Krill Oil Benefits for Arthritis

Krill, these tiny crustacea feeding on phytoplankton are found in many oceans of the world, and appear to be the answer to many  of today's health problems. The sought after krill for the health industry are obtained , hopefully,from the pristine waters of the Antartic, krill from other waters may not have the same nutritional value.

 Canadian researchers published the findings of a randomized, double blind study designed to assess the effects of Neptune Krill Oil (NKO) on levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients with chronic inflammation. The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

Arthritis symptoms were assessed using the WOMAC arthritis score assessment. Researchers found that "NKO reduced pain scores by 28.9%, reduced stiffness by 20.3% and reduced functional impairment by 22.8%".

The journal, Alternative Medicine Review reported that "krill oil is effective for the management of hyperlipidemia by significantly reducing total cholesterol, LDL, and triglycerides, and increasing HDL levels. At lower and equal doses, krill oil was significantly more effective than fish oil for the reduction of glucose, triglycerides, and LDL levels."

Another study Titled: Effects of Krill Oil on serum lipids of hyperlipidemic rats and human SW480 cells
Author: Zhu Jia-Jin ; Shi Jia-Hui ; Qian Wen-Bin ; Cai Zhen-Zhen ; Li Duo

Evaluated effects of krill oil (KO) on serum lipids of hyperlipidemia rats and human colon cancer cells (SW480). Serum lipids of rats fed with high fat diet (HFD) and different doses of KO were measured by automatic analyzer. Effect of KO on viability of cells was determined by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay.

Except for higher dose group, body weights decreased significantly. Total cholesterol (TC), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) of all dose groups, Triglycerides (TG) of low and mid dose groups descended significantly, while there were no significant differences of HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), compared with control group. Treatment of colon cancer cells with KO also resulted in time-dependent inhibition of cell growth.

Conclusion

Our findings indicated that the consumption of KO may provide benefits to control serum lipid levels in certain diseases and inhibit growth of colon cancer cells. Therefore, KO may be a good candidate for development as a functional food and nutraceutical.

For sometime alternative health practitioners and researchers have studied the effects of Krill oil on their patients, as compared to fish oil. They have noted the positive and far reaching health benefits it has provided for their patients. Not only has their arthritis shown improvement, but many other long standing health issues have been resolved.

Krill oil nourishes the joints, increases their flexibility and mobility, it regulates blood sugar, protects the cardiovascular system, protects cell membranes, regulates blood lipids, alleviates PMS symptoms, nourishes and protects the skin, slows down the aging process, maintains healthy liver function, protects the brain and nervous system function, and generally improves mood and overall quality of life.