Essential Fatty Acids

You read a lot about how fat spoils your health and adds to your weight. Do you know that essential fatty acids are needed by the body to sustain life? Essential fatty acid deficiency can create a varied set of problems.

Essential fatty acids also called EFA, is a common requirement. Children with essential fatty acids deficiency are as common as overweight children. If increased fat in children causes overweight, the lack of essential fatty acids in children and adults cause a weight loss. Weight loss EFA is not something uncorrectable. You can treat EFA deficiency easily by sourcing food with essential fatty acids.

EFAs are normally not constructed or produced by humans within the body. All the EFA that is required has to be sourced along with the food that is taken in. Essential fatty acids were originally called Vitamin-F but were found to be closer to fats later. There are two forms of essential fatty acids. The Omega 3 and Omega 6; both are convertible from one form to the other and both are essential.

Essential fatty acid is present in a number of foods that you normally consume. Therefore, this gets into your body without much effort and the balance is maintained. Fish, shell fish, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds are known to contain large stores of EFA. The main sources for essential fatty acids include a number of oils like flaxseed Oil, canola, hemp oil and more than 40 different oils.

The lack of essential fatty acids in human nutrition has psychological and physiological effects on human beings. The essential fatty acids ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is one of the effects caused by EFA deficiency in human beings, particularly, children. Many studies have been done which shows that Essential Fatty Acids and the immune system are interconnected. Lack of Omega-6 EFA gives rise to a higher incidence of cold and other viral attacks. That could also explain why if you lack essential fatty acids, eicosinoids are caused.

In women, the deficiency of essential fatty acids affects menstrual cycle and its periodicity. It has also been found that EFAs and acne are closely associated. Lack of EFA could bring up more acne and if you are that girl who wants to throw out acne it is better to ensure appropriate EFA levels in your body are maintained. EFA supplements are just one way of getting out of this impasse.