Could you do with a little more fat?

Written by Ravinder Lilly

Pick up any newspaper, magazine or click onto any internet health page and you’re bound to see how poor diet is making us fat! And, there’s no denying it – most of us in Australia and New Zealand eat too much saturated fat (the kind of fat you’ll find in animal products like fatty meat and full-fat dairy products) And, a staggering one in four adults is overweight or obese. But did you know that the vast majority of us are actually short of one particular fat?

Enter the omega-3s! These are a special type of polyunsaturated fat which are vital for many body processes. They make up part of every body cell and are crucial for the health and function of your body cells including heart, eyes, nervous system and brain – around sixty percent of the human brain is made from one particular omega-3 fat called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

Both omega-3 and another type of essential fat called omega-6 fats are crucial for the workings of our body – we are made of them! But the balance of omega-6 to omega-3 has changed drastically in recent generations so that nowadays, we eat far more omega-6s and not nearly enough omega-3s. Yet falling short of omega-3 has been linked with an increased incidence of many conditions from poor heart and circulatory health to poor mental health. And, it’s also clear that increasing your intake of omega-3 fats whilst cutting down on omega-6 fats and decreasing saturated fat intake can bring clear health benefits.

Eating two serves of oily fish (such as salmon, sardines and fresh tuna) is a great way to do this – they are the most concentrated source of long-chain fatty acids including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acids (DHA). Fish also contain bone- and immune-health building vitamin D which most adults in Australia and New Zealand are short of.

If you don’t like fish or don’t eat enough of it, BiOmega™ is a great alternative. A concentrated and purified source of omega-3s, BiOmega contains therapeutic quantities of EPA and DHA.

Have you had enough omega-3s today?