New Findings - Omega-3 And Pain Management

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As America ages, pain related problems from knees, hips, and joints as well as sore muscles become an increasing issue. Americans are seeking relief from pain and looking for alternatives to prescription drugs. In the past 10 years, nutritional supplements have been becoming increasingly popular as Americans are becoming more aware of how supplements can improve their quality of life as they age.

Pharmaceutical companies come out with pain and anti-inflammatory drugs all the time; people are afraid of the yet unknown side effects that may follow the consumption of these existing and new drugs. Lucky for us, new research is coming out every month about natural remedies that can be an alternative to prescription drugs. One of these natural remedies is omega-3 essential fatty acids.

Omega-3 oil is found both in cold water fish and plants such as flax seed and hemp seed. The active ingredients that make omega-3 oil so powerful are eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) fatty acids. The body needs essential fatty acids to make regulatory hormones, when one supplements omega-3 in their diet, the body can use the EPA and DHA to make anti-inflammatory compounds to help fight pain.

With more than 2000 journals, 5000 human studies, and 14,000 abstracts on omega-3, research has clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of omega-3 as a supplement. With this wealth of information, the FDA has re-evaluated its label law with omega-3 essential fatty acids to include health claims that state omega-3 can help protect against heart disease.

Recent research has shown omega-3 oil to posses anti-inflammatory properties which can help ease joint pain in individuals. A recent study published in the Journal “Pain” reported on 17 different studies ranging from rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease to painful menstruation. The findings showed that by supplementing omega-3 oil on a daily basis consistently reduced the pain these people experienced. This reduction in pain included pain from tender joints and PMS. Also, reported was the use of anti-inflammatory medications dropped.

The greatest results were observed after 3 months of continual use, but most of the studies were only 3 months long, further research should be conducted to determine if greater results would occur with 6 or even 9 months of continuous us,e which may lead to even further pain relief.

Several of the authors suggested omega-3 oil to be used with other chronic inflammatory pains like osteoarthritis and chronic back pain. We hope that more clinical studies will continue to reveal more of the powerful effects of omega-3 on the body.

Studies are going to be conducted on Alzheimer’s and omega-3. Researchers are going to evaluate whether omega-3 fatty acid DHA, when taken over the course of months can slow the progression of mental decline in Alzheimer’s patients with an 18 month duration, researchers will measure cognitive function to see of omega-3 is a benefit.

Another fact, in the United States, over 374,000 visits to the hospital is related to Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). By simply taking two 1000mg pills of omega-3 oil can save the health care system approximately $3.2 billion in hospitalizations and associated physician fees over five years. So for those of you, who want to boost over all health and wellness and prevent CHD, don’t forget to take your Omega-3 oil every day.

When looking for a good omega-3 oil, don’t forget that not all omega-3 is made the same. Look for an oil that is molecularly distilled to remove heavy metals, pesticides, and mercury. Also, read the label and make sure the oil has a small amount of vitamin E as an antioxidant to preserve the oil from going rancid and spoiling. Quality omega-3 fish oil can be found at your local or internet vitamin store.

~HealthCrazed.com

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