As you may or may not be aware, HDL particles are good. Years ago, total cholesterol was believed to be a primary risk factor for heart disease. Now, it is known that LDL particles are the problem.

LDL particles are smaller than HDL. They stick to the arterial walls, becoming oxidized and hardened. This causes inflammation of the arteries, which further narrows them. Eventually, a hardened clump can break away, forming a clot that can cause a heart attack or a stroke. If that does not occur, the accumulation can eventually reach a point where blood flow is completely blocked. That causes a heart attack, too.

Doctors began to look at the connection between fish oil and cholesterol, because of observational studies. The Western diet has now spread to most areas of the world, but at one time it was possible to observe the traditional diets of isolated natives.

The traditional Eskimo diet was very high in fat, but the incidence of heart disease was very low and very few people were overweight. Those observations were made years ago, but it made researchers curious about the difference between good dietary fats and bad ones.

Today, we know that saturated and trans-fatty acids are bad for our health. They play no role in the body and are unnecessary in the diet. Omega6s and omega3s, however, are essential to the diet. They perform a variety of roles in the human body. They also balance each other out.

So, researchers began to look at fish oil and cholesterol, because the Eskimo diet was rich in fatty fish like salmon and because the omega3 to omega6 ratio is unlike that found in any other type of fat. In most oils and fats, there are far more omega6s than omega3s. In corn oil, for example, there are 40 times more omega6s than omega3s. The ratio is 40:1. Canola oil has the best ratio of 1:1.

Fish oil contains far more omega3s than omega6s. The ratios vary, depending on the type of fish that is used and the way that the supplement is processed, but in the better oils, 4% or less is omega6, while 50% or more is omega3. That means that the ratio looks like this 4:50. Other oils are good source of omega3s, but there is nothing like that which comes from fatty fishes.

The connection between fish oil and cholesterol is understandable, particularly in the typical Western diet. It isn't a miracle drug. We still need to watch what we eat and exercise regularly, but it is one of the best supplements that we can take for our health.

Just be sure that the supplement you choose is of the highest purity and provides at least 500mg of omega3 fatty acids per capsule. If the news spreads about fish oil and cholesterol reduction, we could see an end to hazardous statin drugs. One can always hope.