Omega-3s and Your Health

I keep hearing that omega-3s are good for you, but what exactly do they do?

Yes, omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial -- in fact, they're essential. Here's what you need to know:

The fats you eat can dramatically affect your body chemistry. Whether they come from fryer grease or more healthful sources, they pass from your digestive tract into your bloodstream.

Traces of these fats end up parking in the cell membranes surrounding each cell of your body. And what they do there -- whether they help or hurt -- depends on which fats they are.

Omega-3s are often thought of as "good" fats. Their name comes from the fact that the fat molecule is missing a pair of hydrogen atoms at a spot three links from the end (the "omega") of the molecular chain. They have just as many calories as other fats, but they have several beneficial effects on body chemistry.

First, they are natural anti-inflammatories. Unlike the fats in meat or fryer grease that encourage inflammation, omega-3s act like aspirin or ibuprofen, cooling inflammation. These healthful oils also maintain the fluidity of cell membranes, improving blood flow. In addition, omega-3s help regulate mood. When people run low on omega-3s, they have a tendency toward depression.

Perhaps their best-known job is to interfere with blood clotting. A blood clot can clog an artery, leading to a heart attack. So, much like aspirin thins the blood, so do omega-3s. However, this is actually a double-edged sword, because there are times when you want your blood to clot -- when you are bleeding, for example. Similarly, an overabundance of omega-3s can increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke -- bleeding into the brain. So you need some of these useful fats in your diet, but not an excess.

The role of various fats is only now being appreciated. Prior to a report published in 1982, omega-3s were not known to be necessary at all. The case of a young girl changed that: The victim of a gunshot accident, she lost most of her intestinal tract and had to be fed intravenously. As time went on, she developed numbness and blurred vision, and became unable to walk. Her nerve abnormalities turned out to be due to a lack of omega-3s. They were added to her feeding mixture, and her symptoms cleared up.