What is fish oil?
Fish oil is the fat or oil that is extracted from fish tissue.
It usually comes from oily fish like herring, tuna, anchovies and mackerel. However, it is sometimes made from other fish's livers, as is the case with cod liver oil.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends eating 1-2 servings of fish per week. This is because omega-3 fatty acids provide many health benefits in fish, including protection against a range of diseases.
However, if you do not eat 1-2 servings of fish a week, fish oil supplements can help you to get enough omega-3 fatty acids.
About 30% of the fish oil consists of omega-3 fatty acids, the remaining 70% of other fats. In addition, fish oil normally contains vitamins A and D.
It is important to note that the omega-3 types in fish oil have greater health benefits than the omega-3 types found in some plant sources.
The most important omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), while omega-3 in plant sources is mainly alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).
Although ALA is an essential fatty acid, EPA and DHA have much more health benefits (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source).
It is also important to consume enough omega-3 fatty acids as the Western diet has replaced many omega-3 fatty acids with other fats such as omega-6 fatty acids. This biased ratio of fatty acids can lead to numerous diseases (3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source).
1. Can support heart health
Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide (7Trusted Source).
Studies show that people who eat a lot of fish are much less likely to suffer from heart disease (8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source).
Several risk factors for heart disease seem to be reduced by eating fish or fish oil. The benefits of fish oil for heart health include:
Cholesterol level: Increases the "good" HDL cholesterol level. However, it does not appear to decrease the level of "bad" LDL cholesterol (11 trusted source, 12 trusted source, 13 trusted source, 14 trusted source, 15 trusted source, 16 trusted source).
Triglycerides: It can lower triglycerides by about 15-30% (16Trusted Source, 17Trusted Source, 18Trusted Source).
Blood Pressure: Even in small doses, it helps people with high blood pressure (19Trusted Source, 20Trusted Source, 21Trusted Source).
Plaque: It can prevent the plaques that harden your arteries from increasing, as well as the stability and safety of the arterial plaques in those where they already exist (22Trusted Source, 23Trusted Source, 24Trusted Source).
Deadly arrhythmias: Risk factors can reduce fatal arrhythmias. Arrhythmias are abnormal heart rhythms that can cause heart attacks in certain cases (25Trusted Source).
Although fish oil supplements can improve many of the risk factors for heart disease, there is no clear evidence that they can prevent heart attacks or strokes (26 Trusted Source).
2. Can help to treat certain mental disorders
Their brain is almost 60% fat, and much of this fat is omega-3 fatty acids. Therefore, omega-3 fatty acids are essential for normal brain function (27Trusted Source, 28Trusted Source).
Indeed, some studies suggest that people with certain mental disorders have lower omega-3 blood levels (29Trusted Source, 30Trusted Source, 31Trusted Source).
Interestingly, studies suggest that fish oil supplements can prevent the onset of certain mental disorders or improve their symptoms. For example, it can reduce the likelihood of psychotic disorders in individuals at risk (32Trusted Source, 33Trusted Source).
In addition, the addition of high-dose fish oil may alleviate some symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (33 Trusted Source, 34 Trusted Source, 36 Trusted Source, 37 Trusted Source, 38 Trusted Source).
