I’ve heard very good things about high-EPA/decent DHA fish oil thats molecularly-distilled.
This seems to be a frequent recommendation (particularly if you don’t eat seafood or fish) in many health circles and I’d like to get everyone’s thoughts on best products, practices, etc.
Depends on what you want to take them for.
Most fish oil is completely ineffective:
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/fish-oil
https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/the-false-promise-of-fish-oil-supplements
Some medications can cause a CoQ10 deficiency, so if you’re on one of those medications, you might need a supplement, but absent that, there’s no reason to take fish oil.
Most fish oil is completely ineffective:
I’ve personally noticed some powerful effects from fish oil: 1) it can act as a neotropic booster, particularly in conjunction with SRI’s and similar meds / substances, 2) it can cause me significant insomnia (no arrhythmia) if I take ~6-8 capsules.
Is that germane to this thread? Probably not, but something seems to be going on. Maybe fish oil has been studied so far on too limited a basis.
I guess I should have said “ineffective for the various health claims”. Anything can have an effect if taken in large enough doses. :)
Understood; just wanted to add on.
My point is more or less that this doesn’t have to be a closed-book situation about fish oil. Maybe it can help in some other way, and/or maybe it really can work as ‘advertised’ in conjunction with other substances. Certainly wouldn’t be the first time, if so.
The other point I want to throw out there is that Omega 3 is essential, it cannot be endogenously provisioned, and I’m not sold that ALA sufficiently stands in for EPA and DHA
If you don’t have heart disease, eating two servings of fatty fish weekly or following a vegetarian diet rich in healthy oils, nuts, and seeds is a far smarter strategy than buying fish oil supplements.
I don’t do either of those things. They are essential. What do?
The easy part is adjusting your diet, far cheaper than fish oil.
I hate seafood and I won’t start eating it. What do?
From the 2nd link above:
“Vegetarians (who don’t eat fish) and vegans (who avoid all animal-based foods) can meet their omega-3 requirements by eating plenty of ALA-rich foods, such as flaxseed, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and soybean or canola oil. People who follow these plant-focused diets have lower rates of heart disease than omnivores, who include animal-sourced foods in their diets.”
Is it a fact that ALA is interchangeable with EPA/DHA, basically everything I’ve read on the matter talked more about those two than ALA
EPA and DHA are in seafood, so if you won’t eat fish, that limits you to ALA.
Eat nuts and seeds
- Dont those only contain ALA?
- Is ALA sufficient over all three or more particularly those 2?
- Does fish contain ALA?
Just mix in some flaxseed meal whenever you cook anything that involves mixing. It doesn’t taste like anything and has lots of fiber and omega-3s.
Blanket advice for supplements: health benefit is minimal. Cost is high.
Check with your doctor or dietician or some sort of expert with more credibility than random schmucks on the internet.
And if you must, just grab the cheapest supermarket multivitamins and take only one. It probably won’t do much, but at least you’ll only waste a few pennies per day.
(as long as you don’t have a shellfish allergy) krill oil – specifically “Neptune Krill Oil” (NKO) processed
What makes that so good compared to alternatives?
“krill oil contains particularly rich amounts of choline-containing phospholipids and a phosphatidylcholine concentration of 34 grams per 100 grams of oil”
“krill oil also contains an appreciable content of astaxanthin”
