Omega-3 Fatty Acids:"The Most Important Dietary Supplement You Can Take"

Those are the words of Leigh Connealy, MD, who I interviewed
for my new book, The Natural Fat-Loss Pharmacy: Drug-Free
Remedies To Help You Safely Lose Weight, Shed Fat, Firm Up, And
Feel Great.

Dr. Connealy is the medical director of the South Coast Medical
Center for New Medicine, in Tustin, California.
(www.scmedicalcenter.com)

There, she and her staff have counseled thousands of people how
to be healthier through natural means—including using vitamins
and herbs as aids to weight-loss, the subject of my book.

But along with telling me about supplements that can aid
weight-loss, Dr. Connealy was very keen to tell me about the
supplement she feels is the most important for better health:
omega-3 fatty acids.

"I put every patient I see on a supplement of omega-3 fatty
acids," she says. "It is the most important supplement a person
can take." Why?

Omega-3s, she explains, strength the membrane, or outer
covering, of the cell. This aids in cell-to-cell communication,
a crucial process in health.

Omega-3 also decreases inflammation, which is linked to many
different diseases, including heart disease, cancer, arthritis,
and Alzheimer's. In fact, omega-3 plays a role in every
physiological function in the body, says Dr. Connealy.

There are two kinds of Omega-3 supplements: fish oil
supplements, rich in DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA
(eicosahexaenoic acid); and plant-derived supplements, rich in
ALA (alpha-linoleic acid), a fatty acid that converts to DHA
and EPA in the body. Talk to your doctor or other qualified
health professional to determine which would be best for you.

I wrote The Natural Fat-Loss Pharmacy with Harry Preuss, MD, a
professor at Georgetown University Medical Center, a top
researcher with more than 300 scientific studies to his credit,
a nutritionist, and an expert in natural remedies for health. In
writing about omega-3, we reviewed literally hundreds of studies
showing that the nutrient can strengthen the heart, boost
emotional well-being, improve memory and learning, and decrease
joint pain. Here are three impressive examples:

Heart attack. In a study conducted by Italian researchers, more
than 11,000 people who had suffered a heart attack took an
omega-3 supplement or underwent another type of medical,
dietary or nutritional therapy. Among those who took omega-3,
there were 30 percent fewer deaths and 20 percent fewer heart
attacks.

Arthritis pain. Neurosurgeons at the University of Pittsburgh
gave fish oil supplements to 120 arthritis patients with neck
or back pain. After seventy-five days, 68 percent of the
patients had stopped taking prescription pain medications.

Manic depression. People with manic depression (bipolar
disorder) were given either EPA supplements or a placebo for
several weeks. Those who took EPA had significantly less
depression and mania. EPA is "an effective and well-tolerated
intervention in bipolar depression" wrote the researchers, in
the British Journal of Psychology.

In writing The Natural Fat-Loss Pharmacy, Dr. Preuss decided on
a science-based approach to recommending brands of supplements:
if a brand had been shown to work in a scientific study, it was
the brand to recommend. For omega-3, Dr. Preuss recommends the
brand Nordic Naturals, which has been researched at Duke
University, the University of California-Davis, Texas A&M
University, Oregon Health Science University, Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center in New York, and many other universities,
hospitals and research institutions.

If you'd like to learn more about omega-3—and about vitamins
and herbs for weight-loss—please consider reading The Natural
Fat-Loss Pharmacy. You can find out more about it—and all my
books on health and healing—at www.drugfreehealing.com.

About The Author: Yours for better health, Bill Gottlieb,
author The Natural Fat-Loss Pharmacy and Alternative Cures (1.5
million copies sold) billgottlieb@drugfreehealing.com
http://www.drugfreehealing.com

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