This interesting thing here, if you're interested at all, is essential vs non-essential foods. Your body can manufacture most of the thousands of substances it needs. There are just a few (even though it may seem like a lot) vitamins, minerals, aminos, and fatty acids that your body CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT. In other words, you must consume these few or you will get sick and/or possibly die.
When these trace substances were first discovered, it wasn't even accepted by the scientific community. Originally, they were called vit-amines which was a conjunction of vital and amines since it was believed at the time that all these substances were amines. Even today, we know very little about how much or how little of these molecules and elements we need. What are the symptoms of a manganese deficiency? What it we think someone is getting too little copper?
The point is we are beginning to discover that many people are very individual as to what they may need. This probably occurred because for many generations, certain elements and molecules were present in the rich soils of different soils all over the world. Today, our crops are rotated and the soil is just a medium to grow in and the rest of what the plant might need to survive is infused with only what the plant needs to grow - not what is healthiest for the plant or what is best when it is consumed. Similarly, the animals in farms consume the plants from this same depleted soil and they also have vitamin deficiencies.
Before I get too off-topic let's just talk about essential and non-essential. Non-essential means your body can produce it and essential means you need to consume, in some way, that mineral, vitamin, or element.
Here's a fun fact. Among all the animals on Earth, just a couple can't naturally produce ascorbic acid (vitamin C). In other words, if you don't eat vitamin C, you'll die. And die many people did. Thousands on long trips at sea died from scurvy which was simply a vitamin deficiency. American ships stocked lemons eventually and British Navy's stocked limes (that's were the term "limey" came from for a British person).
Salt. If you completely eliminated salt from your diet, you would eventually die. There are many of these elements and minerals that we require. But if we talk essential, we have to be practical.
You could probably live for a long time just eating a single fruit per month. Would you feel good? What might the symptoms be? We really have no idea. You might lose your hair, or get depressed, or feel anxiety, or have poor eyesight. The truth is, we know almost nothing about deficiencies. We rarely know when there is too much! There are studies upon studies that will contradict each other and leave you more confused than ever.
Even cholesterol in general is still debated as to its role in increasing or decreasing mortality. Studies show in certain populations this could be the case but could be something unrelated altogether. Other populations live similar lifespans with much higher total cholesterol.
So what you're left with is making sure you get a wide variety of food so that at least you have a better chance of covering all you requirements. Also, it's important to make sure you know where your foods are coming from!
Since we're talking about fish oil and short-chain fatty acids, let's change over now from micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) to macronutrients - proteins and fats and carbs. There are no essential carbs but we now know, we know for a fact, that there are essential fatty acids and essential amino acids. Amino acids are more straightforward because if your body is deficient, if will just eat your own aminos (your tissue). You don't want you're body breaking down muscle, which is an unhealthy state. The same doesn't apply to fats. Your body will break some fats down but it won't create a good lipid profile, healthy skin, mental concentration, and anti-inflammatory response, among many other things that having blood full of healthier short-chain fats. In fact, in "survival mode" your body doesn't care much at all about your long term health - just your immediate survival.
In conclusion, getting "just enough" of certain short-chain fatty acids will ensure your survival but we now can physically feel and report increase wellbeing and have proven way beyond a reasonable doubt that your longevity, vitality, and standard of living will increase if A LARGER PERCENTAGE of the fats you consume are essential omega-3's, 6's, and 9's. It's not "snake oil" any longer. It's science.
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