The heart health benefits of an increased intake of the essential fatty acids known as omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oil are now well established. The American Heart Association tells each of us to increase our intake of Omega3 fats up to the minimum recommended level to reduce our risk of coronary heart disease. But let’s examine whether there is a fish oil blood pressure link, or whether, if you have high blood pressure you can lower blood pressure with fish oil.

High blood pressure is called hypertension and effects very many people. People who are overweight have a higher risk of hypertension and some of these people may spend many years on drugs designed to reduce hypertension. If there is an omega 3 blood pressure link this is good news for many people.

And the good news is that there are studies showing a clear link between increasing fish oil intake and lowering blood pressure. A study of 120 people split this group into 5 subgroups and supplemented each subgroup with a combination of fish, fish oil supplements or a placebo. The conclusion was that supplementation with omega 3 essential fatty acids found in fish oil helps lower blood pressure.

There are 2 principal omega 3 essential fatty acids. These are called DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid). A further study concluded that it is primarily the DHA which is responsible for reducing hypertension.

Anyone who is overweight has a higher risk of coronary heart disease as well as high blood pressure and a 3rd study sought to study any link between lowering hypertension with omega 3 in overweight people. This study also found a link between a higher intake of Omega3 fats in reduced blood pressure, particularly amongst overweight people, and found that increasing intake of omega 3 fats found in fish oil, when combined with another weight-loss regime, could “substantially” reduce dependence on antihypertensive drugs for someone who is overweight and already relying on those drugs.

There’s a wide range of important health reasons to increase your intake of the omega 3 fats found in fish oil and these health reasons now, it seems, include reducing blood pressure. But even if you don’t have a problem with hypertension there are still powerful health reasons to add more Omega 3 fats into your diet, including a reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease and a wide range of other lifestyle and age related health problems.

The science is in on the heart benefits of increasing your intake of Omega3 fats in the American Heart Association tells us all to do this, given that over 90 percent of us have a deficient intake of omega 3. This is now more important for anyone with hypertension.

So it seems there is a clear blood pressure fish oil link. If you increase your intake of Omega3 fats you will help lower high blood pressure and may also reduce any reliance on antihypertensive drugs.

But how do you effectively increase your intake of Omega3 fats? There are problems with eating fish because fish is expensive and is generally contaminated with mercury and for this reason the FDA tells us not to eat too much fish.

However there are now excellent fish oil capsules available on the market and it’s perfectly possible and very cost effective to add fish oil to your daily diet by taking Omega 3 supplements. The best capsules are perfectly clean, however not all are as good as others.

I take fish oil capsules myself and ensure my family does as well. To find out which ones visit my website.

Tags: Health

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This