I am keenly interested in fish oil benefits for blood pressure since I have a strong history of hypertension in my family. In fact, my grandmother died of a stroke at the age of 47. I’m not far from that age myself now and I want to do everything I can to ensure that my blood pressure remains normal and I have a strong, healthy, energetic, active lifestyle right through to old age. I’m sure you want the same thing. So how can the benefits of fish oil help you maintain a normal blood pressure?
Well, before I get to the benefits of fish oil, let me explain why having high blood pressure is such a bad thing. One of the causes of high blood pressure is narrowing of the arteries, which are one of the pathways through which blood travels through your body. When your arteries are narrow, the heart has to pump harder to transport blood through them. This raises the pressure placed upon the artery walls. So, the heart eventually becomes strained from the increased work and the increased pressure within the arteries can cause damage to them.
However, fish oils benefits your blood pressure because the docohexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in the oils are Omega-3 fatty acids, which lowers blood triglyceride levels. Triglycerides are simply fats and too many of them can clog up your blood vessels, causing narrowing of the arteries and making you susceptible to high blood pressure.
Along those lines, fish oil supplements can also help raise your levels of high-density liproprotein, the “good cholesterol”. It is thought that this type of liproprotein can help clear the arteries, removing cholesterol from them back to the liver where it can be excreted or re-used in a less harmful form.
In addition, the benefits of fish oil are even more pronounced when paired with a regular exercise program as both have been shown to increase the flexibility of your arteries. Rigid arteries also force the heart to work harder, but if the arteries are more flexible then blood is able to pass through them more easily.
The American Heart Association recommends taking 2-4 grams of Omega-3 fatty acids per day with physician approval for those who want to lower blood triglyceride levels. This also may be a useful prescription for those who want to lower their blood pressure naturally.
