Food fats play a very significant role in your cells. The biological activity of a given cell – and its ability to resist or instigate illnesses – often depends on the sensitive balance between fatty acids derived from food inside the cells. It means that the type of fats we consume has an enormous significance for your health. Some fats stimulate your body towards inflammation, immune response, blood clogging, headaches, blood vessel occlusion, pain and growth of malign tumors. On the other hand, other fats can stimulate cells to produce chemical substances that dissolve blood clots, alleviate pain and inflammation and destroy cancerous cells.
To put things into perspective, some fats are healing you, while other fats are killing you and the regulator of which kind of fats you have in your body is the food you eat. The reason for this is that eicosanoids, the signaling molecules which influence many processes in your body like blood coagulation and inflammations, are made from fats that came to your body by food digestion. The type and quantity of ingested fatty acids determines the type and quantity of produced eicosanoids, which in turn can be biologically beneficial or harmful to you.
There are two main categories of fatty acids that are important for creating eicosanoids: fatty acids omega 3, found mainly in seafood and some mainland plants and fatty acids omega 6 concentrated in the oil of mainland plants, like corn oil, sunflower oil and in ingredients coming from mainland animals. Omega 6 fatty acids tend to stimulate inflammatory activities in your body and occlusion in blood vessels, while omega 3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and cell damage. Simply stated omega 3 is good for you, while omega 6 fatty acids can be very bad.
Since most diets consist of both types of products, your cells are constantly being given different instructions by these two types of fatty acids. Which instructions will prevail, the ones sending you towards illness or the ones providing you with health depend entirely on the proportions in which these two fatty acids enter your body, says Dr. William E. M. Lands, former professor of biochemistry at the University of Illinois, Chicago, specialized in research of fish oils. If you have in your body enough omega 3 fatty acids they can maintain control over eicosanoids that provoke diseases.
This makes omega 3 rich diet vital for our wellbeing. Most omega 3 fatty acids can be found in fatty fish from the cold seas. Fish like mackerel, sardine, herring, salmon, tuna, lake trout and others, are the best source for omega 3 fatty acids and your health. Next time you choose your supper, consider the awesome and terrible thing fats do to your body.
