Heartburn or GERD can Kill

Heartburn is a common annoyance. The busy lifestyle, quick meals, fatty or spicy foods all contribute to the occasional need of a chewable pain reliever. The acceptance of heartburn as an inconvenient, but natural, part of the daily grind can blind you to the warning that a severe heartburn symptom can bring.

Heartburn as a Disorder

Heartburn can be a symptom as well as a disorder. Simple heartburn or GERD can be controlled and dealt with. However, heartburn can signal the presence of a much more serious problem. If it’s heartburn, you will have a burning sensation in the chest usually after eating. There may be a spread of the burning to the throat, sometimes accompanied by a bad taste, difficulty in swallowing, belching, coughing, hoarseness and/or wheezing.

It can become worse by lying down or bending over or by eating. Relief can come from an antacid. While the more severe heartburn symptoms may be mistaken for a heart attack, simple heartburn is usually not made worse by exercise. If there is any concern that the pain may signal a heart attack, get help quickly.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

What Is The Link Between Fish Oil And Diabetes?

By Peter Bertonich

Diabetes is on the increase in the US, and every year somewhere around a million people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It isn't usually fatal, but can be and can have serious impacts on the lives of sufferers. Is there any fish oil and diabetes link? Or can fish oil help reduce the impact of diabetes?

The increase in the rate of diabetes in our population has scientists worried. Along with the impact on the lives of the diabetes sufferers and their family there are enormous costs imposed on the health system and the sufferer, often for life. So what can be done to lower the incidence of diabetes in the population?

There's well known lifestyle factors that help with diabetes like improving levels of exercise and improving diet and losing weight. But my interest is in the impact of Omega 3 and diabetes, so today I'll look at that.

There is now little doubt that there is clear evidence supporting the link between fish oil and diabetes relief. Fish oil is of course the major source of Omega 3 fatty acids, and almost all good Omega 3 supplements utilize fish oil for their Omega 3. The main fats that are of benefit to diabetes are known as EPA and DHA. We have written about these elsewhere on this site.

Type 2 diabetes is a condition characterized by high levels of sugar in the blood. The disease causes insulin in the blood to be unable to sufficiently deal with the levels of blood sugar, so these become elevated.

The result is that the insulin in the blood cannot deal with fats in the blood either, and levels of triglycerides rise, and HDL, (good cholesterol) falls. The figures for the risks to diabetics are frightening. 6 times higher risk of heart attack and up to 8 times higher risk of heart disease.

So is there any fish oil diabetes link? Is there evidence that taking fish oil lowers any of the risks of diabetes? Yes, scientists are finding that taking omega 3 fats from fish oil do indeed lower some of the risks of diabetes.

Why is there a fish oil supplements and diabetes link? Because fish oil is a polyunsaturated fatty acid, and studies have shown that polyunsaturated Omega 3 fats reduce the amount of triglycerides in the blood, reduce abnormal heart rhythms, reduce blood pressure by small but significant amounts, and improve blood clotting regulation.

One study showed very impressive heart benefits verifying the fish oil diabetes link, including reducing the risk of death by heart attack by up to 45%, and cardiovascular deaths generally by up to 30%.

It seems crystal clear now that taking more Omega 3 fish oil in the diet does lower some of the risks associated with diabetes.

How should you be getting your fish oil? Well of course eating fish high in fat is a good way, the American Heart Association recommends eating 2 fish meals a week, but there are also warnings for certain people of eating too much fish due to the incidence of some heavy metals and in particular contaminants like mercury in fish.

Fish oil supplements are the best way to add Omega 3 fats to your diet, daily. The very best ones source fish that come from the southern ocean and are very clean to begin with, and have spectacularly high levels of DHA, so these supplements are naturally higher in DHA, and after undergoing molecular distillation there are no detectable levels of contaminants.

So it seems clear, if you suffer from type 2 diabetes there are good reasons to include Omega3 fish oil supplements in your diet daily.The lowering of the risks of death and disease are so striking its worth making the effort to up your intake of fish oil, daily.

You can find out which Omega 3 capsules are the best on my website.

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