Although we consume Omega-3 and Omega-6 from foods only, Omega-6 generalization and reduction in Omega-3 consumption have raised the proportion of Omega-6 to Omega-3 in our body from 20:1 to 50:1. Latest research studies proved that minimization of this ratio (somewhere from 4:1 to 1:1) could prevent inflammatory diseases.

Inflammatory Effects?

Limoleic Acid (LA) is included in Omega-6 filled vegetable oils and through several feminization, it transforms into Arachidonic Acid (AA), which plays a crucial role in inflammatory effects in human body. Inflammatory reactions help recover damaged tissues in human body and healing of wounds is one of the inflammatory effects.

Inflammatory Diseases?

If too many unnecessary inflammatory reactions occur in our body, tissues, on contrary, become deteriorated and damaged, leading to other diseases called inflammatory diseases. Inflammatory diseases include arthritis (rheumatism, degenerative diseases, etc), asthma, atopy, cancer and tonsillitis.

Omega-3's Anti-Inflammatory Effects

One of the essential functions of Omega-3 is to help cell tissues to carry various substances – that are absorbed, and filtered in the cells – to needed body elements. Omega-3 in theses tissues act as a gatekeeper of the cells, which opens the gate to let substances to enter and closes when theses filtered substances are sent out to body elements. Because Omega-3 and Omega-6 compete to synthesize in cell tissues or phospholipids, Omega-3-contained-tissues prevent unnecessary inflammatory effects of Omega-6.

Arthritis

Arthritis is an inflammatory disease in joints. Arthritis magazine The Journal of Rheumatology has experimented Omega-3’s efficacy on arthritis and it concluded that patients less suffered from rheumatoid arthritic pain, when Naproxen, the anti-inflammatory drug, and Omega-3 are used together.

Asthma

Asthma is one of the most common infantilism in which 11.2% of Canadian infants suffer from it and annual budget of $500 millions (1990) is spent on treating this disease. As it is frequently found in developed countries, pollution and reduction in breast-feeding are blamed as main causes of rise in asthma cases. Australian medical journal MJA has suggested that infants who are breast-fed have 30% less probability of asthma cases than that of infants who are not.

Cancer

Cancer is still the incurable disease, which is a leading cause for death worldwide. As mentioned in inflammatory effects above, arachidonic Acid (AA) synthesizes to prostacyclin by an enzyme called cyclo-oxygenase (COX). COX can be divided into 2 types: COX-1 and COX-2. Although COX-2 is not contained in majority of the tissues, it is crowded in some tissues to synthesize prostacyclin through inflammatory effects. Because this prostacyclin creates tumor, it is usually included in cancer cells than normal cells. According to a research from University of Paris, COX-2 level has a close association with the size of the tumor. It also summarized that combined consumption of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and Omega-3 has positive effects on prevention and treating of cancers.