrate and achy muscles prompted her to the doctor who discovered it was mercury poisoning.  Her mercury levels were 15 times higher than that recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  When she stopped eating the fish, even though she lost the Omega 3 benefits, she claimed that she never felt better.

If a person wants to get a healthy amount of Omega 3 while not succumbing to mercury poisoning they can either eat walnuts or flaxseeds or take cod liver oil.  The downside to eating walnuts or flaxseeds is that they are high in fat.  Though this fat is polyunsaturated, a type of ‘good’ fat, it can still negatively affect your weight if taken in large quantities.  Cod liver oil doesn’t offer this disadvantage.  In fact, many older people have known their whole lives the benefits of this substance, which has been around since ancient times.  No better example can be seen than through the Delaney Sisters, civil rights activists who lived over 100 years.  One of their health regiments included taking cod liver oil everyday, something that they swore to until they died.  If you decide to follow their example, (which hopefully you will), cod liver oil can easily be obtained through the grocery store, vitamin stores such as GNC or through the Internet.  Make sure you only seek out high quality liver oil, which, according to Wikipedia, is thin, oily and a pale-yellow color.  The taste is bland and fishy.