A Source of Nutrients

Fish oil is growing in the eye of the health community, and there are very good reasons why. It contains many omega-3 fatty acids, among them some that help reduce inflammation in all circumstances. Others help the body in cancer prevention, and even in the development of children. It's pretty hard for people to create enough of these, so they turn to helpful supplements.

DHA, short for docosahexaenoic acid, is a powerful tool for preventing cancer from taking hold in the body. It actually does so by reducing the regulators of cell growth that give cancerous cells a foothold on which to build. It's also been found to be helpful for infants and developing children in terms of their mental and visual acuity. Those two put together make it a very useful thing to include in fish oil supplements.

The most powerful anti-inflammatory in fish oil is EPA, which is short for eicosapentaenoic acid. That makes it immeasurably helpful when the body is recovering from anything. Swelling reduces all healing, because it isn't comprised of magical repair cells flooding into the damaged area so much as it is comprised of the body's attempt to keep things from getting worse by slowing everything down.

The human body doesn't produce much EPA or DHA on its own, which means that it has to get what it needs from diet. This isn't always possible, because so few things produce it in relevant quantities. However, the oils of certain fish are rich in these and other omega-3s, which is why they have become so popular as a supplement.