Omega 3 Research Paper

Athletes today are bigger, faster, and stronger than they have ever been before. They are doing things that were once thought of being impossible. It is safe to say that the competition among athletes is at an all-time high. In order to keep up with the high caliber of athletes in today’s time, athletes are looking for ways to improve themselves. In the pursuit of excellence, many athletes take supplements to help improve their performance. The benefits an athlete looks for in a supplement include increasing power, speed, endurance, or strength. Omega-3 Fatty acids taken in the form of fish oil can be viewed as a dietary supplement that has the ability to benefit athletes in some of those ways. The consumption of Omega-3 fatty acids in western culture is on the rise, especially in elite athletes, due to the increasing number of studies that support its health claims. Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids are used in a variety of ways in our bodies. Consuming equal numbers of these acids is very important because humans cannot produce

Omega-3’s have a positive impact on the cardiovascular system with regards to resting heart rate, heart rate recovery, exercise capacity, and blood vessel dilation (O’Keefe, 2006). Omega-3 fatty acids have been proven effective in increasing blood flow, lowered heart rate, and more effective whole body oxygen consumption (O’Keefe, 2006). These results stemmed from a study of 16 well trained male cyclists given omega-3 supplements. New claims about improvements in lung function have recently surfaced. Exercise strengthens the lung and with the help of fish oil, it is supposed to improve results. For example, a 12 week study with 40 male wrestlers performing very high intensity training had improved scores on lung functioning tests when given a very low dose of fish oil (Taribian,