Taking fish oil pills is good for you. Or is it?

There has been much discussion lately about whether taking fish oil pills can be dangerous to your health. But why in the world could fish oil supplements be dangerous, aren’t essential fatty acids meant to be good for your health?

There is ample evidence that taking Omega 3 supplements containing fish oil, which is high in the essential fatty acids known as DHA and EPA, is good for your health. The health benefits of essential fatty acid supplementation are well recognized and such organizations as the American Heart Association recommends that we all have minimum levels of intake of essential fatty acids, because doing so attracts a wide range of heart health benefits.

Of course we can do that by eating plenty of oily fish but for most of us this means taking fish oil pills.

And as well as the beneficial effects of essential fatty acid supplementation to the heart there is also a wide range of beneficial health effects more generally. In fact the benefits of Omega 3 fatty acids go on and on.

So why could taking fish oil pills be dangerous to your health? The debate raging over the last few days is about the presence of PCBs in fish oil supplements.

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl) are industrial chemicals that are man made. They have been linked to various types of environmental contamination as well as to a range of health risks to people who consume foods containing PCBs. They are considered to be carcinogenic and can also lead to reproductive toxicity and are extremely persistent, meaning that they do not break down in the environment and that they can make their way up the food chain.

This has been well-known for quite some time and the manufacture of PCBs has been banned in the US for around 30 years.

The reason that there is a current discussion about PCBs in omega 3 fish oil pills is that a lawsuit has recently been launched against some manufacturers of fish oil supplements alleging that contrary to the provisions of Proposition 65 under California law they have failed to alert the public to the risks of PCBs in their products. The law requires that consumers be warned where the fish oil supplements contain levels of PCBs in excess of a prescribed amount.

Although not all brands of fish oil capsules have been tested a number have and there is a wide discrepancy between different brands of omega-3 fish oil pills in the levels of PCBs discovered. Some brands had significantly higher levels than others.

Under proposition 65 there is a recommended maximum level for PCBs as a cancer risk but the risks of PCBs to reproductive toxicity are less well understood and there is no maximum levels set.

Therefore it would seem to make sense, when consumers are seeking to buy omega 3 fish oil supplements, that they seek to buy the supplements with the lowest level of PCB contamination. This seems to be the object of the lawsuit and in the backgrounder it states that “the only guideline consumers can follow is that less is safer”. This would make sense.

How do you determine the level of PCBs found in your essential fatty acid supplements? If you’re looking to buy high quality omega 3 fatty acids supplements you should be able to find a Certificate of Analysis for the fish oil used in the capsules, which would commonly be available on the website, and it should specify the level of PCBs detected on testing.

A different question is how much PCBs are acceptable. There are different organizations offering different maximum levels of PCBs to be found in fish oil pills. You can find a comparison table of the different maximum recommended levels here.

This table comes from the website of  Xtend Life who make what we consider to be the finest as well as the cleanest fish oil supplements available on the market. If you examine the table you will see that the maximum level for PCBs set by Xtend Life is almost 10 times lower than that of the International Fish Oil Standards and almost 20 times lower than the standard set by the Council for Responsible Nutrition.

In addition if you examine the most recent Certificate of Analysis (from the 23rd of February 2010) of the fish oil used in their Omega3 supplements you will see that PCBs are not detected. That does not mean that they are not present however it does mean that current science is unable to detect any PCBs in the fish oil samples.

The testing that led to the court action has found significant levels of PCBs in a number of different brands of fish oil pills.

This suggests to us that as well as being the best fish oil supplements on the market they also have an extremely low level of PCBs present under current methods of scientific testing, substantially lower than the brands tested, and perhaps none at all.

However to satisfy yourself should visit the website of Xtend Life and read their information about the cleanliness of their fish oil supplements yourself. And you will see their explanation on that page of why their test results are so clean.

So to summarize, there are clear benefits of fish oil supplementation. There is little doubt about that. However there can also be risks of contamination from PCBs (and other toxins too) in some brands, and it pays to do your research to find out the cleanest fish oil pills on the market. For the reasons previously stated it seems clear to us that the Omega-3 fatty acids supplements from Xtend Life fit the bill and, after spending some time on their website you should see why. Read the rest of this entry

Is there any good reason to buy odorless fish oil capsules or are “fishy burps” a sign of some other problem?

If you’ve spent some time researching the benefits of Omega 3 polyunsaturated essential fatty acids you will inevitably come across odorless fish oil capsules. Today we want to look at what odorless fish oil capsules contain and consider whether you need to buy them.

As you may be aware the health and heart benefits of omega 3 essential fatty acids found in fish are well-established, and there are good reasons why all of us, with the exception perhaps of those amongst us who eat a lot of oily fish, should be taking Omega-3 essential fatty acid supplements to reduce the risk of various diseases, to improve our overall health and in particular to reduce our risk of coronary heart disease.

However reviews of various fishoil products by customers of these products have mentioned a particular problem with various brands of fish oil softgels. The problem is what is known as “fishy burps”, or in other words repeating of the fishy taste, or that the person who has taken the omega 3 supplement experiences a form of fishy aftertaste some time after taking the capsules.

For this reason it is now possible to buy “odourless omega 3 supplements”, or odourless omega 3 liquid softgels. However we question whether it is important to find fish oil supplements that are odorless or whether the truth about odorless omega 3 capsules is a little more fishy.

The question that needs to be asked is what is it that causes that fishy aftertaste. If the fishy aftertaste is merely an inevitable result of taking any form of omega-3 supplement and there may be nothing that can be done about it, but we do not believe that to be the case. There are excellent brands of omega 3 supplements that are not specifically marketed as “odorless” but which are not reported in user ratings as causing a fishy burps sensation.

So why is it that some brands of omega 3 capsules repeat and others do not? It all comes down to the quality of the oil used in the softgels. Fish oil can oxidize, or go rancid, just as seafood can go off after a period of time. The highest quality Omega3 supplements use oil which has come from fish which are extremely fresh. Fresh fish oil does not smell “fishy” but oil which has been allowed to go rancid with age will do. If old oil is used in omega 3 softgels then there is a good probability that it will smell fishy.

If you take an omega 3 capsule and break it open there should be no smell. If there is then the oil used is rancid. Some brands of Omega 3 capsules actually use masking agents to help mask the smell of rancid oil. You are most likely to get that fishy aftertaste from these capsules. There is no need to look for odorless fish oil supplements. What you do need to find is high quality supplements that use oil from fresh fish that has not had time to go rancid. This oil will, by definition, be odorless.

If you’re in doubt about any supplements that you may have just cut one open and put it to the smell test.

Or if you’re feeling particularly scientific you can visit the website of the manufacturer of those Omega-3 supplements and examine the Certificate of Analysis of the oil used. Any manufacturer of high quality Omega3 capsules should publish regular Certificates of Analysis on their websites so that customers and prospective customers can see for themselves exactly what they are getting. It is the oxidation level in the Certificate of Analysis that will tell you whether or not the oil is rancid. The lower the figure oxidation the fresher the oil.

And if the manufacturer doesn’t publish a Certificate of Analysis buy different capsules.

If you’d like to find out more details about Omega 3 capsule freshness then you can find a much more detailed explanation of oxidation values and more information about freshness of your capsules. Read this page from Xtend Life which we consider make the best (and freshest) fish oil capsules.

But the bottom  line is that there is no need to buy odorless fish oil capsules. High quality capsules should not repeat, if yours are then change your brand.

Hopefully now you know a little more about odorless fish oil, and why, if you’re searching for odourless fish oil supplements because of a fishy aftertaste you need to consider changing your brand of supplements. There is no doubt that omega-3 fatty acids are good for you, but you don’t need to be suffering from a fishy aftertaste when you take your capsules. Read the rest of this entry

There are clear health reasons why you should be taking fish oil. Cancer sufferers have even more reasons for Omega 3 supplementation.

The scientific evidence linking fish oil intake with improvements in various types of cancers is increasing. There is now good evidence that anyone suffering from cancer should be taking Omega 3 supplements containing fish oil. Cancer sufferers can benefit in a number of areas from omega 3 supplementation.

For instance research in Scotland has found a clear link between increasing your intake of fish oil and bowel cancer risk reduction. The Scottish study examined whether there was a relationship between increasing the intake of omega 3 essential fatty acids DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and a reduced risk of colon cancer. The results were that increasing Omega 3 fish oil intake could result in a reduced risk of colon cancer by up to 37 percent.

There is also an emerging omega 3 breast cancer link. Researchers from Indiana University have found that it is possible to reduce the growth of breast cancer cells by a combination of Omega3 fatty acid intake together with a drug called Propofol. Research published in the Journal of Breast Cancer Research suggested that this combination actually triggered some of the cancer cells to die spontaneously.

Another study undertaken in the National Cancer Centre in South Korea found that increased intake of Omega 3 fats can decrease the risk of breast cancer.   The conclusion of this study was, and we quote,”These results suggest that high consumption of fatty fish is associated with a reduced risk for breast cancer, and that the intake of ω-3 fatty acids from fish is inversely associated with postmenopausal breast cancer risk.”

On top of this it would seem that there is also an omega 3 prostate cancer link. Studies are also showing a link between Omega 3 essential fatty acid intake and prostate cancer reduction.

In fact there is a range of studies showing a fish oil cancer reduction link for a range of different cancers. Whilst in most cases it is probably too early to say that it is clearly shown that increasing your intake of fish oil can prevent or reduce the risk of some cancers there is no doubt that there is growing evidence linking increased omega 3 intake with a reduction in the risk of cancer.

It has long been known that better nutrition lowers the risk of certain cancers and it is also known that omega 3 essential fatty acids found in fish are extremely important for our good overall health. It would therefore make sense that by increasing our level of good nutrition by increasing our intake of Omega3 fats we may well be able to reduce our risk of a number of cancers. And it is known that the average American has a diet way too low in the essential fatty acids DHA and EPA.

Whilst it is probably too early to state specifically that increasing your intake of Omega3 fats will lower your risk of cancer there is now clear evidence that for a range of other health reasons we should all be eating more fish, which in itself brings risks to our health because of chemical contamination of fish, or supplementing our diet with high quality Omega3 supplements every day. Whether or not our risk of cancer is reduced our general health, including our heart health will certainly be improved.

But whilst researchers have been studying fish oil and cancer reduction, others have been studying reduction in the risk of cancer from other natural substances. There is now also growing evidence that natural substances such as lycopene which is an ingredient of tomatoes also has a role in helping us prevent certain cancers. We quote from one of these studies, which says : “Numerous studies have demonstrated the anticancer activity of the tomato carotenoid, lycopene”.

Specifically there is now evidence that increasing the intake of lycopene can have a role in helping reduce the risk of breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.

Along with very good scientists who study these things there is also some excellent health companies that are able to take the results of this research to produce products that take advantage of the health benefits of ingredients such as lycopene. One of the best of these companies has now released a new range of premium omega 3 supplements containing lycopene to increase the cancer fighting possibilities by combining these 2 natural ingredients, both of which are proving to be very important in improving the health of our citizens.

Clearly there are good reasons for all of us, unless we eat lots of fish, to supplement our diets with fish oil. There’s a huge range of reasons why we should all seriously consider reversing our inadequate intake of fish oil. Cancer sufferers also have powerful reasons for omega 3 supplementation, and in particular now using high quality Omega3 supplements which include lycopene as an active ingredient. Read the rest of this entry