Picking a Fish Oil

Taking fish oil is becoming a standard part of most if not all nutrition protocols for good reason. With all of the health benefits it provides, from helping with depression, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, decreasing inflammation and pain, helping skin and hair health, promoting weight loss, improving brain function, improving vision, decreasing risk of post partum depression, helping in the normal development of the fetus, reducing risk of heart disease, and it has even been shown to help your dog with overall health as well. With these claims everyone has started to run down to Walmart or their corner drug store or warehouse store top buy fish oil; but before you run out the door to buy fish oil you should know that not all fish oil is created equal. Why can you get a 100 count of omege-3s at Walmart for $9.98, but you walk into our office and it is $49.10 for a 120 count? Why do the products we sell have omega 3 but not 6 and is the EPA to DHA ratio important? What if I don’t like fish or I’m vegetarian can’t I just have flax seed?

First, lets look at manufacturing of fish oil. We have all heard that mercury is bad for us and that fish can be high in mercury. So what stops fish oil supplementation from being high in mercury? If it is not manufactured properly nothing stops it from being high in mercury. Therefore when taking a fish oil it is important that it be properly distilled to remove mercury, lead and other toxins. Another factor to look at in a high quality fish oil product is freshness. If it is not fresh it oxidizes, becoming rancid and is no longer good for you, and in fact may be causing some health problems. How do you know if your fish oil is fresh? Your capsules should not smell fishy. If they smell fishy they have begun oxidizing. Both fishy smell and taste are a sign of poorly manufactured fish oil. Any company can claim they have proper manufacturing practices but only third party testing can guarantee quality, freshness and potency. High quality companies that produce fish oil will allow a third party to test their product and determine if it is what they say.

When it comes to Omega 6s as a population we eat large quantities of food that contain omega 6. Omega 6’s promote inflammation, depress the immune system and increase blood clotting, they are the unhealthy fats. It is estimated that in america we get 20 times more omega 6s than omega 3s. You do not want to be adding any more omega 6 to your diet, in fact you want to be cutting it out!

What is EPA and DHA? DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) are omega-3 essential fatty acids that reside in the membranes surrounding every cell in the body they are required for proper nervous system and brain function. EPA and DHA, like all essential fatty acids, are not produced by the body and must be obtained from diet or supplementation. The ratio of DHA to EPA will be dependent on the condition being treated for. In Pregnancy it is is recommended that 300 mg of DHA be taken a day. A supplement for general wellness will usually have a 1 to 2 DHA to EPA ratio.

One final question that often comes up is omega 3s from fish versus flax. While flax is a plant based omega-3 ALA (alpha-linoleic acid) it has been shown that the conversion from ALA to EPA and DHA is unreliable and some people cannot convert it at all. Therefore, it is better to get your Omega-3s from a fish source.
If you’ve realized you are taking a poor quality fish oil, or none at all be sure to ask for a high quality fish oil supplement next time you are in.