Krill oil is derived from krill and is similar to fish oil. Krill are small shrimp-like crustaceans that live in the cold depths of the ocean and although they are very small, they make up the largest animal biomass on the planet. Both krill and fish oils contain the complete essential fatty acids, omega 3 fats, EPA and DHA.
Krill oil contains astanxanthin, which is a key benefit. Astanxanthin is an excellent antioxidant that helps increase the ORAC potency of this oil to 48 times that of fish oil and helps protect you against ultraviolet light. The omega 3 fats found in krill oil are in the phospholipid form whereas fish oil is in the triglyceride form. Since the fat cells in your cell walls are in the phospholipid form, this makes krill oil much more absorbable
So why should we consume krill oil or even fish oil?
Our intake of Omega 6 fats and Omega 3 fats averages around 20:1 with 20 being omega 6 fats. Since the ideal ratio of omega 6 fats to omega 3 fats is 1:1, we consume too few Omega 3 fats and way too many Omega 6 fats. This can mean a serious danger to your health.
We consume vegetable oils every day, which are all packed with omega 6 fats, such as corn, safflower and sunflower oil. This is one of the reasons we are consuming so many omega 6 fats.
The belief of many scientists is that inflammation, sensitivity to pain and thickening of the blood can be triggered when we consume large quantities of omega 6 fats.
If you have prolonged inflammation or chronic inflammation, there can be an extraordinary change in the type of cells that are at the site which can cause the tissue to simultaneously try to both heal and destroy itself.
Many different proteins are susceptible to genetic mutation during the inflammation process which can impair the normal function of that protein.
This chronic inflammation may cause Crohn's disease, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis and many other diseases.
It has been found through research of scientific studies that you may reduce your incidence of inflammatory disease by increasing your essential fatty acids so that your ratio of omega 6 and omega 3 is equal.
In A Perfect World
It is a fact that the majority of our fish supply is heavily contaminated with pollutants, heavy metals, PCBs and other toxins. So while it would be great to increase our omega 3 fatty acid consumption through fish, unfortunately the toxins make it difficult to do.
Fish oil supplements can become rancid quickly as they are very perishable, therefore, you would need to take extra antioxidants. The upside to consuming krill oil supplements is that it has 48 times the antioxidant potency as traditional fish oil so the risk of rancidity is not the same.
There are many benefits for a variety of health issues such as anti-aging, protection of cell membranes, healthy cholesterol levels, healthy liver function, relief of normal PMS symptoms, boost to your immune system and other issues, when consuming krill oil.
Many studies have been published concerning this oil and complete essential fatty acids.
Two grams per day of an oil, either krill (supplement), fish (supplement), or a control (olive oil) were randomly given to 76 overweight and obese men and women in a double blind parallel arm trial for 4 weeks in one of the studies.
Scientists found that after 4 weeks, the levels of EPA and DHA concentrations significantly increased with the participants consuming the krill oil supplements than with those consuming the fish oil supplements or the control.
The result was that at the end of the treatment, the EPA concentration on average was higher in the krill oil participants when compared with the fish oil participants. Therefore, what we have seen is that the quantities of EPA and DHA in these oils is absorbed equally as well whether it is from fish or krill.
It has been proven through another study that HDL cholesterol which is the good cholesterol improved 44% with Neptune Krill Oil and only a 4.2% improvement was seen in fish oil. Conversely LDL cholesterol which is your bad cholesterol decreased 32% with Neptune Krill Oil and only a 2% reduction was seen in normal fish oil. So what this tells us is that krill oil was more effective than fish oil in improving cholesterol levels.
We need to get the ratio of Omega 6 fats equal with the Omega 3 Fats. These studies make it very clear that we need to specifically be consuming complete essential fatty acids and more omega 3 fats.
Always look at the quality when choosing any supplement. Unfortunately due to the potential risks of toxins, we cannot rely on normal fish consumption for essential fatty acids, so we are left with omega 3 supplements.
Since krill oil is becoming more and more popular, you will find many other types of krill oil released that may not be of the same quality as Neptune krill oil (NKO) so be sure to purchase a quality supplement.
The harvesting of the Neptune type is in cold waters far away from potential pollutants and is in compliance with international fishing standards To provide an essential fatty acid oil free of contaminants such as heavy metals and PCBs, the biological benefits of this essential fatty acid are preserved through a cold extraction method. We will see continued research showing the benefit of krill oil supplements over fish oil supplements. Choose the high quality Neptune Krill Oil.
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