Add 5 years to your lifespan?! (EASY)

As I just reported yesterday, there are ample reasons to boost your intake of omega-3 fatty acids for optimal health.  

So, allow me to offer one more: Having high levels of these fatty acids could also tack years onto your life.  

At least, that’s the takeaway of new research recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. And, well… if you aren’t supplementing with fish oil yet, this study should finally convince you to do so. 

As powerful as quitting smoking 

Researchers looked at data from 2,240 participants of the Framingham Offspring Cohort, which has been following subjects since 1971. All subjects were over the age of 65, and had been monitored for 11 years, on average.  

The goal was to see which fatty acids might have the strongest impact on mortality. And the results were pretty clear.  

The researchers discovered that omega-3 levels in red blood cells were particularly good at predicting mortality (death) risk. In fact, higher blood levels of these fatty acids increased life expectancy by nearly five years!  

To put that into perspective, consider this: Being a smoker chops 4.7 years off of your lifespan. Which means that simply increasing your body’s levels of omega-3 fatty acids could potentially extend your life by the same amount that smoking—easily one of the worst things you can do for your health—shortens it.  

The study authors claim that these results might “contribute to the personalization of dietary recommendations for food intake” based on patients’ blood levels of fatty acids.  

And what can I say?  

Welcome to my world, folks! Glad you could finally join us.  

My advice hasn’t changed 

I say it all the time: Even small changes in your diet can have a dramatic impact on your health. 

Two servings of oily fish (like salmon or sardines) a week might be enough to keep your blood levels of omega-3s up to par, but let’s face it…. most people aren’t even hitting that quota.   

That’s why it’s a shame that, despite all of these incredible findings on omega-3 fatty acids, conventional medicine still can’t bring itself to recommend fish oil supplements. (Though with Big Pharma in on the game now, that could be poised to change.)   

Regardless, my advice has remained the same over the years: Start taking a high-dose, high-quality fish oil supplement daily—one that contains at least 3,000 mg of DHA and EPA.  

And while you’re at it, start enjoying fish at the dinner table more often, too. I often recommend opting for oily, dark, lean fishes like salmon, tuna steak, mackerel, herring, and sardines. These contain the highest levels of the omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA. 

P.S. To learn more about the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids—and finding the best sources—check out the May 2012 issue of my monthly Logical Health Alternatives newsletter (“Fishing for the best source of omega-3s”). Not yet a subscriber? Become one today! 

Source: 

“Higher levels of omega-3 acids in the blood increases life expectancy by almost five years: A 1% increase in this substance in the blood is associated with a change in mortality risk similar to that of quitting smoking.” Science Daily, 07/22/2021. (sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210722113004.htm)