Omega 3 For Your Heart, Mind, and Joints

Omega
Omega-3s are basically a kind of fatty acids which belongs to the family of poly-unsaturated fatty acids. The chemical nomenclature of omega-3 fatty acid indicates the double bond of carbon molecules at ?-3 position on the basis which these fatty acids are called Omega.

History
It was actually in 1923 that Burr and Evans, two American scientists discovered deprivation of poly-unsaturated fatty acids became a reason of some illness in rats. With this research on rats about the poly-unsaturated fatty acids, the concept of omega-3 fatty acids came into existence. Evans named these poly-unsaturated fatty acids as vitamin F, which he held essential as well necessary for the human body as it affected the growth of the body. Since it could not be manufactured by the body, it had to be supplemented from outside through dietary products.

Later in 1930, these poly-unsaturated acids were distinguished in to two kinds of fatty acids called omega-6 and Omega-3. This division and distinction came in because it was discovered that vitamin-F did not contain single fatty acids but actually comprises of two families of fats- Omega-3 and Omega-6. While Omega-3 is a derivative of alpha-linolenic acid, Omega-6 has originated from linoleic acid.

What is worth acknowledging here is that both acids have a prefix “lin”, which actually connotes to linseed from, where they are actually extracted. The research history of Omega history has since then moved many developments. What is more amazing is that the invention of omega fatty acids in the year 1930 has initiated a large discourse on Omega-3 fatty acid which has numbered to at least 500 since 1930.

The research work has brought to light various functions of Omega-3 in a human body. In early seventies the discourse concentrated on various heart ailments and omega-3. The discovery of omega-3 fatty acid’s presence in fish came to light after a Danish epidemiologist observed that Eskimos had very less heart problems because of they consumed more of fish in their diet.

It was around 1982 that it was also found that the life expectancy level was also high in the people taking more omega-3 fatty acids this data was jotted down from almost seventy countries round the world which included Japan, china and various Islands. It was found that not only is fish the rich source of omega-3 but rapeseed and Soya are also a rich source of omega-3 fatty acid. In the following years of the same century, Burr and Evans moved on demonstration of Omega-3 deficiency defects. In 1982, Bergstrom, Samuelsson and Vane earned a Nobel Prize for there discovery and theory on omega-3 deficiency and resultant diseases. There research had a central point as eicosanoids, which are the hormones of the human body playing important role in the body. This hormone included various chemical called thromboxanes, leukotrienes, prostacyclins and prostaglandins. All these chemicals worked together to regulate the immunity and platelet aggregation in a human body.