Omega-3: What is it and How Can it Help You?

Fish oil capsules, primarily those with Omega-3, have been used for decades as a nutritional supplement to support healthy heart and joint function. But, what does Omega-3 actually do within the body, and is there evidence that Omega-3 capsules can be good for athletes?

As always, Kinetica Sports is here to provide you with the answers you seek, so keep reading to learn more…

What is Omega-3?

Before you take any health, wellbeing, or fitness supplement, you should always know what it is. So, what is Omega-3 exactly?

Omega-3 is a class of fatty acids: more specifically, they’re polyunsaturated fatty acids1.  In order to have a healthy, balanced diet, a measure of fat is necessary for energy storage. Healthy fats are also vital for our diets because they assist with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A, D, E, and K. However, there is a difference between the types of fat you consume. According to the NHS, there are two main categories of fats: saturated and unsaturated2. It is the latter of these two that is considered one of the ‘good fats’. They recommend replacing saturated fats in your diet with unsaturated fats, as there is promising evidence to suggest that this may support healthy heart function and help to lower ‘bad’ or LDL cholesterol levels.

Top tip: as with everything, fats should be a part of your diet – in moderation. Even athletes need a measure of fats to stay healthy.

How does the body use Omega-3?

We’ve identified that Omega-3 is an important fat for the body – but how, and why? Whilst the answer is more complicated, we’ve broken down some of the functions of Omega-3 into simple explanations below.

According to research, Omega-3 is thought to help lower fat levels in the blood (specifically triglycerides), by1:

Suppressing lipogenic gene expression: lipogenic gene expression, or lipogenesis, is the scientific term for fat creation from non-lipid, or non-fat, molecules. Research suggests that elevated levels of Omega-3 can potentially help to suppress this process, reducing the amount of hepatic fats (i.e. fats in the liver)3.

Increasing beta-oxidation of fatty acids: beta-oxidation is a chemical process that releases metabolic energy, particularly when you’re between meals, or during strenuous activities like exercise. Increasing beta-oxidation of fatty acids helps your body to burn fat stores to produce energy, sparing your muscles from breakdown4.

Increasing the expression of lipoprotein-lipase (LPL): Lipoprotein-lipase is an enzyme that helps to break down fats in the bloodstream into valuable molecules like fatty acids, which can be stored or used to meet current energy needs. Increasing LPLs can help control blood cholesterol, and support healthy heart function5.

Influencing total body lipid accretion: simply put, lipid accretion speaks to how much fat accumulates in the body, i.e. high lipid accretion rates means the body is storing more fat. Omega-3 has been shown to influence how much fat the body stores by decreasing total body fat and improving the metabolic rate1.

What are the benefits of Omega-3 supplements for athletes?

Of course, understanding what you’re taking is important. But, knowing how a supplement like Omega-3 capsules can support your health and athletic performance can help you make the right decisions for your training needs. Whether you’re a weekend warrior, or a professional sportsperson, the best Omega-3 supplements can have plenty of benefits that you may find useful as an athlete, including:

Overall health and wellbeing

As we’ve discussed previously, Omega-3 has been shown to have a positive effect on key areas of your general health and wellbeing – specifically heart function and cholesterol.

Recent studies have explored how Omega-3 supplementation may:

• Support healthy heart functions and reduce inflammation6.
• Reduce the amount of fat in the bloodstream, which helps to support your circulatory system and improve circulation7.
• Lower blood pressure8.

As an athlete, at any level, looking after your overall health in an interconnected way is as important (if not more) than choosing specific supplements to improve your performance. After all, making sure you’re feeling fit and healthy can go a long way to helping you achieve your long-term goals.

Looking for more supplements to support your overall wellbeing? Explore Kinetica Sports’ wider collection, including our Vitamin D3 Oral Spray, and Zinc Mag Tablets.

Recovery

Recovery is a key part of any training programme to ensure your body can repair and replenish itself after exercise. Interestingly, there is evidence to support that the best Omega-3 supplements may be a promising addition to your recovery programme.

A recent narrative review explored the impact of Omega-3 supplementation on skeletal muscle recovery, with positive results. The study found that Omega-3 has been shown to help your muscles repair themselves faster after strenuous activity, offsetting DOMS (delayed onset muscle stiffness) and improving symptoms of EIMD (exercise-induced muscle damage)9.

Simply put, this shows that Omega-3 capsules have the potential to support post-exercise recovery – allowing you to achieve your fitness goals.

Joint function

Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties – which is part of why they may help maintain your heart health. But, these characteristics are also useful for protecting your joint function.

As athletes, your joints will go through a lot. Whether this is through torsion at pace (twisting actions, such as running from side to side), higher impact loading (increased pressure from frequent jumping, like in basketball or athletics), or split-second changes in pace and direction; it will all have an impact on how your joints perform and age. Omega-3 supplementation has also been shown to protect against exercise-induced loss of joint ROM (range of motion)10. 

The best Omega-3 supplements may also help to support healthy joint function by reducing inflammation markers. According to research, Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to help to protect joint cartilage from degeneration, reduce inflammation and stiffness, and reduce joint pain11. This helps to alleviate pain during recovery, helping you to keep moving as part of your post-exercise routine.

Energy availability

Whilst not the main benefit of taking Omega-3 capsules, studies have shown that supplementing with this may increase metabolic energy availability. According to research, Omega-3 supplementation has the potential to improve metabolic flexibility, which is the ability of the body to change between energy sources when required11. This may be useful for endurance athletes for example, as they rely on fatty acids for long-term energy sources. 

How to choose the best Omega-3 supplements

There are loads of benefits to taking Omega-3 supplements – but there are certain things you should look for to make sure you’re making a quality investment in your health…

Content

We’ve explained before that you need to know what is in your supplements before you buy. So, we’re going to take a moment to look a little deeper into what exactly is in the best Omega-3 supplements.

Omega-3 is used to describe a plethora of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) – specifically those that share a common structure, with at least one double bond between the third and fourth omega-end carbon. However, the most relevant for our purposes here are two PUFAs, called:

• Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).
• Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

Eicosapentaenoic acid has been shown to help heart health in a variety of ways, including lowering triglycerides (fat) in the blood, reducing cholesterol levels and fat build ups in your blood vessels12. Docosahexaenoic acid is an important component of your brain and eye tissue, but also plays a role in the formation of lipid mediators13 – which are molecules that play an important role in inflammation and immunity management.

Both of these play a vital role in maintaining your health, and supporting your performance – so the best Omega-3 supplements will contain both. For example, Kinetica Sports’ Omega-3 Fish Oil contains a blend of both EPA and DHA to ensure you get the most value from each dose.

Buy Now – Kinetica Sports Omega-3 Fish Oil

Quality

Another key consideration if you’re in the market for the best Omega-3 supplements is, obviously, quality. Whether you’re a professional athlete, or a weekend warrior, you need the assurance that your supplements are there to support your progress. 

When you choose Kinetica Sports, this is a given. Not only are our supplements made from high-quality ingredients, but we make sure that they’re competition ready – just like you. 

This means that all of our supplements, like our Omega-3 capsules, comply with exacting WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) standards. They’re also routinely batch tested in compliance with the rigorous testing criteria of Informed Sport. Product safety is our priority – we worry about it, so that you don’t have to.

Found your ‘why’? Let Kinetica Sports be your ‘how’...

Whatever your goals, let Kinetica Sports help you achieve them. Explore our superb collection of wellbeing supplements like Collagen, or complement your training with performance supplements like Protein Powder, Creatine, and more…

And, if you’re interested in learning more, check out… The Ultimate Guide to Pre-Workout Supplements | 3 Benefits of Zinc Mag+ | What are the Benefits of Electrolyte Tablets?