A recent article from Health Line gives a great summary of some of the health benefits of fish oil. If you would like to see more detailed explanations, click on the article link here.

Benefits of fish oil:

1. Helps fight depression and anxiety
2. Improves eye health
3. Promotes brain health during pregnancy and early life
4. Improves risk factors for heart disease
5. Reduces symptoms in children with ADHD
6. Reduces symptoms of metabolic syndrome
7. Fights inflammation
8. Fights autoimmune diseases
9. Improves mental disease
10. Fights age-related mental decline and Alzheimer’s
11. May help prevent cancer
12. Reduces asthma in children
13. Reduces fatty liver
14. May improve bone and joint health
15. Alleviates menstrual pain
16. May improve sleep
17. Good for skin health

My take. I agree with most of these health benefits, however, cancer prevention is my only concern as some research has shown minimal benefits of cancer risk prevention with fish oil supplementation (although the dosage used in that study was too low to be considered a therapeutic dosage). I would also caution against supplementation of fish oil without consultation with a qualified healthcare professional. They can help assess your needs and adjust dosages according to your body chemistry. A great test to implement before supplementing with fish oil is the Omega Quant Index. This test can assess your baseline omega-3 index, omega-6 levels, and arachidonic acid levels while also giving you your omega-6:omega-3 ratio. One minimal side effect of taking fish oil is that it has the ability to thin your blood and thus slightly increase your risk of bleeding. Again, a qualified healthcare professional like a functional medicine provider would be able to give you proper recommendations.  Call us at (651)528-7978 or email us at info@somachiromn.com if you have any questions.