Omega 3 Benefits for Men: Everything You Should Know

It happens to every guy; at some point, you feel like you’re losing your competitive edge. Whether you’re finding it harder to keep up with your kids during a game of basketball or simply finding yourself slower with decision making, discovering that you are, in fact, aging can be a sobering realization.

Once you recognize the signs of aging, like most of us, you probably start looking for ways to turn back the hands of time, or at least slow them down a little. Diet and exercise are easy boxes to check, and taking a supplement seems like a natural progression into better health, but which one should you take?

Omega-3 is famous for being the “healthy” fat, so let’s explore if taking a fish oil supplement that contains omega-3 is a good option for guys who want to support their overall health and have a little more control over their aging. 

(Spoiler: there’s a better fatty acid out there to support healthy aging.)

What Is Omega-3?

Omega-3 is a polyunsaturated fatty acid that was discovered over 90 years ago by a husband and wife team of scientists. This team discovered that many of the processes in our bodies require omega-3 fatty acids to work, but our bodies can’t make them on their own. This makes them essential. 

For a vitamin or nutrient to be essential, our body must have it but is not able to make it, so we need to obtain it from the foods we eat, or through supplements. 

Omega-3 is found in large amounts in fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, and herring. It’s also found in certain nuts and seeds, and in plant oils like flaxseed oil and canola oil. 

Even if you don’t think you consume a lot of these foods, you’re probably still getting plenty of omega-3 in your diet. A simple blood test can reveal how much omega-3 you have circulating in your body. 

What Does Omega-3 Do For Your Body?

Omega-3s have a lot of science behind them showing multiple benefits, like reducing triglycerides and decreasing your risk of heart disease, but they also have a lot of claims with a lot less scientific support behind them. Omega-3, for instance, cannot cure or prevent cancer, and won’t prevent you from developing heart disease, even if it does reduce the risk. 

Here’s a look at what it can do.

Support Heart Health

You know it as the heart-healthy fat, and to some degree, this is true. Omega-3 fatty acids do support heart health when taken correctly and combined with a healthy lifestyle. 

Omega-3 helps regulate the amount of triglycerides circulating in your blood. These triglycerides are needed by your body, but too many triglycerides can lead to high cholesterol, plaque build-up in your arteries, and an increased risk of heart disease. 

Omega-3 helps support healthy triglyceride levels, but taking too much omega-3 can actually be detrimental to your health because fish oil supplements often contain high doses of other ingredients, too, like vitamin A. 

In other words, if you’re getting enough omega-3 from your diet, you may not need to take an additional omega-3 supplement.

Eye Health

There are numerous studies that support omega-3’s ability to bolster your eye health. One of the most promising effects of taking an omega-3 supplement is the reduction of dry eye in patients. Taking omega-3 helps the structures in your eye maintain their integrity, and helps support overall eye health. 

Whether or not omega-3 plays a hand in helping reduce your risk of developing age-related eye diseases, like macular degeneration, remains to be seen. Pun intended.

Mental Health

In recent years, research has begun to determine what, if any, effect omega-3 has on patients suffering from depression and cognitive disorders, like Alzheimer's disease. 

Of the people who have been studied, those with lower circulating levels of omega-3 fatty acids tend to be the patients who suffer most frequently from depression.

As such, taking an omega-3 supplement may support a more balanced mood and even improve cognitive function, but prescribing a patient a fish oil tablet in lieu of a selective serotonin uptake inhibitor (SSRI) isn’t a viable option for people suffering from depression or other mood disorders. 

Omega-3 Benefits For Men

While men can certainly benefit from the heart, eye, and mood support offered by omega-3, there are other ways this fatty acid may benefit men directly. 

In animal studies, omega-3 had a significant effect on erectile dysfunction that was caused by atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a condition in which the blood vessels and arteries become hardened with plaque. For men, this can cause erectile dysfunction. 

Because omega-3 supports healthy triglyceride levels, researchers began studying whether or not taking omega-3 could help patients whose erectile dysfunction was caused by arterial hardening. It turns out, omega-3 was beneficial in helping reduce erectile dysfunction that was a result of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. 

It’s worth noting these studies were only performed in animals, so one should not conclude that omega-3s will have the same effect in humans.

Additional studies (involving human males) showed that taking omega-3  helped support testicular function. This is likely because of the involvement of omega-3 with certain reproductive cells in a man’s body. 

Risks of Taking Omega-3 For Men

Even though taking a fish oil supplement is generally considered safe and has few side effects, there are some to consider. For one, you’ll need to take a lot of omega-3 each day. On average, dosing ranges from 2000-3000 milligrams per day. 

You’ll also be subjected to the signature fish-burp aftertaste that is impossible to escape. Because omega-3 supplements contain fish oil, there’s almost always a really unpleasant aftertaste, even in “burpless” formulas. 

Fish oil isn’t the only ingredient you’ll find in a fish oil supplement, either. Checking the labels of your supplements is important because many include surprising ingredients to help preserve the tablets or make them more shelf-stable. 

Lastly, and most importantly for men, at least one study indicated that taking high doses of omega-3 could be associated with an increased risk of developing prostate cancer. Research is still ongoing, but it’s something to keep on your radar when deciding whether or not taking an omega-3 is right for you. 

Want to improve your health without the risk (or fishy taste)? Pentadecanoic acid can help. 

A Better Fatty Acid

Pentadecanoic acid, also known as C15:0, was discovered as a beneficial fatty acid by a veterinary epidemiologist who was studying how to continually improve the health and welfare of older dolphins.

This epidemiologist found that some older dolphins, but not all, developed aging-associated conditions. 

One of the key differences? The healthier, older dolphins had more C15:0 in their diet.

Once they’d made the connection, research began on whether or not C15:0 would have the same effect on humans. A growing body of evidence now supports that C15:0 can benefit human health, too.† 

How C15:0 Works

C15:0 works by diving deep into your cells, supporting them and helping them age more healthfully.* As we get older, two things happen to our cells that cause them to decline: the cell membranes that protect them become more fragile as we age, and their mitochondria begin to lose function. 

C15:0 is like life support for struggling cells, and it helps by:*

• Strengthening cell membranes. C15:0 is a sturdy fatty acid that is capable of integrating into cell walls, fortifying them and helping them remain strong and protected from external stressors. 
• Supporting mitochondrial function. Studies show that C15:0 can increase your mitochondrial function by 45%, helping your cells function more like they did when you were younger. That’s pretty big news for guys that feel like they’re slowing down. 

C15:0 also supports other areas of your health. By binding with PPAR receptors located all over your body, C15:0 can help regulate and balance mood, weight, and even sleep.*

How To Get More C15:0

Getting more C15:0 into your diet could be hard. It’s found in trace amounts in whole dairy products like full-fat butter and cheese, and in some fish. Thankfully, there’s a supplement that offers a solution. 

Fatty15 is the first and only supplement to offer the pure, vegan-friendly version of C15:0, FA15™. Fatty15 is easy to take, and unlike a fish oil supplement, won’t leave you with a horrible aftertaste. In fact, it has no taste at all. 

You’ll also only need 100 milligrams a day, because our bodies actually require less C15:0 than they do omega-3s to achieve a beneficial effect.

Final Notes

Omega-3 may have some worthwhile benefits, but the side effects may make it a non-viable option for you. Not to mention, none of us really want to suffer from fishy-smelling breath every day. 

Make the choice that allows you to take better control of your body by practicing better cellular health, and go with a supplement that lets you age on your own terms. 

Get started with your fatty15 30-day trial kit here. 

Sources:

Omega 3 Fatty Acids-Health Professional|ODS.NIH.gov 

A fish a day, keeps the cardiologist away! – A review of the effect of omega-3 fatty acids in the cardiovascular system|NCBI 

Effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Erectile Dysfunction in a Rat Model of Atherosclerosis-induced Chronic Pelvic Ischemia|NCBI 

Association of Fish Oil Supplement Use With Testicular Function in Young Men|Jama Network 

Plasma Phospholipid Fatty Acids and Prostate Cancer Risk in the SELECT Trial|Academic.OUP