Importance

• The most important action fish oil facilitates, according to Dr. Weil, is in "reducing inflammation, reducing the clotting tendency of the blood, improving the profile of fats circulating in the blood, and optimizing brain function."
  
  

Prevention

• Taking a fish oil supplement each day could prevent your risk for some cancers and heart disease.
  A study conducted at The National Cancer Center Hospital suggests that high consumption of fatty fish, which is the fish used in fish oil, is associated with a reduced risk for breast cancer.
  Carl J. Lavie, MD, at The Journal of the American College of Cardiology stated, "Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid therapy continues to show great promise in primary and, particularly, in secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases."
  
  

Benefits

• Fish oil has anti-inflammatory properties that can be helpful with many kinds of skin conditions like dry skin, psoriasis and eczema. It can also reduce the negative effects of the sun.
  
  

Warning

• If you are thinking of adding fish oil to your diet and are on blood thinners, talk to your doctor first. Fish oil may cause problems with blood clotting. If you are new to fish oil you may experience some bloating or abdominal pain as your body adjusts. Fish oil can act as a mild laxative.
  
  

Considerations

• If fish is all that great for you, why not just eat more of it? You can, but you'd have to eat very large amounts for it to equal what you can get from a fish oil supplement.
  The types of fish that are the highest in the healthy Omega 3's are salmon, mackerel, sardines, herring, bluefish, albacore tuna, rainbow trout, and swordfish.