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The Facts on Krill Oil and If It Is Really Better Than Fish Oil

By Jayson Hunter

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 29Apr2010
Word count: 856
Viewed: 629 time(s)

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Shrimp-like crustaceans called krill are used to make krill oil. These crustaceans live in the cold depths of the ocean and they make up the largest animal biomass on the Earth. Complete essential fatty (EFA) acids, omega 3 fats, EPA and DHA are in both krill oil and fish oil.

Krill oil is much more absorbable than fish oil because the omega 3 fats found in krill oil are in the phospholipid form and the fat cells in our cell walls are in the phospholipid form. However, we would not receive the same absorption level from fish oil because fish oil is in the triglyceride form. Astanxanthin, an exceptional antioxidant, helps protect you against ultraviolet light and increases the ORAC potency of krill oil to 48 times that of fish oil and is contained in krill oil supplements.

So why should we consume krill oil or even fish oil?

We put our health in serious danger by consuming too few Omega 3 fats and way too many Omega 6 fats. Since we consume Omega 6 fats and Omega 3 fats on average about 20:1 with 20 being omega 6 fats, this is a far cry from the perfect ratio of omega 6 fats to omega 3 fats of 1:1.

Our everyday diet consists of corn, safflower and sunflower oils which are vegetable oils and have large amounts of omega 6 fats and this could explain why we consume so many omega 6 fats.

Consuming large amounts of omega 6 fats, according to the belief of many scientists, causes inflammation, sensitivity to pain and thickening of the blood.

The type of cells that are at the site can dramatically change and will cause the tissue to try to both heal and damage itself at the same time if you have prolonged inflammation or chronic inflammation.

The normal function of proteins can be impaired during the inflammation process because many different proteins are susceptible to genetic mutation.

Many diseases including Crohn's disease, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis may be caused by chronic inflammation. Scientific studies have revealed that increasing your essential fatty acids so that your ratio of omega 6 and omega 3 is equal, may reduce your incidence of inflammatory disease.

In A Perfect World

It would be beneficial to increase our omega 3 fatty acid consumption through fish, but this is hard to do considering that the majority of our fish supply is heavily contaminated with pollutants, heavy metals, PCBs and other toxins.

Krill oil supplements have 48 times the antioxidant potency as traditional fish oil supplements and you don't have the risk of rancidity. Since traditional fish oil supplements are very perishable, they can quickly become rancid and you would need to take extra antioxidants.

The benefits of krill oil are many. When consuming krill oil, it addresses issues such as anti-aging, protection of cell membranes, healthy cholesterol levels, healthy liver function, relief of normal PMS symptoms, boost to your immune system and other issues.

You will find that many krill oil and complete essential fatty acids studies have been published.

Seventy-six overweight and obese men and women participated in a double blind parallel arm trial study where they were randomly given two grams per day of a krill oil supplement, a fish oil supplement or a control (olive oil) for 4 weeks.

After the 4 weeks, scientists discovered that the levels of EPA and DHA concentrations significantly increased with those who took the krill oil supplements than with those who took the fish oil supplements or the control.

What was discovered is that absorption of the quantities of EPA and DHA in krill oil and fish oil is equal and that the average EPA concentration was higher in the people taking the krill oil compared to the people taking the fish oil.

It has been found that krill oil is more effective than fish oil in improving cholesterol levels. Another study indicated that HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) improved 44% with Neptune Krill Oil while only a 4.2% improvement was seen in fish oil. They also found that LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) reduced 32% with Neptune Krill Oil while only a 2% reduction was seen in normal fish oil.

Through the research, we can see that specifically consuming complete EFAs and more omega 3 fats is a definite benefit and that the ratio of omega 6 fats with the omega 3 Fats should be equal to be at optimum health.

We cannot depend on routinely eating fish for EFAs because of the potential risks of toxins, etc. so we need to take omega 3 supplements. Do your research on the quality of any supplement you are considering.

Through research, we are continually seeing the benefits of krill oil supplements compared to fish oil supplements. Because of the increasing popularity of krill oil, there will be a lot to pick from that may or may not be of quality. Neptune Krill oil harvesting is in compliance with international fishing standards and so is harvested in cold waters far away from pollutants. A cold extraction method is used to preserve the biological benefits of the essential fatty acid providing an essential fatty acid oil free of contaminants such as heavy metals and PCBs. Be careful to choose a high quality Neptune Krill Oil (NKO).

Learn more helpful information about krill oil and fish oil supplements: Omega 3 Supplements.

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