BY CLAIR WHITTY
Wild Atlantic Health, an Irish company down in Cork, has developed a number of innovative home health tests to measure nutritional deficiencies. They’re a passionate bunch of people who feel that preventive health is the future.
Knowing your Omega-3 Index identifies the underlying level of silent inflammation in your body and is more informative than a standard cholesterol test. The Omega 3 Index measures the % of Omega 3 in your red blood cells. Lower than 4% is the danger zone and 8-12% is the optimal level.
Levels higher than 8% help maintain heart, brain, eye and joint health and reduce the risk of cognitive and cardiovascular problems and, amazingly, increase life expectancy by 5 years.
That in itself is motivation to take the Test but there would be little point in me telling you about it unless I had done one myself. I got my husband Denis to take the test too. He takes fish oils regularly and eats tins of mackerel a couple of times a week, while I tend to be on and off fish oils.
Well, lo and behold, the results came back online. I had naively thought mine would be better than Denis’s, but the proof is in the blood. His result was excellent being in the optimal range at 8.12%. I was at 5.22%. He is perfect! I was in the ‘you need to work on this’ and probably won’t live this down.
Now that I have a starting point, I will re-test in four months to see if taking fish oils regularly and eating more oily fish helps improve my numbers. I will let you know how I get on. You can get omega 3 from plant sources too, but your body has to convert it into active EPA and DHA.
The Test requires a simple finger prick and a sample of blood is dropped onto a collection card. The card is registered online and put into a prepaid envelope and posted to the lab. Within 2 weeks you’ll receive an email with your results and recommendations.
I will be on the radio soon talking about testing. We have invited Wild Atlantic into our stores to tell you more about these exciting products and to answer all your questions. You can find out more details on our website www.naturalhealthstore.ie.
Shop online at www.naturalhealthstore.ie where you’ll be able to take a look at these brands.
Natural Health Store, Market Cross Shopping Centre
Phone: 056 7764538
Email: info@naturalhealthstore.ie
