Tuesday 15 November 2011

Fish Oil And The Immune System


By  Virginia Brookins-Brown

Autoimmune diseases occur when there is a problem in the immune system which causes the body to attack and destroy healthy tissue within the body itself. Somehow the messages within the body become distorted and cause this self destruction. When the system works optimally, all is well and the body functions as it should.

When things work as intended the body's white blood cells guard against harmful attacks by dangerous matter (antigens). Those matters could be bacteria, viruses, cancer cells, or blood from another source, any number of things. This is how the body works properly and begins to develop antibodies that will attack and kill the harmful invasive substances. This is all the amazing ways our bodies aid in keeping us healthy.

Now, when an autoimmune disorder enters the picture the immune system is unable to identify whether matter is healthy tissue or antigens. What happens then is an immune response which begins destroying normal body tissue. In other words, a harmful allergic reaction occurs and the destruction begins. All of this causes various degrees of inflammation.

Researchers, in various studies, discovered that Eskimos in Greenland have very low occurrences of the various autoimmune diseases. Oddly, these people ingest huge amounts of fish oil in their regular diets. Many believe that fish oil or fish oil supplements fight against autoimmune problems. Therefore, it is understandable that the Eskimos would have very low numbers of arthritis, psoriasis, asthma, and high blood pressure, problems just to name a few. All of these diseases are caused by the onset of autoimmune system problems,

Current scientific belief is that by adding omega-3 fatty acids to the diet will cause decreases in autoimmune diseases among the general population. This in turn has given researchers and physicians hope that by adding fish and/or fish oil supplements to the daily diets of patients with autoimmune problems might help decrease the incidence of autoimmune disease, decrease the need for prescribing drugs that often have debilitating side effects, not to mention are expensive and require the strict oversight by a physician because of the many side effects of those medications.

There may even be a genetic link that could cause autoimmune diseases which could make it more likely a person would be suitable to them.

Since ingesting fish and/or fish oil supplements fights inflammation, it would seem that adding these supplements to your diet could have a very positive effect on the body; especially if you are suffering from one of the autoimmune disorders.

Always check with your primary health care provider before adding any supplement to your diet.

Virginia takes a keen interest in all maters relating health and fitness. She also does research in the areas of natural dietary supplements.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Virginia_Brookins-Brown
Pictures added by SHAS (Blog author)

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