Towards good health
OMEGA-3 fatty acids found in fish oil are the building blocks of all living cells and are essential for general health. Our body cannot produce Omega-3 on its own and it can only be acquired through diet or supplements. However, a good amount of Omega-3 is not easy to come by – you will need to eat large amounts of fish every day to acquire the recommended dose.
Fish oil supplements provide an effective way of acquiring Omega-3 without having to worry about sea contaminants.
So, how much fish oil should you take to achieve its beneficial effect?
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that people who have high triglycerides take a fish oil supplement with 2,000 to 4,000mg of EPA and DHA Omega-3 fatty acids.
If you are a healthy adult, AHA recommends eating fish at least twice a week, which is equivalent to approximately 500mg of EPA and DHA Omega-3 fatty acids per day.
Choosing the best quality and most economical fish oil supplement requires more than just looking at the price on the bottle. Let's consider what criteria to look out for: > Potency – You want to get the most EPA and DHA Omega-3 fatty acids you can in every capsule. There are two reasons for this.
One is that you don't want to have to take a handful of fish oil capsules two or three times a day just to get the dosage of EPA + DHA you need.
Choose fish oil with high dose of EPA + DHA.
By taking a double strength (DS) fish oil capsule that contains 600mg of EPA + DHA, you will only need to take half as many capsules per day compared to capsules that only contains 300mg of EPA + DHA.
DS fish oil equals fewer capsules and lower cost for double the protection.
Another reason is that the more Omega3 fatty acids (EPA + DHA) there are in each capsule, the less room there is for the “other oily liquids”, that is the remaining 700mg that makes up a 1,000mg softgel (for a standard fish oil containing 300mg EPA + DHA).
The lower the concentration of the "other oily liquids", the lower the chances of side effects such as stomach problems, fishy burps or breath. If your DS fish oil contains 600mg EPA + DHA per capsule, the risk of these problems is almost zero.
> Purity – To ensure safety, choose a fish oil brand that has gone through purification through molecular distillation, a purification method conducted in vacuum and is an industrial standard procedure which is best for the purification of vitamins.
Molecular distillation is the only process that can remove heavy metals such as lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium and other harmful toxins such as PCBs and dioxins to a level that is safe for human consumption.
> Formulation – Most consumers do not know that fish oil is actually available in two forms, triglycerides (TG) and ethyl ester (EE). Studies now confirm that fish oil in TG form has 70% higher absorption over EE form.
Hence, for superior absorption, choose a fish oil that states “triglyceride” on the label.
If this information is nowhere on the label, there is a simple method you can do at home to determine this:
Squeeze some fish oil in a polystyrene cup. Observe after 10 minutes. If the fish oil has leaked through the cup, it contains EE.
EE will actually eat straight through polystyrene due to its chemical composition. Fish oils containing TG will not show any leakage.
> Freshness – Every batch should be tested for peroxide value, a test to measure the rancidity reactions in the oils. This helps to ensure the Omega-3 fatty acids are fresh and not rancid.
Nutriforte Fish Oil DS (Double Strength), a fish oil supplement (triglyceride form) fully imported from New Zealand, contains double the Omega-3s – 600mg of highly purified EPA + DHA.
This article is brought to you by Pharmaforte. For more information, call 03-7803 6998 or e-mail enquiry@pharmaforte.com.my. (KKLIU: 0665/2012/ABC)