Fish oil supplements?

[Exy]

Anyone know anything about them? I always feel like I should be taking fish oil, since (my sincere efforts to subsist on nothing but lox being insufficient) I doubt I get enough omega-3s.

The thing is I understand the quality of fish oil supplements varies a lot, and there's no easy way to determine by reading the label if it's actually a good source of the relevant chemicals -- or if it's contaminated with large amounts of heavy metals, which I understand has been a problem in some cases.

And I don't really know which and how much omega-3s I should be getting anyway, I know there's DHA and EPA and ALA but I don't know which ones are most beneficial. I tend to distrust the health claims printed on supplement bottles (and foods for that matter) but I don't really know where to look.

So does anyone have any starting points to find out decent, independent information about the quality of particular brands of supplements? As well as reasonably scientifically backed guidelines for how much of which particular chemicals I should be looking for? Obviously I'm looking for something cheap and hopefully easy to find in stores or via the internet.

[Zuul]

I know little about it, but I found a fairly reputable article from the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Their recommendations how much you should be taking:

Dosing for fish oil supplements should be based on the amount of EPA and DHA in the product, not on the total amount of fish oil. Supplements vary in the amounts and ratios of EPA and DHA. A common amount of omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil capsules is 0.18 grams (180 mg) of EPA and 0.12 grams (120 mg) of DHA. Five grams of fish oil contains approximately 0.17 - 0.56 grams (170 -560 mg) of EPA and 0.072 - 0.31 grams (72 - 310 mg) of DHA. Different types of fish contain variable amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, and different types of nuts or oil contain variable amounts of a-linolenic acid. Fish oils contain approximately 9 calories per gram of oil.

...

Individuals taking more than 3 grams daily of omega-3 fatty acids from capsules should do so only under the supervision of a health care provider due to an increase risk of bleeding.

For healthy adults with no history of heart disease: The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends eating fish at least 2 times per week.

For adults with coronary heart disease: The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends an omega-3 fatty acid supplement (as fish oils), 1 gram daily of EPA and DHA. It may take 2 - 3 weeks for benefits of fish oil supplements to be seen.

For adults with high cholesterol levels: The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends an omega-3 fatty acid supplement (as fish oils), 2 - 4 grams daily of EPA and DHA. It may take 2 - 3 weeks for benefits of fish oil supplements to be seen.

I haven't been able to find anything on how to get a reputable source, though. Everybody says you need to, but nobody says precisely how you do that.

[Exy]

I know little about it, but I found a fairly reputable article from the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Their recommendations how much you should be taking:


I haven't been able to find anything on how to get a reputable source, though. Everybody says you need to, but nobody says precisely how you do that.

Thanks, that's actually really helpful -- I didn't know how much would be an appropriate amount to take.

In case anyone else is wondering about this, I paid $12 to get the ConsumerLabs.com report on fish oil supplements (I think they're pretty well regarded -- they buy supplements and send them to labs for analysis) and it turns out there was only one of the several dozen they tested that didn't have the labeled levels of EPA and DHA, and none had significant mercury, so my conclusion is the best way to buy is based on price and the amount of EPA/DHA per pill.

[Jaglavak]

I used to eat fish oil capsules because I'm not big on eating fish. Unfortunately the stinkin things gave me horrible fishy tasting burps from hell for hours. I eventually gave up on them, but I've been told there are brands available with the nasty taste removed.