If you use or plan to use fish oil supplements, it is important to know what you are getting and, unsurprisingly, the labels can be confusing. As you peruse the nutrition label in the store, keep the following things in mind.
It is the EPA and DPA fatty acids that provide the benefit, not the fish oil itself. The VITAL trail gave participants 460mg of EPA and 380mg of DHA so look for those amounts or better. Only about 25% of the fish oil is EPA plus DPA so use that as a guideline if they are not listed separately.
As always, make sure you check the serving size so that you are taking the dose that you think you are. It can vary among brands from one pill to three.
Mercury contamination in seafood is a valid health concern. Independent tests from Consumer Lab and others has never found detectable levels of mercury in fish oil supplements.
You can find vegetarian EPA and DHA that has been extracted from algae, and there may be even more reason to look for it than just preferring a non-animal source. Most will have double the fatty acids of fish oil products.
Avoid brands that contain only DHA. This is one case where less is not more.
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