Fish oils -- which contain omega-3s -- may reduce proteins that cause inflammation, which are linked to heart disease and type 2 diabetes, U.S. researchers say.
Study leader Janice Kiecolt-Glaser of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research Ohio State University School of Medicine said study participants, who were either overweight or obese, were given supplements of fish oil in different doses, while some got placebos.
The study, published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, found both higher and lower omega-3 fish oil doses helped reduce inflammation.
"If you can't have fish that frequently or you're not that fond of it, the fish oil supplements clearly have benefits for your immune response," Kiecolt-Glaser said in a statement.
"Anyone can experience inflammation, but research at the National Institutes of Health showed it could be more a problem in the presence of excess body fat," Kiecolt-Glaser added.
Even though I believe strongly in the benefits of a plant-based diet- meaning that it's composed mostly of unrefined, whole plant foods- I still take fish oil. I know that radial vegans object to it and discourage it.
But, I am going to point out again, that strict veganism wasn't even possible for a human being until the latter half of the 20th century. We must assume that there were no populations of vegans living long-term on a pure vegan diet prior to the latter 20th century. Or I could use the term "successful vegans". And by that that, I don't mean anything pertaining to money and income. I mean "biologically sucessful" where you thrive and survive and reproduce.
The issue of Vitamin B12 deficiency alone would have stopped a vegan in his tracks, and Vitamin B-12 wasn't discovered til the year of my birth: 1951. It was quite a few years after that that it was realized that it depended entirely on getting animal foods, and where vegetarians were especially susceptible. And it was discovered in relation to unsupplemented vegan women who went through pregnancy without Vitamin B12- with disastrous results.
Therefore, pure, absolute veganism is only possible for humans because of science and technology: the manufacture of Vitamin B12 supplements. The means for that did not exist until modern times, and even the knowledge of it did not exist until quite recently.
So, I agree with the idea that humans tend to lean towards veganism in their dietetic character. But, it's not absolute thing, and there is absolutely no historical basis for it until very modern times.
So, what happened in the past when people tried to live on plants only? Well, if they made exceptions, even occasionally, it may have been enough to carry them through. That's because the minimal requirement for Vitamin B12 is only 1/28,0000,000,000 of an ounce a day. Plus, the body can store vast amounts of it. Plus, in ancient times, there may have been inadvertent animal food consumption, such as animal waste, animal larvae, insect eggs, etc. That kind of thing may actually have carried the day as well- on a very marginal basis.
So, I, personally, don't lose any sleep about consuming fish oil because I realize that it's more natural for a human being to be near-vegan than all-vegan.
But, if a person doesn't want to consume fish oil, then I think they should take the DHA that is derived from algae. But they should also take Vitamin B12. And they should also take Vitamin D3., which is also an animal product. And as far as replacing that with the vegan alternative Vitamin D2, I say DON'T! Vitamin D2 is NOT good for you. And it's just I who says so. That John Cannell, the head of the Vitamin D Council, also says so.