Choosing Foods High in Omega 3 – Top Tips to Help You Make the Best Choices for Your Health

Most people don't realize this but there are a number of things to eat, both animal and plant, that are foods high in omega 3. But some have more of the important fatty acids, DHA and EPA, than others. Here's a quick guide to omega 3 foods to help you choose.

Omega 3 fatty acids are vital for the proper functioning of the heart and brain, and can help prevent cancers. But our bodies cannot manufacture them. We must get all the fatty acids we need from our food.

You can get omega 3s by eating oily fish, grass fed beef and eggs from chickens fed on greens.

Plant foods high in omega 3 include walnuts, flaxseed, pecans, hazelnuts and soybeans.

But before you choose foods high in omega 3 from these lists you need to know a little about which types of fatty acids they contain.

The most important fatty acids are EPA and DHA. These have the greatest health benefits and are the ones you need to target in your omega 3 foods. EPA and DHA are mostly found in animal sources, such as fish.

ALA is another important fatty acid. Its benefit is that your body can use it to make EPA and the DHA. ALA is mostly found in plants, such as walnuts and flaxseed.

But our bodies are not very good at converting ALA to EPA. It's a quite inefficient process - it requires about 11 grams of ALA to create just one gram of DHA.

Depending on what else you eat, the conversion process can get even worse. For example, if you eat a lot of margarine, bakery products or fast foods, you will be eating a lot of transfats, which interfere with the conversion of ALA to EPA.

Your age can be a factor too – the conversion process slows down even further as we get older.

So it seems that the foods high in omega 3 that will deliver the greatest benefits for your health are animal-based products. Fish oil is generally considered the best source as it is particularly high in DHA and EPA.

But it's not all bad news for vegetarians and vegans. It is possible to find some microalgae products (seaweed) that have been produced in bioreactors to concentrate and increase their natural levels of DHA.

Eating animal foods high in omega 3 such as oily fish is an excellent way of increasing your intake of the crucial fatty acids but people sometimes find it difficult to eat enough fish each week to get a good dose.

It's not only quantity though – you need to eat the right kind of fish, such as salmon, mackerel and tuna. Unfortunately, these fish are often caught in waters that are contaminated by heavy metals, PCBs and dioxins.

This is why it has become popular in recent times to take fish oil supplements instead. The oil in the capsules can be filtered and treated to remove all traces of impurities and contaminants. You can take as little as one capsule a day and experience great benefits for your heart and general health.

Need to know more about foods high in omega 3? Do you have any questions about fish oil supplements? Visit my website today, where I have more information and research, as well as news about products I use daily myself.