Customer Knowledge: Buying Fish Oil Supplements

Fish oil has many benefits to our overall health, whether it is for the heart or brain. Research showed that fish oil can reduce the risk of heart attacks, cancers, mental and psychological disorders and other sicknesses. The market is full of fish oil products, but how do we make sure that what we get are actually the ones that can benefit our health.

Not all fish contains Omega-3 oil or the essential fatty acids. Fishes that have the highest number of fatty acids are salmon, herring, mackerel, sardines, and anchovies.

There are things that you would have to consider when buying fish oil. Actually, health professionals would say that eating too much fish that contains fish oil and Omega-3 can cause mercury contamination. This can happen if you do not exactly know where the fish are caught. If the fish is caught in polluted waters, we can ingest mercury and other heavy metals.

To avoid toxins entering out body, we have to make sure that the fish oil that we are taking is molecularly distilled and pharmaceutical grade supplements. These kinds of fish oil are removed of all toxins. You would have to check at the label to make sure that they come from clean waters and properly refined.

When checking the label of a particular fish oil supplement, you check their websites and look for the “Certificate of Analysis.” This COA is an analysis performed by an independent laboratory to identify the freshness of the product. Aside from checking the source of the fish and the freshness of the fish oil, you would also need to know what kind of fish the oil is from.

Studies showed that fish oil with docosahexaenoic acid or DHA and eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA have the most health and benefits. Studies showed that the brain uses or needs more DHA to function better. Aside from being free of heavy metals, it should always contain at least 60 % of EPA and DHA. You would also have to consider or be cautious with vitamins like Vitamin A and E which can be very harmful in large doses.

How would you know that you are buying the safe fish oil supplement? Only buy from companies that use fresh and high qualify fish and inform the public where they get their fish. You can check their websites or labels to be informed properly.

Fish oil supplements can be either liquid or tablet. Liquid fish oil costs more than oil capsules. But when compared with capsules based on the cost-per-gram it is actually less expensive. Capsules are tamper-proof and keep the oil from getting bad. Most people find fish oil to be expensive or over priced. Some experts would say that there are two ways to compare prices. You can compare the total amount of DHA in the supplement and the cost for each gram of DHA.

You would feel that you have low quality fish oil if you suffer from any ache or pain. So, we would have to be cautious when buying low-cost fish oil. They may not be the same as the high-quality fish oil. You would have to be cautious when buying cheap fish oil.

So, when buying fish oil, or any kind of product, read the label or the product information first. Getting informed will relieve you of any kind of health risk in the future. Reading the label or getting to know the product would not be more than a couple of minutes, anyway. So, spare the time.