In recent years, medical news has been full of information about “gut health,” and it’s become increasingly obvious that the bacteria and overall state of your gut is essential to overall health.
People do all sorts of things to improve the health of their gut — including taking probiotics and prebiotics, going on cleanses, cutting out sugars, and even going vegetarian. But little do they know that one of the absolute best ways to get a better gut is to start taking omega-7.
Omega-7 Defined
Omega-7 is what is known as a fatty acid. It’s also called palmitoleic acid. Fatty acids are essential because they act as a primary source of energy. Out of all the omega fatty acids that exist, omega-7 is one of the least talked about. You’ve probably heard of omega-3 and omega-6, but omega-7 is less popular. Still, that doesn’t mean it’s not equally as important, if not more.
In recent years, omega-7 has become gained some attention because people are starting to realize its amazing capabilities — especially for gut and metabolic health.
The Importance of Gut Health
We mentioned at the beginning of this article that gut health is essential for overall health. However, why is this? What’s so great about the gut?
In fact, it has quite a few vital functions, including relaying important information to your immune system, regulating sugar in the body, and modifying your mood. Below, we’ve outlined the particular key ways that omega-7 can benefit your gut and metabolic health.
The Benefits of Omega-7 for the Gut
1. It repairs the lining of your gut.
One of the biggest benefits of omega-7 is how it takes care of your mucous membrane. Like the entirety of your gut, the mucous membrane is essential for maintaining regularity in digestion and providing and protecting your overall health.
Many people can suffer from irritated or dry mucous membranes, and this can cause numerous digestive health conditions or symptoms of poor digestion. Omega-7 can repair these problems, fixing the mucous lining and gastric tissue to solve common digestive issues.
2. It’s an anti-inflammatory.
Digestive issues are often caused, or even exacerbated, by inflammation. This is why anti-inflammatories like omega-7 are essential.
Inflammation can beget inflammation. If your gut lining has not been repaired because you aren’t ingesting enough omega-7, this can create a common digestive issue called leaky gut syndrome. This occurs when undigested bacteria and food particles can pass through the damaged lining of your gut and cause further inflammation throughout your body’s systems.
3. It can help you lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.
How your gut operates and functions often depends on how much you weigh and how fast your body digests and stores fat. Omega-7 is a big influencer here. Some research suggests that unlike other fatty acids, Omega-7 may oxidize fat and metabolize it more efficiently, and this may prevent it from being stored by the body.
4. It fights metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is a common problem that can lead to type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Symptoms include chronic inflammation, obesity (especially excess weight around the stomach), elevated insulin resistance and glucose, lipid disturbances (high levels of bad cholesterol and low levels of good cholesterol), and high blood pressure.
Omega-7 can help you guard against metabolic syndrome by combatting many of these contributors. It is a strong anti-inflammatory, can help with obesity, regulates glucose, and also lowers bad cholesterol as we outline in the bonus benefit below.
5. Bonus: It lowers bad cholesterol.
Finally, omega-7 is excellent for lowering cholesterol. After consumed omega-7 passes through your gut, it goes a step further by smoothing the artery passageways, preventing the build-up of atherosclerotic plaque, and lowering LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) and raising HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol). This can lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.
How to Get More Omega-7 in Your Diet
If you’d like to reap the benefits of omega-7, you’ll need to pay a little more attention to your diet. First, know that omega-7 can most easily be found in dairy products like milk, yoghurt, and cheese.
Next, keep in mind that non-fatty foods simply do not contain omega-7, so avoid non-fat dairy products like low-fat milk or low-fat cheese. These foods won’t provide the essential omega-7 you need.