Health Values

The beneficial health effects of marine oils are now well established and almost exclusively attributed to the omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially EPA and DHA. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for the human body and must be obtained through the diet. The most abundant source of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA are fish and fish oils.

Fish oil, such as cod liver oil, has been a valuable export for the Icelandic people for ages and is even mentioned in the Icelandic Sagas. Early 20th century scientists discovered vitamin D and its beneficial health effects. Since cod liver oil is one of nature’s most abundant sources of vitamin D it soon became a popular raw material for vitamin D production. It was as a result of this that LYSI was founded in 1938.

Mid-20th century scientists discovered the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in animals and plants. In the late 1960s it became evident that the omega-3 PUFA might have beneficial effects on the heart and cardiovascular diseases. Since then thousands of studies have been published describing the various beneficial health effects of omega-3 PUFA, especially EPA and DHA.

For a long time researchers focused on the beneficial effects of EPA on heart diseases and various inflammatory disorders. Recently there has been a dramatic shift of interest towards DHA and its beneficial effects on pregnancy, infants, brain and nervous system development and various mental illnesses.

This part of our home page is comprised of abstracts from interesting pier reviewed papers on the various beneficial health effects of the omega-3 fatty acids from fish and fish oils.