Cod Liver Oil. Are there benefits to cod liver oil that outweigh the benefits of fish oil?

You may have heard about Cod Liver Oil from your grandmother. For a long time there has been an accepted wisdom that cod taking liver oil supplements has been good for you.

Is this the case? Are there cod liver oil benefits or is it a myth? Has modern science confirmed that there are indeed cod liver oil benefits? And are there risks to taking cod liver oil?

Yes it has, your grandmother was right, even though science may not have known then that there were good reasons for taking cod liver oil supplements.

The majority of the benefits of cod liver oil relate to the Omega 3 content, because of course cod liver oil has Omega 3 fats in it. And as you would know if you have read some of our other information there is a wide range of benefits from adding some more Omega 3 to your diet.

Cod liver oil also has beneficial vitamins as well, such as vitamins A and D. Vitamin D is an important vitamin in the body because it helps us process calcium so is useful for strong bones and is therefore helpful in preventing osteoporosis.

However there is now some question over how much Vitamin A should be taken. And as there is quite a lot of vitamin A in cod liver oil there are risks of over consumption of vitamin A. For example in the US pregnant women are now advised to avoid vitamin A and this includes cod liver oil. Cod liver oil is not recommended in the UK.

Thus there are some risks as well as benefits of cod liver oil. Whilst it is a good source of Omega 3 fats it isn’t ideal as it is high in Vitamin A.

And there is another risk to taking cod liver oil supplements. It is, as the name suggests, sourced from the livers of cod fish taken from the North Sea. Unfortunately there are issues associated with contamination of fish with various contaminants, including heavy metals, PCBs and mercury. Although levels are not high they are sufficient to be worrying. And the liver accumulates more of these toxins.

Whilst these contaminants weren’t a problem in your grandmothers time, they are now.

A better way to source your Omega3 fatty acids, the major advantage of taking cod liver oil, is to take Omega 3 supplements that are clean and free from the risk of excess vitamin A. Vitamin A comes from the liver of the fish but not the flesh, so it isn’t a problem in Omega 3 supplements taken from the flesh of fish. Read the rest of this entry

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Should you eat fish to get your Omega3 fatty acids? Isn’t fish contaminated with Mercury and dangerous?

Once you find out how important Omega 3 fatty acids are to so many areas of your health, the next question you need to answer is how do you get your Omega 3 fats?

We’ve pointed out before that Omega 3 fats are most prevalent in fish, that there are plant sources like flax seeds but they don’t have the optimum types, or amounts, of Omega 3 fats that you need.

However although it sounds good getting your Omega3 fatty acids through eating fish there is a problem. You see most, pretty much all, fish is contaminated with various chemicals that we, human beings, in the main, have put into their ocean.

One of the biggest worries is Mercury contamination of fish. According to the EPA there is Mercury contamination in all fish.

Now of course Mercury isn’t something that you want in your body, and your body doesn’t get rid of it all that easily. It’s a particular problem for children.

However the EPA doesn’t recommend that you eliminate all fish from your diet. Fish is healthy, in small quantities, and if you follow some simple guidelines you should be ok eating it. Just don’t eat too much.

It’s ok to eat around 2 serves of fish a week. However for children or pregnant women there’s some more things to think about, because Mercury is more of a risk to children or developing fetuses.

So for pregnant women, or children, you ought to avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish. These are high in mercury. And canned salmon has also carried a warning for pregnant women.

Young children, particularly those 5 and under, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of Mercury. The same applies to pregnant women who are, obviously, carrying a child.

If you’re worried about your Mercury levels, possibly because you’ve been eating a relatively high level of fish most at risk of Mercury contamination, it’s quite possible to get your mercury levels tested. If you go to your doctor and you ask for a Mercury test he can organise that test for you.

To find out more about Mercury contamination visit this consumer guide to the mercury levels in various types of fish.

And you can also do a self test to determine your own Mercury levels on this page, just scroll down a little to find their self Mercury test.

If your mercury levels are shown to be too high you may well be advised by your doctor to delay any pregnancy until tests show that your mercury levels have dropped.

 

But don’t eliminate all fish from your diet just because you’re worried about Mercury. If you like fish you can eat it, sensibly and in relatively small quantities.

But of course if you understand the importance of Omega3 fatty acids in your diet you need a regular supply of fish oil. Preferable a daily supply. And there is the rub. You see for most of us ordinary people eating fish regularly is really expensive. Fish is getting more and more expensive all the time, and as it gets scarcer it gets more expensive.

And although the EPA says it’s ok to eat it, if you’re eating fish to get your Omega3 then there is a better way. Of course if you just love fish then go for it.

But there is still mercury in fish, albeit in small amounts, and there is a solution to getting your Omega3 that doesn’t involve eating fish, that is cheaper than buying fish a couple of times a week, and overcomes the problem with mercury contamination.

It’s using Omega3 fatty acid supplements. These contain fish oil, but the very best fish oil supplements source the cleanest fish in the ocean and then put it through an extremely robust molecular distillation process that means that levels of mercury, as well as other common contaminants of fish oil, are undetectable.

But be aware that although many fish oil supplements claim to be contamination free, there are varying standards, none binding, and not all fish oil supplements are truly contamination free.

But the best fish oil supplements are.

So unless you really love fish, if you’re just eating it for the Omega3 fatty acids it contain, you’re better off using the best fish oil supplements on the market. Use them daily to get your good fats. It’s cheaper than eating fish, and you aren’t getting any mercury at all.
But if you love fish eat it, just be careful.

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With all the talk of EPA and DHA and ALA, how do you choose your Omega 3 capsules?

If you’ve been reading about Omega 3 fish oil you may have become a little confused. The more you read the worse it gets. You start learning about EPA and DHA, and long chain and short chain omega 3 fats. About ALA and converting ALA to DHA.

For example a reader recently asked us about how to choose his Omega 3 fish oil capsules. He was confused about the difference between long chain and short chain Omega 3 fats, and confused about which were the best Omega 3 supplements.

We can understand that. Here’s a short explanation, and then we’ll have a look at how to choose the best Omega 3 fish oil supplements.

The three Omega 3 fats we’ve mentioned (DHA, EPA and ALA) are polyunsaturated fats. They are all good for your body but by far the best and most important is DHA. Remember DHA is the fat that makes up a large part of your brain, though of course that isn’t the only reason.

ALA is primarily found in plant foods like flax, whilst EPA and DHA are found in sea foods like fish. ALA is the less important Omega3 nutrient. And ALA is a short chain fat. No need to go into complete detail on what a short chain fat is as it’s really complicated.

But DHA, the most important Omega 3 fatty acid, is a long chain fat, and, along with EPA, is what you need from your Omega 3 supplements. And all Omega 3 fish oil capsules contain DHA.

So you’re better getting your Omega 3 fats from fish oil supplements rather than supplements like flax seed oil supplements.

So are all fish oil supplements the same? How do you choose between them?

There’s 2 things you need to look for to find the best rated Omega 3 fish oil capsules. You need to look for the quantity of DHA in the capsules, and the purity of the oil.

You look for the quantity as all fish oil capsules have DHA, but in different amounts. Thus you cannot just look for the cheapest fish oil capsules without knowing how much DHA is in them.

Supplements with a third of the amount of DHA than other supplements are not good value even if they are half the price, because on a price/DHA quantity comparison they are actually more expensive.

And that’s not all, you need to consider the purity of the oils too, because, sad to say, many of our fish are contaminated with toxins. You wouldn’t want to take Omega 3 capsules with traces of mercury and PCBs would you?

We’ve done a much more detailed article about how to choose Omega 3 supplements. That deals with all the issues so make sure that you’ve read that if you’re interested in finding out more about the differences between the different supplements available, how to compare them and which ones are our preferred supplements.

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Is flax seed oil the best source of Omega 3 fats? The flax seed oil vs fish oil debate.

There’s now little doubt that we all need more Omega 3 fats in our diets, but where is the best place to get them? There’s a big flax seed oil vs fish oil debate going on, so we’ll have a look at flax seed oil versus fish oil to see which one wins.

To do so you have to dig a little deeper into why Omega 3 fats are good for you. You see it’s not just that Omega 3 fats are good for you, it’s that specific components of Omega 3 fats are good for you.

More specifically there’s 2 important components of Omega3 fats. EPA and importantly DHA.

Now we won’t go into the chemical reasons why EPA and DHA are good for you, it gets complicated. It’s probably sufficient to say that DHA is a major component of our brain, and for this reason alone DHA is an essential fat for brain function.

However we will look at a couple of specific facts that bear on the fish oil versus flaxseed oil debate. The first is that EPA and DHA are not the only Omega 3 fats. There is another Omega 3 fat called ALA, (Alpha-linolenic acid). (Sorry for all the chemical stuff.)

ALA is present in a higher degree in plant oils like nut oils and flax seed oil, and is not as important to the body as either DHA or EPA. However it is still an Omega 3 fat.

The reason why flax seed oil is considered to be a good source of Omega 3s is that it is high in ALA, however ALA isn’t so important to our body. However it was also considered that ALA is converted to DHA in our body, so ultimately works well.

For this reason there are various flaxseed oil supplements and the benefits of flax seed oil have been spruiked.

However the argument that ALA converts to DHA in the body has been debunked here, and it is now considered that it doesn’t convert to DHA in the body much at all.

So whilst there are benefits of flax seed oil they aren’t sufficient to justify taking flax seed oil in place of fish oil. You won’t be getting much DHA, the most important Omega 3 oil.

So whilst the benefits of flax seed oil are there the fish oil versus flaxseed oil debate falls on the side of fish oil. The best fish oil supplements are high in DHA. By all means take a flaxseed oil supplement, but in conjunction with a good fish oil supplement.

Flaxseed oil capules are available, so don’t ignore the health benefits of flaxseed oil, but fish oil ought to be your primary emphasis in your diet. Read the rest of this entry

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