This site will give you some more info:

http://www.mercola.com/article/omega3.htm:
You want to increase your overall health and energy level. You want to
prevent heart disease, cancer, depression and Alzheimer's. Perhaps you also
want to treat rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, ulcerative colitis, Raynaud's
disease and a host of other diseases. One of the most important things you
can do for all of these is increase your intake of the omega-3 fats found in
fish oil and cod liver oil, and reduce your intake of omega-6 fats.
These two types of fat, omega-3 and omega-6, are both essential for human
health. However, the typical American consumes far too many omega-6 fats in
their diet while consuming very low levels of omega-3. The ideal ratio of
omega-6 to omega-3 fats is 1:1. Our ancestors evolved over millions of years
on this ratio. Today, though, our ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 averages from
20:1 to 50:1! That spells serious danger for you, and as is now (finally!)
being reported throughout even the mainstream health media, lack of omega-3
from fish oil is one of the most serious health issues plaguing contemporary
society.

The primary sources of omega-6 are corn, soy, canola, safflower and
sunflower oil; these oils are overabundant in the typical diet, which
explains our excess omega-6 levels. Avoid or limit these oils. Omega-3,
meanwhile, is typically found in flaxseed oil, walnut oil, and fish.

By far, the best type of omega-3 fats are those found in that last category,
fish. That's because the omega-3 in fish is high in two fatty acids crucial
to human health, DHA and EPA. These two fatty acids are pivotal in
preventing heart disease, cancer, and many other diseases. The human brain
is also highly dependent on DHA - low DHA levels have been linked to
depression, schizophrenia, memory loss, and a higher risk of developing
Alzheimer's. Researchers are now also linking inadequate intake of these
omega-3 fats in pregnant women to premature birth and low birth weight, and
to hyperactivity in children.

*******
I did not know about omega-6 oils. WW considers canola, safflower and
sunflower oil to be healthy oils and we are supposed to have 2 teaspoons of
these or flaxseed oil a day. I guess I am going to switch to flaxseed. I
already take flaxseed capsule and will switch my salad oil from canola to
flaxseed as well.  I wonder what type of fat olive oil is??

Try this site for some general information:

http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshelf/substances_view/1,1525,992,00.html

I take it because I know the Omega 3 that I get from my diet is greatly
outweighed by the Omega 6 so I need to supplement - in some cases,
people get 20 to 50 times the Omega 6 they need. The benefits seem to be
numerous and there are no known side effects or interactions (although
one site listed that arthritic pain might worsen for a short time -
which happened in my case).

Omega 3 has also been recently been found to be beneficial against
alzheimers (which is in my family).

The oil in these capsules is not a replacement for the two oil points.

Also, if you take cod liver oil you have to be wary of vitamin D
toxicity during the summer months (or year round if you're in a warm,
sunny location). If you receive adequate sun exposure, try to use
another fish oil other than cod liver oil.

A lot of fish today are also contaminated with mercury. The supplement I
take (Webber) uses anchovy, sardine and mackeral. Sardines are
considered safe and I couldn't find the other two on a list of unsafe fish.

You need only google omega 3 and you'll find a wealth of information
about the capsules or foods that contain it.

 ..

The other two posts have provided lots of detail.
Practically, you can do worse than take 6*100gm fish oil capsules
every day. May not be ideal, but it's cheap.

Ray

I suddenly feel like everywhere I turn people are encouraging me to eat
more Omega three. Not to be ignorant, but isn't that the thing they
needed to activate on the movie Galaxy Quest that jumps time back 13
seconds? But seriously, I know sardines are high in Omega three, but
yuck! Can't deal with it. Also olives. That sounds good. But what are
the supposed benefits of Omega three and what other ways can I add it to
my diet?
TIA

The Omega-3 fatty acids are extremely important in our diets. In recent
years they've been given more press--probably to counteract the low-low-fat
diet practices espoused by Pritikin, Ornish, and McDougall--and rightly so.

The primary sources are fatty fish, many more than simply sardines, so if
you eat salmon, mackerel, herring (among others) you can avoid the sardines
you dislike. Plant-based sources are flaxseed, walnuts, and purslane (an
herb in Italian cooking; a weed in America!); soybeans are a less reliable
source.

Olives are NOT a source of omega-3s. They are a major source of omega-9
fatty acids, usually referred to as monounsaturated fat. I recommend them
and their oil for that reason (and their taste!) but not for the omega-3s.

Good info on omega-3s may be found in *Low-Fat Lies* and *The Omega Diet.*
Check your library!

Best wishes,
thorn

Take capsules, that's what I do, although I do love peppered mackerel
fillets and roll-mop herrings. You don't need that much for a healthy
lifestyle, and the body can store them, unlike vitamins like vitamin C,
which you need to eat daily for health.

Omega 3's are almost exclusively found in oily fish. That includes
mackerel, herring (including kippers), sardines, sprats, whiting and
salmon. There may be some obscure vegetarian sources I don't know about.

violetfrank71@skiphotmail.com (Violet Frank) wrote:

Hello, Violet.  I'm just passing through the newsgroup but would like to
add my 2¢.  A while back I started taking take Omega-3 capsules and
putting ground up flaxseed in my oatmeal and cold cereal.  I did for a
"healthy heart."  After a couple months I noticed my head was much
clearer and I wasn't "blue" (which I consider to be normal for me).  I
looked it up on the net and found out Omega does help the brain and has
been used to treat depression.  I don't think this was a coincidence in
my case.

I stopped taking it, because, while I like regimen I get bored with it
and I hate taking pills.  After a while I felt like I was in a haze but
my depression stayed away.  Anyway, I'm back on regimen (and hopefully
will get serious about dieting soon!).

I honestly believe Omega-3 helps with my brain function and emotional
well-being.  I've told friends and family to consider taking it.  (By
the way, my father suffers from Alzheimer's but I don't consider Omega-3
a cure-all.)