Fish Oil

HI DocT and all,

6 g of EPA/DHA is about 30 caps a day of 1000 mg fish oil (We’re talking about the EPA and DHA, not the actually amount of fish oil). That’s a lot of pills to swallow and it would become expensive quickly. Plus, the belching and burping you would experience is not nice.

The beneficial effects of EPA/DHA are seen with 1 to 1.2 g a day which can be attained with only 6 1000mg caps a day. That is a totally reasonable amount to take, and any more than that is almost a waste of time and money.

Plus, food forms of EPA/DHA are more potent and effective. You can either eat 150 g salmon a few times a week (does not have to be everyday, and actually is better not to eat it that often) to provide you with 3 g of EPA/DHA, or 85 g of sardines, 85 g of herring, 150 g of trout, and even 85 g of white canned tuna (give you 0.7g of EPA/DHA). Personally, I’d rather eat food than pop another pill…

This is not an attack on you at all DocT. It’s just a friendly discussion. :slight_smile:

Cass, I’m not taking it as an attack at all. We’re all in this for the same reason, that being the search for some kind of truth. Besides, you’re too nice to be attacking people.

Anyway, I get my 6g of EPA/DHA from 14 caps of Member’s Mark Extra Strength Fish Oil currently. It’s a pain to take, but it’s better than 20 or 30. And I get it for about $16 a month. Maybe things are more expensive where you are.

And I understand that most studies done to date have been done so with lower doses. Unfortunately we can’t extrapolate those results and say that higher doses are not any more beneficial and/or are harmful.

Just my two cents.

Mayfield,

Thanks for the reply! I remember reading that things like the growth hormones or antibiotics are not fat soluable, so they’re stored in the water portion, but I’m not sure which is stored where. This would mean that skim milk is worse than whole milk. I forget what is stored in fat, but I know DDT is one of them. I’ll try to find this info for you.

Take care,
Neil

sorry about the typo: i had written that the doy produces 400 times as much, it’s 4 times.

Just wanted to add some info to this thread.

Vitamin Shoppe brand now has a lemon/lime flavored liquid fish oil in 8oz bottles.
Per teaspoon: 850mg. EPA, 560mg. DHA

I’ve been using it about a week and find it very palatable. So tasty that I’m tempted to return my almost full bottle of TwinLab Super Max EPA to where it came from. No, not the store…the Atlantic Ocean! (Which I live about a block away from.)

Hah. I guess I better stop taking 30 caps to get my 9g then.

I do exactly as rickc stated. My fish oil caps (Member’s Mark from Sam’s Club) contain the same amount that he mentioned. I take 10 caps each day (3 grams).

Nate, 10 caps from Members Mark! I thought you were a follower of Mercola’s. What about mercury and PCBs?

Nope, I’ve never been a follower of Mercola’s or used anything recommended by him.

Member’s Mark fish oil caps are fairly inexpensive and high quality.

Nate,

“Member’s Mark fish oil caps are fairly inexpensive and high quality.”

Just wondering how you know this.

Nate,

Do they have cholesterol listed in the label? If they do they most likely contain PCB’s and mercury, because the same process that eliminates them gets rid of cholesterol.

John Berardi has recommended them in the past.

I don’t have the bottle in front of me, so I can’t tell you about PCB’s and mercury content at this time.

They suit me just fine. Until Biotest comes out with their new fish oil supplements, I will continue to use the Member’s Mark fish oil caps.

Where does Flax come into the picture? I see everyone stating that they take 30 caps, 15 caps, 14 caps, etc of fish oil…but I thought that the alpha linolenic acid in flax seed oil gets metabolized into EPA/DHA by the body. Am I wrong? For example…I take 1 tbsp of flax oil each day which contains about 7000 mg of ALA. I think I read previously that not all of the ALA in flax will be turned into EPA/DHA, but don’t quote me…;o) So, how much does actually indeed get metabolized into EPA/DHA?

I take 10 caps of fish oil which equals 3000 mg OR 3 grams of EPA/DHA. My question is how much EPA/DHA am I getting out of the 7000 mg of ALA in the flax seed oil I am taking?

And don’t worry NeilG and Cass…I am getting my SFA’s and MUFA’s in there too. Lean red meat, whole eggs, and extra virgin olive oil are staples in my diet as well…;o)

The process of convertion of ALA to EPA is not very efficient and to DHA is pratically null. This conversion is the more effective the less real omega 3 you have on your diet, so for someone taking enough fish oils flax won’t do much. If you can’t have fish oils, then I suppose it’s better than nothing.

NeilG:

I posted that fat article about a year ago. It’s very interesting. I believe Cy Willson read most of it and gave comments. He agreed with some but not all of it. All I know is that the article is quite convincing and on the other hand so is Udo Erasmus. So I don’t know who to believe. :frowning:

Anybody know what Poliquin reccomends on this? Doesnt he reccomend like mega-doses of fish oils on his diets?

“John Berardi has recommended them in the past.”

In all fairness, and with all due respect to John Berardi, how does this make them high quality, or lack heavy metals?

I know Dr. Mercola recommended the same brand in the past, but more recently he said he changed his mind about it due to heavy metals or something.

I just just called Member’s Mark (888) 667-8678. The process that they use in their fish oils is called molecular distillation. This produces as heavy metal free fish oil as possible (I think the woman said there was <.01 micrograms per cap). This is the same process that other high quality brands e.g. nordic naturals use. Member’s Mark also tests their fish oils for pollutants e.g. PCBs. Sooo this seems like a high quality product.

Opps, it wasn’t Member’s Mark that Mercola mentioned. Sorry…I was wrong about that.

BUT, it’s interesting what he mentioned about Costco fish oil caps. He said he had them tested and they were low in heavy metals and low in oxidation, but he noticed problems with taking this brand.

It looks like just pollutant and heavy metal content isn’t the only factor in fish oil quality. Maybe all the processing can do something bad to it.

A7,

I naturally have high blood pressure and take medication. I also have mitral valve prolapse. When supplementing with high doses of fish oil I experience a definite increase in heart arrhythmias. It is uncomfortable and kind of scary sometimes, as they are unexpected. I never had this problem when supplementing with Flax oil though. Just letting you know, you aren’t the only one that reacts that way.