There’s lots of Omega 3 Fish Oil supplements around, but which are the best?

So you know you ought to be taking Omega 3 supplements for your health, but you’re wondering how to choose between all those fish oil capsules on the market to find the best ones.

So how do you find the best Omega 3 fish oil capsules, or are they all the same?

No they aren’t all the same. There’s quite a number of things you ought to think about. They boil down to 4 main areas. The amount of DHA that you get in your capsules, and the purity of the oil used in the capsules as well as the freshness of the fish oil and the anti inflammatory properties of the particular fish oil capsules.

We know there are some fish oil supplements that seem ridiculously cheap when you look at them, and if you ignore all other factors then they are cheap. But you can’t ignore all the other factors.

1. The amount of DHA in the fish oil supplements.

DHA is the main Omega 3 fatty acid that is of primary benefit to your health. It’s not the only one, EPA is also important, but DHA is the most important. So the first thing you need to do to compare fish oil capsules is to look at the amount of DHA, and to a lesser extent EPA, in the capsules that you are looking at.

Because if one brand of capsules are half the price of another but have half the DHA (and EPA) of the other then they aren’t any cheaper because you’ve got to take twice as many to get the same amount of Omega 3 fats.

Now you’ll find some Omega 3 capsules on the market that don’t tell you how much DHA or EPA are in them. Avoid these, it isn’t hard to put this on the label and if they don’t put it on the label you have to assume they’ve left it off for a reason. There isn’t a lot in there.

Many fish oil capsules are 18/12. This means that 1000 mg (1 gram) of fish oil contains 18% EPA and 12%DHA. This means that, if the capsules are 1000 mg capsules you’re getting 180 mg of EPA and 120 mg of DHA in every capsule.

Not all fish oil supplements are 18/12 though. The best fish oil supplements actually contain 280 mg of DHA, over double the amount of your average 18/12 capsules.

But this information alone isn’t sufficient to make a choice. There’s more.

2. The purity of the fish oil used in the capsules.

If you’ve read any of our site already you’ll know that fish generally is contaminated with various chemicals that are not good for us like mercury and PCBs. For that reason various US government departments warn against eating too much fish, particularly too much of certain top of the food chain fish.

Fish oil capsules obviously contain fish oil, from fish. So why aren’t the contaminants in the fish oil? They are, unless it’s decontaminated particularly rigorously. So you need to know a lot more about the purity of the fish oil used in the capsules, to be confident that the capsules you’re taking don’t contain any contaminants.

There’s a number of different decontamination processes, and a range of different standards that manufacturers can adhere to, (or not adhere to if they choose, none are mandatory), and there’s also varying levels of contamination in fish depending on where the fish come from.

The best fish oil supplements use oil from fish from the Southern Ocean south of Australia and New Zealand. The fish here are way less contaminated than those from the North Sea or the Atlantic where many are sourced, those seas being right between 2 major population centers, North America and Europe. Plenty of pollution from land, and from oil rigs.

The best fish oil capsules are molecularly distilled to remove any contaminants that may be there and they adhere to, and exceed, standards way in excess of the harshest of International standards. Basically they are contamination free.

The standards these fish oil capsules are tested to are totally rigorous. For example the best fish oil capsules are tested to a standard for mercury contamination 10 TIMES LOWER than international standards.

3. The freshness of the fish oil used in the capsules.

Fish oil can go rancid, often the reason why you get that “fishy” taste when you burp after taking capsules. Rancid, or oxidized fish oil contains free radicals and free radicals are bad for your health. You don’t want to be unknowingly adding to the levels of free radicals in your body.

The freshness of fish oil can be measured, but it gets quite complicated. If you want to know more about fish oil freshness and you don’t mind reading the technical stuff read this page.

Some companies even put masking fragrances in their capsules to mask the odor of fish oil that may be, ahem, a little less fresh than it could be.

4. The anti inflammatory properties of the fish oil capsules.

Inflammation is one of the major problems in our bodies, and one of the major reasons why Omega 3 fish oils are so good for us is that they are very high in anti inflammatory properties. But the best fish oil capsules are way higher in anti inflammatory properties than “average” fish oil capsules.

Tests show that the best rated fish oil capsules have anti inflammatory properties 2 1/2 times greater than average fish oil capsules. The reasons for this is the unique blend of fish oils from 2 different types of fish (hoki and tuna) that are combined to achieve an extremely high level of effectiveness. If you want to know more about the anti inflammatory properties of Omega 3 fish oil read this page.

So what are the best fish oil capsules?

To us it’s quite clear. The best fish oil capsules are those from Xtend Life, a New Zealand company. Here’s why.

• They have over twice as much DHA as regular 18/12 capsules.
• They use the freshest fish it’s possible to use in the production of fish oil, and the oxidation levels of each batch of oils are tested to extremely exacting standards.
• They source their fish from the cleanest ocean in the world, they process it to maintain maximum freshness and they molecularly distill it to make sure that it meets contmination standards way higher than other international standards.
• Tests show that the anti inflammatory properties of the Xtend Life Omega 3 fish oil capsules are around 2 1/2 times greater than “average” fish oil capsules. Read the rest of this entry

Written by - Healthy Omega 3 Fish Oils

(And make sure you read our page explaining why you need Omega 3 Fish Oil supplements, and find out how to choose the Best Fish Oil Supplements).

Should you be taking a fish oil tablet for diabetes?

Every year around a million people in the US are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Although not usually fatal type 2 diabetes is a serious disease, and can have a major effect on the life of the sufferer. Is there a link between fish oil and diabetes reduction?

The increase in the rate of diabetes in our population has scientists worried. Along with the impact on the lives of the diabetes sufferers and their family there are enormous costs imposed on the health system and the sufferer, often for life. So what can be done to lower the incidence of diabetes in the population?

Certainly there are a range of lifestyle factors which can help with the reduction in diabetes, such as dietary changes, levels of exercise and losing weight. However here we concentrate on the benefits of Omega 3 fats, so we want to look at Omega 3 and diabetes.

There is now little doubt that there is clear evidence supporting the link between fish oil and diabetes relief. Fish oil is of course the major source of Omega 3 fatty acids, and almost all good Omega 3 supplements utilize fish oil for their Omega 3. The main fats that are of benefit to diabetes are known as EPA and DHA. We have written about these elsewhere on this site.

Type 2 diabetes is a condition characterized by high levels of sugar in the blood. The disease causes insulin in the blood to be unable to sufficiently deal with the levels of blood sugar, so these become elevated.

And the insulin is less able to assist with the uptake of the fats into the cells, so levels of fats in the blood rise. People with diabetes tend to have lower levels of HDL (good cholesterol) and higher levels of triglycerides in the blood, and the figures also show that people with type 2 diabetes have a 6 times higher risk of heart attack and a 3 to 8 times higher risk of heart disease than people who do not.

So what is the fish oil and diabetes link? Is there any evidence that taking Omega 3 fish oil has any effect on diabetes? Yes, scientists are now convinced that omega 3 fish oil and diabetes relief are inextricably linked, and that taking fish oil lowers some of the risks inherent to sufferers of diabetes.

Why is there a fish oil supplements and diabetes link? Because fish oil is a polyunsaturated fatty acid, and studies have shown that polyunsaturated Omega 3 fats reduce the amount of triglycerides in the blood, reduce abnormal heart rhythms, reduce blood pressure by small but significant amounts, and improve blood clotting regulation.

A large study on the fish oil diabetes link found that taking one gram of fish oil a day reduced cardiovascular mortality by 30% and the risk of death by heart attack by 45%. Blood pressure is lowered and circulation problems reduced. As the risks of heart problems are way higher for diabetes sufferers this is excellent news indeed.

A number of studies have now confirmed that diabetes and fish oil intake are linked, that more omega 3 in the diet helps reduce the negative effects of type 2 diabetes.

How should you be getting your fish oil? Well of course eating fish high in fat is a good way, the American Heart Association recommends eating 2 fish meals a week, but there are also warnings for certain people of eating too much fish due to the incidence of some heavy metals and in particular contaminants like mercury in fish.

So by far the best way to get daily Omega 3 in the diet is to take the very best Omega 3 supplements. The best ones use fish from the southern ocean, the cleanest ocean in the world. These fish are naturally high in DHA and EPA, and the oil taken is then purified by a process called molecular distillation so that the are no detectable levels of nasty contaminants in the oil.

And the best Omega 3 supplements also have higher levels of DHA, the most important Omega 3 fat, than regular fish oil capsules.

So it seems clear, if you suffer from type 2 diabetes there are good reasons to include Omega3 fish oil supplements in your diet daily. Read the rest of this entry

Written by - Healthy Omega 3 Fish Oils

(And make sure you read our page explaining why you need Omega 3 Fish Oil supplements, and find out how to choose the Best Fish Oil Supplements).

We know about the benefits of fish oil supplements to the heart. But beware.

We have talked about the health benefits of fish oil supplements before, to a range of health conditions, but in particular to the heart. However a study has now posed a warning.

The study has suggested that a high fat diet, and in particular a diet high in saturated fat foods, can cancel many of the heart benefits of omega fish oil.

The heart benefits of fish oil are well known, they include a reduction in the incidence of cardio vascular disease including fatal and non fatal heart attacks, as well as strokes.

But although you may be able to get these benefits from taking the best omega 3 fish oil supplements you may be doing yourself a disservice if you’re taking your fish oil supplements and also eating lots of foods high in fat.

A new study has found that the benefits of fish oil supplements are highest when combined with a low fat diet, and that a high fat diet could cancel out some or all of the benefits. The study studied rats with heart failure. It looked at the correlation between the benefits of Omega 3 supplementation when combined with a diet high in saturated fats.

The study was conducted by scientists from a range of institutions led by William C. Stanley, Ph.D., from the University of Maryland-Baltimore. It concluded that even though the benefits of fish oil for the heart are known, these benefits can be cancelled out when a high saturated fat diet results in the fat levels in the heart blocking out the heart benefits of the fish oil taken.

It was thought that the high fat levels in the heart blocked the capacity of the heart cells to absorb the helpful polyunsaturated Omega 3 fats from the fish oil.

This study was conducted on rats which already had heart problems, so it’s difficult to know of these conclusions can be applied to people who take Omega 3 capsules but who don’t have any heart disease.

However there are also well known reasons why a diet of high saturated fat foods is not good for your health, so whether or not you already have heart disease there are still very good reasons why you ought to be taking top quality Omega 3 capsules, AND be eating a diet low in saturated fats.

That way you get the health benefits of omega fish oil along with the health benefits of a good diet. What could be better? Read the rest of this entry

Written by - Healthy Omega 3 Fish Oils

(And make sure you read our page explaining why you need Omega 3 Fish Oil supplements, and find out how to choose the Best Fish Oil Supplements).