Discover the Secret Behind the Fish Oil Brain Health Connection

Where once upon a time fish oil was mainly taken to help protect the heart and conditions like arthritis it is now known there is a very strong fish oil brain health connection. However it is not just any old fish oils that helps, it specifically has to be the omega3 from fatty fish. The reason for this is because it contains a fat which is known as DHA fats and this is where the magic lies.

DHA is an essential fat, and our bodies need it to function properly. We have some of it when we are born which we get from our mothers, however we do not produce anymore of it and have to get it from an outside source, which is the oily fish. This is particularly important in the fish oil brain health connection because around about 25 percent of your brain actually consists of this DHA fat.

The significance of it in your brain is that it acts as a membrane around the brain cells, and when the neurons go from brain cell to brain cell they pass through this membrane. If you do not have enough DHA fat in your diet than the body will produce a substitute which is known as DPA. Unfortunately, this DPA fat is not as flexible as DHA and because of this rigidness in the fat then the neurons cannot go from brain cell to brain cell as effectively. When this is the case scientists believe it is the reason behind conditions such as ADHD, poor memory and concentration, depression and anxiety and a host of other mental health conditions.

Considering there has been a steady decline in the amount of omega3 from oily fish that we consume over the last hundred years or so, and the amount of mental health conditions have probably doubled in the same time then this fish oil brain health theory certainly looks plausible. Unfortunately though, if you wanted to boost your brain health by eating oily fish then this is easier said than done.

The reason being is that to really benefit you would be needing to eat the fish on a daily basis, however this is not realistic mainly for the fact that it would be quite expensive, but on top of that eating this kind of wild fatty fish could bring other health problems as they often come from polluted waters which means that they are contaminated with pollutants such as arsenic, mercury and lead to name but a few. Your best source for fish oil brain health would in fact be taking a supplement.

Unfortunately sometimes these pollutants can also be found in supplements as well, due to the fact that the industry is not heavily regulated and manufacturers can get away with quite a bit. The type of supplement you specifically want should have been through purification process known as molecular distillation; this is not a cheap process for the manufacturers and does mean that these kinds supplements are a little bit more expensive, but for the fish oil brain health benefits to be had from them it is well worth it.