Seen the headlines lately about Omega-3s? How they’re good for your heart, your immune system, and even for helping with healthy bowel function? I say it’s about time these healthy fats are getting the recognition they deserve, especially a few you may have already heard of—ALA, EPA and DHA.
ALA (alpha lipoic acid) is an essential fatty acid, which means your body can’t produce it on its own, so we have to get it through the foods we eat—like flax seeds, canola and walnuts, and even spinach, broccoli and healthy yeast products like yogurt and kefir. Your body then converts ALA into two other really important Omega-3 fatty acids: EPA and DHA.
Thanks to experts like those at the American Heart Association, we already know that EPA and DHA are good for the heart. In fact, they already recommend at least 1g of EPA and DHA daily for people with coronary heart disease. But check this out—researchers recently found a connection between the levels of DHA and EPA in the blood and cellular aging in people with coronary heart disease.
Scientists measured the length of the telomeres in cells. Telomeres are the ends of chromosomes, which are the structures that house your DNA. What they discovered was that the longer the telomeres, the longer the lifespan of the cell, and the longer the lifespan of the person. According to the study, folks with the highest EPA and DHA levels in their bodies had the longest telomeres, which was attributed to “approximately a difference of 5 years of life”. Wow! Pretty amazing stuff, right?
Still, I’m not surprised. More and more studies prove that Omega-3 EPA and DHA (found naturally in smaller, deep-water fish like sardines, anchovies, salmon, tuna and mackerel) provide oodles of health benefits for the whole body, but it would take a whole other blog post to list them all! Suffice to say that Omega-3s are one of the most important supplements you can take every day. Just remember to look for a high-quality supplement that’s been purified to remove toxins—and here’s to adding 5 more years to your life!