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How does Omega-3 aid in weight watching?

The long chain Omega-3 polyunsaturates can aid weight loss by enabling each of the body's cells to function in the optimal manner. Accumulation of fat is the body's response to a surplus of energy over needs. When the reverse occurs, as in a weight loss diet, the stored energy (fat) should be liberated and burned. However, some people appear to have a problem with this mechanism, and it has been suggested that a part of the reason for this is that the membranes which surround each of the body's cells are not functioning in the way they should because their composition is out of balance. Cell membranes are made up largely of polyunsaturates. We now know that there are two families of polyunsaturates which are important in the make up of cell membranes: the Omega-3 family from fish, and the Omega-6 family from vegetable oils like sunflower seed oil. Over the past 50 years, diets in the West have changed, to supply about twice as much Omega-6, and only half as much Omega-3. Thus the balance has changed. Cell membrane composition has changed too, and some scientists think that this change in membrane composition has made it more difficult for cells to lose the accumulated fat they contain. Evidence recently published showed that weight loss was greater on a calorie-restricted diet when a small amount of Fish Oil was added to the diet, compared to the same diet when olive oil was added instead of the Fish Oil.

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