Study Shows Usefulness of Omega 3 Fats for Weight Loss

Many people are still under the misguided impression that all fats are bad for you,
especially if you want to lose weight. Now a new study may help to show those
looking to lose weight that omega 3 fats really can help.

A new study has shown that obese people receiving supplements of omega 3 fatty acids
while following a weight loss programme experienced a feeling of fullness for
longer, which may in the long-term help to prevent overeating and so aid weight
loss.

"We show that the long chain omega 3 fatty acids can affect postprandial appetite
sensations in volunteers during a period of weight loss induced by energy
restriction," wrote lead author Dolores Parra in the journal Appetite.

"The usefulness of long chain omega-3 fatty acids in the nutritional treatment of
obesity has to be investigated further, since they could improve the patients'
compliance to changes in dietary habits required for weight loss and weight loss
maintenance."

"The most important finding of this study is that subjects who eat a dinner rich in
long chain omega-3 fatty acids feel less hunger and more full directly after and 2
hours after then their counterparts fed with the low long chain omega-3 fatty acids
diet," wrote the authors.


Source: Appetite
Published online ahead of print 14 June 2008, doi:
"A diet rich in long chain omega 3 fatty acids modulates satiety in overweight and
obese volunteers during weight loss"
Authors: Dolores Parra, A. Ramel, N. Bandarra, M. Kiely, J.A. Martinez, I. Thorsdottir