Fish oil or Omega-3 capsules cannot be a complete substitute for seafood and whole fish. This was stated to the correspondent of “Rosbalt” by St. Petersburg nutritionist Andrey Bobrovsky.
“Fish oil, which is sold in pharmacies, or omega-3 fatty acids, are beneficial to the body only when prescribed by a doctor. That is, if a person has clinical manifestations of a lack of these acids. As for taking capsules for prophylactic purposes – in order to prevent the development of cardiovascular diseases and disorders of the nervous system – their popularity is rather due to the aggressive marketing of manufacturers, ”the nutritionist said.
The expert recalls that a few years ago there was a national government-sponsored advertising campaign in the UK. Famous nutritionists have appeared on television with the same slogan, which sounded like this: “The money you spent on vitamins, you flushed down the toilet.”
“In the United States, recent studies have shown that a significant proportion of cases of liver toxicity are also associated with uncontrolled intake of dietary supplements, including Omega-3,” said the nutritionist.
According to him, taking fatty acids in capsules to obtain vitamin D is pointless – it is better to immediately purchase vitamin D directly, if there really is a shortage of it in the body.
“In general, the same seafood and fish consist not only of fish oil, they contain other essential acids that are not synthesized in the body – Omega-6, Omega-9. They contain extremely useful proteins and various trace elements necessary for the body. That is why preference should be given to whole seafood and often include them in the diet. You will not find a chemical analogue. In addition, the tasty smell, the type of food is important here, because our digestion is a complex process, the success of which depends, for example, on the active secretion of gastric juice, ”noted Andrei Bobrovsky.
According to him, a huge number of studies of regions with long-livers – Okinawa, Yakutia, the North Caucasus, Greece – have proved that seafood occupied a dominant place in the local diet. In one of the villages in Alaska, cut off from civilization, cardiovascular diseases have not been recorded since 1968 – precisely for the reason that people ate fish and seafood every day.
“Considering that heart disease is the number one cause of death in the modern world, it is worth including fish and seafood in the diet more often,” the nutritionist concluded.
Earlier, Rosbalt wrote which products better not to eat for breakfast.
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