The Role of Essential Fatty Acids in Your Body
Essential for Biological Processes
The human body is capable of producing most of the fatty acids it needs, except for linoleic acid (LA), an omega-6 fatty acid, and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega 3 fatty acid.
These therefore have to be obtained from the diet and are considered "essential fatty acids" (EFAs).
Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the most common omega-3 fatty acid in most Western diets, is found in vegetable oils and nuts (especially walnuts), flax seeds and flaxseed oil, leafy vegetables, and some animal fat, especially in grass-fed animals.
Alpha-linoleic acid has a specific role in maintaining the skin water-permeability barrier.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids: An Essential Contribution
The human body can make most of the types of fats it needs from other fats or raw materials. That isn’t the case for omega-3 fatty acids (also called omega-3 fats and n-3 fats). These are essential fats—the body can’t make them from scratch but must get them from food.
However, as conversion to the omega 3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is limited, it is recommended that sources of these specific fats are also included in the diet. Foods and oils containing EFAs include oily fish, flaxseeds, chia seeds, evening primrose oil, blackcurrant seed oil and borage oil.
Omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids
Research suggests the "typical" Western diet currently contains 14 to 25 times more omega 6 fatty acids than omega 3 fatty acids and this is a major problem.
Omega-3 fats lower blood pressure and heart rate, improve blood vessel function, and, at higher doses, lower triglycerides and may ease inflammation, which plays a role in the development of atherosclerosis.
A balanced diet needs to contain both omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acids help reduce inflammation, whereas omega 6 fatty acids tend to promote inflammation.
What makes omega-3 fats special?
They are an integral part of cell membranes throughout the body and affect the function of the cell receptors in these membranes. They provide the starting point for making hormones that regulate blood clotting, contraction and relaxation of artery walls, and 
inflammation.
Omega-3 fats have been shown to help prevent heart disease and stroke. They may help control lupus, eczema, and rheumatoid arthritis, and may play protective roles in cancer and other conditions.
The strongest evidence for a beneficial effect of omega-3 fats has to do with heart disease. These fats appear to help the heart beat at a steady clip and not veer into a dangerous or potentially fatal erratic rhythm.
Fish Oil Trials
Several large trials have evaluated the effect of fish or fish oils on heart disease. In the Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Sopravvivenza nell’Infarto Miocardio (
known as the GISSI Prevention Trial), heart attack survivors who took a 1-gram capsule of omega-3 fats every day for three years were less likely to have a repeat heart attack, stroke, or die of sudden death than those who took a placebo.
Notably, the risk of sudden cardiac death was reduced by about 50 percent.
