Benefits of Fish Oil

@Zaneblue

Will do that (I am using drug store pills and at a lowish dosage, because I cannot afford the more expensive ones for now). Thanks

You might find the ultra-refined fish oil a better deal. Not the expensive brands, but there was a thread on here somewhere with some very cheap deals for high-grade fish oil, would probably work out cheaper than taking a lot of the drugstore brand, unless you got a special bulk deal or something.

Thanks for all the info zaneblue!

I was using flax for the EFA 3,6,9

6 teaspoonds a day? I’ll try it.

I already am.

:D :kisskiss:

Ok.

The flax oil is a waste of time then. EFA 3, 6, 9 stands for essential fatty acids, omega-3, omega-6, and omega-9. Unless you are eating like an Inuit you are already getting plenty of omega-6 in your diet. For example, even beef and chicken in this country are high in omega-6 fatty acids because of the American practice of feeding grain to livestock and poultry. Omega-6’s cancel out omega-3’s, in a sense. And the omega-3 fatty acid in flax oil is ALA, which has a 30 to 1 conversion ratio to EPA and DHA. Waste of money.

Be sure not to exceed that amount. The American heart association recommends that EPA+DHA consumption greater than 2 grams should be done under the supervision of a physician. At the standard 180 mg for EPA and 120mg for DHA in each 1000mg capsule, you’re approaching the threshold by taking six of these. Smart fellow that you are, though, I’m guessing you already know this.

If you take more, what harm can it cause? It would be just like eating a lot of fish, right?

Yeah,

but the AMHA isn’t monitoring inuits, coastal dwellers of yore and today etc. I mean, lots of people - entire populations - have had consumptions higher than that. Of course one can argue that our life span is higher today than before, but I don’t buy that. I can’t recall people dying from bleeding to death being a major problem in the past, nor can I recall that fishermen in Sri Lanka, inuits, japanese or island dwellers in Sweden have that problem either. I’m not sure who has tried to estimate the ideal ratios Omega3:Omega6, but I’ve seen figures ranging between 1:3 and 1:7, and I’m certain a lot of thought has gone into those figures, considering they’ve been published and quoted extensively. To get to 1:3 you need to consume a lot of fish, and that means more than 6 grams daily for average intake of fat.

My point isn’t that AMHA are wrong - I think that they are probably just being conservative considering the increased risk of bleeding etc. Question is, is this a problem that is real for “normal” people or a problem that is (possibly) more severe in the US, where the average intake of trans-fatty acids, Omega6 etc is higher than the rest of the world, the average weight (obesity) is higher and so on? Is the AMHAs conservative recommendation related to that - is increased risk of bleeding really a problem for everyone, or is mostly for those that AMHA comes into contact with (who have heart problems, high cholesterol and such)? Secondly, to what extent is increased risk for bleeding a problem compared to what might happen if you don’t get enough of Omega3 (risk-reward concerning benefits in other areas)? I wonder to what extent AMHA are just covering their ass with a very conservative recommendation.

By the way, I read the article that Zane linked to - very scary reading, all the links and connections between lack of Omega3 and various malfunctions in the brain. It sure seems like it is prudent - for cerebrary functions - to have a pretty healthy intake of Omega3 daily. Maybe all the way up to 1:3.

Actually I think there’s a decent literature on that (not huge rates of "bleeding to death," but possible links between fishy diets and increased bleeding, which can be a good and a bad thing…). Some links ."

I agree with you, though, that 2 g/day of EPA+DHA is a very conservative "upper limit." Studies using much higher doses have not tended to show problems with bleeding or other issues.

I am recommending that people take well over that amount, but when I do so I try to always post disclaimers about drug interactions, etc. I personally am taking six grams of EPA+DHA per day. However I am 5’10", overweight, and not on any medications. I do recommend short, thin women to only take three grams a day.

People have of course been eating fish to excess for millenia. There is nothing in fish oil that isn’t in fish. At three grams a day that’s the equivalent of a large salmon steak a day. My intake is closer to an Inuit diet, where it’s fish, fish, fish 24x7 (or whale blubber or whatever). Again, the danger is when the diet intersects with modern living, someone on Coumadin and taking lots of Tylenol, etc. If people were eating lots of fish to begin with they wouldn’t need to take Coumadin and Tylenol.

Hobby,
A week ago I bought a bottle of Eskimo3 (https://www.cardinova.com ) and I think I’ll stick to this from now on. Apart from all the benefits they promise that no other brand can offer, it actually is not "gag and chug" at all. It’s oil - for sure - and it has a slightly odd taste that is laced with a fairly distinct dry pine needle taste. Imagine pine needles with a little thyme. The fish burps taste of pine needles - life could be worse. Get a bottle for your mom, she may well consider it palatable.

Alas, the stuff is about twice as expensive as the health care brand (Friggs) that I’ve been gagging and chugging so far.

I bought a bottle of Carlsons fish oil. It’s nasty yeah, but I just chug it like a man. Not too much, couple shots a day. As well as 6 shots or so a day of cider vinegar. Been doing Carrot juice for 5 days straight as well to clean out my system. I feel like going out and roofing the house I have so much energy. I’d recommend a cleanse to anyone. It’s really the discipline thing with me to see how far I can push myself. I chug the vinegar and my wife gags. I pound my chest like King Kong afterwards. What an idiot ha? 35 and I still haven’t grown up and I don’t plan on it. Put a number to your name, and you’ve limited yourself. I don’t think about the number. Means absolutely nothing to me. I’m not aging. Not by a longshot.

Kevin

Mgus, where did you buy the quaffable fish oil?

Don’t shout “Hi” before you are over the stream, as we say in Sweden. I just looked at Cardinova’s homepage, under “products by country” - it seems they only sell softgel capsules in the States. But the name brand is “Tyler” and “Prevail” - I guess that’s the licensed distributor.

In UK they sell the liquid stuff, but according to the pictures of the boxes, it’s “pleasant lemon flavor”. If that’s lemon, I guess my taste buds are a bit uncalibrated.

I’d prefer to be able to drink my fish oil, rather than take so many capsules, but I don’t want the nasty-ass flavor people describe, so the Eskimo stuff sounded good. BUT the prices for the liquid stuff at the American sites I found is just way too high for me. It appears that each 3.5 ounce container has 31.5 g of DHA+EPA total — is that calculation correct?