Can Fish Oil Help Your Arthritis?

Arthritis is a painful condition and can severely limit the movement of persons and inhibit them from going about their normal activities. It is felt that fish oil could help arthritis patients and lessen their problems.

Arthritis manifests itself in joint inflammation. Common arthritis types are rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Whatever the type, sufferers from this disease feel extreme pain and discomfort. Arthritis affected persons find it difficult to move about and also experience extreme pain in their knee joints.

Osteoarthritis is degenerative arthritis in which the joints get degraded, including the cartilage and bone. This is generally due to wear and tear and as this can take some time, the affliction generally affects older people, though people leading highly active lives, like sportsmen may also get affected.

Rheumatic arthritis is caused by extreme inflammation of the tissues and cartilage in the joints. It seems to affect women more than men and especially if they are in the age group of 40 to 50.

Treatments for arthritis include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, usually abbreviated to NSAIDs. These are prescription medicines and their potency causes concern to users who will then look for other ways to alleviate their pain and suffering.

One of the natural cures for arthritis is said to be fish oil. This oil and how it works is not very clearly understood by most people. Marine organisms have high oil content and this fish oil has a concentration of omega 3 fatty acids. These are good acids and contain nutrition essential for the body, which in turn reduces the pain and inflammation in joints because of their anti-inflammatory properties.

Research has led to the conclusion that a daily supplement of fish oil can reduce the production of interleukin-1 in the body. This interleukin-1 is what is responsible for the inflammation in the joints.

Rheumatoid arthritis sufferers have switched over from the NSAIDs to fish oil. The pain for arthritis sufferers is a result of overreaction of arachidonic acids which produce inflammatory agents. Fish oil contains docosahexaenoic acid or DHA and eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA which neutralizes these inflammatory agents.

A daily dose of such supplements containing fish oil can greatly benefit arthritis sufferers and reduce their dependence on prescription drugs, as their pain and inflammation would have lessened.

One must ensure that whatever supplements are taken are of the pharmaceutical grade as they would be free of contaminants and would also have the right levels of DHA and EPA. One way of ensuring this is to look at the manufacturing process of the supplement and ensure that molecular distillation has been used. This removes the contaminants in the fish oil and ensures that it is free of toxins and mercury.

Checking the labels on the supplements would give you the percentage of DHA and EPA. Ask for a supplement that has a higher percentage of DHA as this is converted by the body into EPA. So be careful when you buy supplements and ask for the high grade ones so that you get the desired results.

Sources: http://www.medicinenet.com/nonsteroidal_antiinflammatory_drugs/article.htm
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