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Why Enteric Coating on Fish Oil Pills Fail
They usually don't fail. But when they do... You're popping too many antacids. You're taking heartburn meds. OK, a little more detail... Good news: there's usually nothing wrong with the fish oil pill. Bad news: it's usually because of what you ate. I know, not what you wanted to hear. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that things aren't quite that simple. To get to the bottom of it, let's quickly take a look at what enteric coating is. What is Enteric Coated Fish Oil? Enteric coating is a sprayed-on layer on the outside of the fish oil pill's gelatin shell. It's sprayed onto the capsules in a drum sprayer. Think cement mixer. Except, there is a nozzle that sprays the enteric coating material onto thousands of shiny fish oil pills. When all is said and done, the clear pill becomes frosty or translucent. There are a few types of enteric coating materials used to coat fish oil pills. The most popular enteric coating material is methacrylic acid copolymer. It's been used for decades and works very well. But as you probably guessed, it's synthetic. And people don't like putting methacrylic-anything in their bodies. So we use a plant-based cellulose coating derived from algae to coat OmegaVia. Works pretty well. But it's a little tricker and a lot more expensive - that's OK, we don't mind. The purpose of enteric coating: Prevent fishy burping and repeating. This is the #1 complaint people have about fish oil and the #1 reason why people stop taking Omega-3 supplements. Reduce potential damage to Omega-3 by stomach acids. How Enteric Coating Works The material used to enteric coat fish oil supplements is acid-resistant. In plain English, that means the capsule will not dissolve in an acid environment. Like your stomach. Stomach acid is much more powerful than lime juice. The acid helps with digestion and with disinfecting food. A regular fish oil pill that is NOT enteric coated will dissolve in the stomach in about 15 to 20 minutes. Once the pill dissolves, the oil can rise to the surface and possibly cause burping. Since enteric coating will not dissolve in acidic environments, it stays put. It will not dissolve in the stomach. If it doesn't dissolve, you cannot burp up oil or possibly damage the Omega-3. Enteric coated pills will simply move along untouched past the stomach to the small intestine. The duodenum or small intestine is not acidic. It is neutral. Stomach acids are neutralized at the entrance of the small intestines. In the 'safe' environment of the small intestines, the enteric coating quickly dissolves. Within minutes. At this point, the oil is too far down the gullet for you to burp it up. Neat trick! We test it too. How Enteric Coating is Tested The new lot of OmegaVia being manufactured and bottled just got tested. In two steps. Step 1: We put the pills in 'Gastric fluid,' a solution that imitates the acidity of the stomach. We then stir it for 2 hours. It should not dissolve. And it doesn't. Step 2: We take those pills and put them in a solution charmingly called 'intestinal fluid.' Not unlike the goo that splatters at the end of space alien movies. This fluid mimics the environment in the small intestines or duodenum. The pills always fall apart in this space-alien-goo within minutes. This is proof that the enteric coating works. Weasel Alert! Sometimes, enteric coating is used to cover up old, rancid fish oil. Yes - gasp! - there are weasels out there. That's not why we enteric coat our fish oil. It's just our formula. We enteric coat. Always. Even if the oil smells fresh like a spring meadow! Three Reasons Why Enteric Coatings Fail Lousy paint job. Like your walls or your car, enteric coating is spray-painted onto the capsules. It's a science and an art. Sometimes, there can be a chip or a crack in the enteric coating. This makes the coating useless. Fortunately, this does not happen 99.9% of the time. End result: burping. Antacids. Think TUMS, Mylanta, Maalox, or Alka-Seltzer. Products like these may provide relief. But it also makes the stomach more like the small intestines. So what happens when you take enteric coated fish oil with TUMS? The enteric coating 'thinks' it has reached your small intestines and it dissolves. But it's not! It's still in the stomach. End result: burping. Heartburn medications. There is a class of drugs called Proton Pump Inhibitors (keeping with the space alien theme today.) Think Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium. These drugs reduce acid production in the stomach. They may temporarily make life more bearable. But like TUMS, it makes your stomach less acidic. End result: enteric coating dissolves too soon and you may burp up fish oil. There are other reasons why your stomach may lose its natural acidity: Infection - H. pylori infections are common and can reduce stomach acidity. Stress Vegan diet Inappropriate (Standard American Diet) diet Addressing infections are beyond the scope of this blog but if you're a stressed out vegan, well, you know what to do. What are your options? If you take antacids... you can change your fish oil dosage time to a few hours before or after taking the antacid. This should return the stomach acidity to a more natural state. So you may avoid burping. If you take heartburn meds...unlike Antacids, some heartburn pills can keep working for 24 hours. Then most people hurry up and take the next dose. So there is never a time when your stomach is as acidic as it should be. So if you take Prilosec every day, enteric coating may not work as intended. Not everyone taking Prilosec will burp up fish oil. Most don't. This is just an explanation why a simple and safe technology sometimes stops working. It's not the end of the world. Your Omega-3s will still get absorbed. A (much rarer) slightly more awkward problem Some people, well, pass enteric coated fish oils right through their digestive system. Yup, out the other end. Why does this happen? More like, how the heck could that happen?! Simple. It's the reverse of antacids and heartburn meds. Your intestines are too acidic. How might that happen? Too much apple cider vinegar. Vinegar is acidic. And if excess apple cider vinegar is consumed, it may overwhelm the small intestine's ability to neutralize the flood of acid. End result: pill leaves your body without dissolving. A hormone called Secretin controls the acidity in the duodenum. In some people, secretin production may be limited. If something is amiss with your secretin secretion, then, well, cutting out apple cider vinegar may not be enough. Time to make an appointment with your gastroenterologist and/or your endocrinologist. A bigger issue: if your entire digestive system is so acidic that enteric coated pills are passing right through, your colonies of probiotic bacteria (and you, their host) may be in serious trouble. Probiotic bacteria in your gut are associated with everything from immune response to your mood. So these are the technical reasons why enteric coating may fail. Most people do fine with non-enteric coated pills. If you have a good quality product, whether you have this coating may not matter that much. *Individual results may vary. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Cholesterol: When to Panic
This is part 2. See part 1 - Fish Oil & Cholesterol. Controlling Cholesterol with Diet Trying to reduce your cholesterol by avoiding eggs and meat alone may not be very effective. Here's why: Most - about 80% - of the cholesterol in your body is produced by your liver and other cells in your body. And for good reason. Every cell in your body has and needs cholesterol. There are hundreds of bodily tasks for cholesterol. If you remove all cholesterol from your body, your body will cease to function. Period. It would be foolish of your body to depend on your diet for all its cholesterol needs because some meals may not contain enough cholesterol to sustain the body. And your body knows this. This is why your liver is in charge. Your diet contributes to the remaining 20% or so of the cholesterol coursing through your body. Cutting out meat, or going vegan can modestly reduce your cholesterol. Dramatic drops in cholesterol without a complete rethinking of both diet and lifestyle is likely to be temporarily.* If your body senses less cholesterol in the diet, it will automatically increase liver's cholesterol production. And vice versa, if you're eating a lot of cholesterol, the liver will take it easy on cranking out cholesterol. This is not new science. This knowledge is decades old. If you quit eating meat and become a vegan, to reduce cholesterol, it may work. Temporarily. After all, cholesterol is only found in animal products. Vegetables contain no cholesterol. So, if we ate only vegetables, our cholesterol problem would be licked. Right? RIGHT? But after a couple of months, your cholesterol numbers will start creeping up again even on a vegan diet. A recent study published by Harvard researchers, followed over 121,000 people over several years. A tiny nugget of data buried in the study showed that: people eating the least amount of red meat had the highest cholesterol and those who ate the most red meat had the lowest cholesterol That may be an inconvenient fact and should not be ignored. I am not trying to bash Veganism. I often tell people to make sure that 80% of their plate is vegetables (starchy and not), with only a little bit of meat or seafood. When to Panic? What if your total cholesterol is 200? Is it time to panic? Should you panic at 250? 300? You should take it seriously. You need a rational and methodical plan that includes: dietary change lifestyle change (exercise), and possibly, medical intervention with your doctor's help. Preemptively asking your doctor for cholesterol-lowering statin medications to pound and pummel your cholesterol number into double digits without getting at the underlying causes is not wise in the long term. Although statins may be what some people eventually need. It's easy to following this logic: a) if cholesterol is dangerous b) and your cholesterol is going up gradually c) you should simply nip it in the bud before it gunks up your arteries Right? Wrong. A cholesterol number close to ZERO is not good. Or perfect. Having too little cholesterol may be even more dangerous than having too much. Panicky patients driven by fear-inducing TV commercials and enabling doctors preemptively popping statin drugs like candy is not wise. There was a doctor in the UK who called for addition of statin drugs into tap water. Never mind that his name is Dr. John Reckless. For most people, a total cholesterol around 200 is reason for a visit to the doctor for an investigation (rather than panic), especially if you're female and getting older. Your total cholesterol number is not very revealing. There are other markers that are far more predictive of your heart health, like ratio of Total-to-HDL cholesterol or non-HDL cholesterol, or LDL particle number or Lipoprotein (a). Still, I am not suggesting you ignore your Total Cholesterol number. It's a piece of your health puzzle that you need to solve with your doctor. If you must panic, I'd rather you focus on the more predictive markers. Or talk to your doctor about yet other highly predictive markers of health (pieces of the puzzle) such as C-reactive Protein, fibrinogen, oxidized-LDL, fasting glucose, insulin, Lp-PLA2, hemoglobin A1C, or even Vitamin D level. When scientists have tried to model or weight the predictive importance to all of these factors, Total Cholesterol is usually not the top risk factor. High cholesterol is one of your body's check engine lights A cholesterol number of 250 or 300 means it is time to open the hood and give the engine a thorough inspection. Blindly reducing your cholesterol number with statin drugs is like unplugging that check engine light. Sure, that annoying red light is no longer there when you start your car in the morning, but the reason why that red light went on still remains. It's up to you and your doctor whether you want to ignore the real problem under the hood. This is why I called hasty, chop-chop statin therapy 'lazy medicine' in a recent blog about Fish Oil & Red Yeast Rice. Before I get drowned in hate mail, let me make the following statements very clear: If you're on statin therapy, talk to your doctor. DO NOT self-diagnose and stop taking prescription medications without talking to your doctor - that can be dangerous. If you have a genetic condition called familial hypercholesterolemia, you probably ought to be on statins. If you have been diagnosed with heart problems, your doctor may justifiably put you on statins. What if you don't fall into the above categories? Well, then, it is time to look under the hood. If the only solutions your doctor knows for high cholesterol is to: Immediately put you on statins Tell you to cut meat and fat from your diet Ding-ding-ding! It's time to look for another doctor. Some doctors - a sad commentary - will prescribe statin drugs even if the patient does not absolutely need it, to reduce the risk of negligent malpractice lawsuit. Sigh. But the good ones who have the time to practice good medicine, without being harassed by insurance companies, know that high cholesterol is often just a symptom of metabolic or endocrine disorder. High cholesterol could be caused by: Thyroid imbalance Infections Inflammation Nutritional imbalance Most allopathic doctors rarely focus on inflammation or nutritional deficiencies - that's a whole another rant/blog. But for many, understanding thyroid imbalances and fixing it through medication or even iodine therapy may fix the problem. DO NOT do this without your doctor's help! Your thyroid is not a do-it-yourself project! Don't even think about it. Speaking of inflammation, what are key causes of inflammation? Too much Omega-6 from vegetable oil consumption. Along with obesity, excess glucose, and gut microbiome imbalance. If your high cholesterol is due to this, then, you'll need to address all of these root causes as well. Not addressing obesity, excess blood glucose, or gut dysbiosis is akin to unplugging your car's check engine light. Statins may reduce your cholesterol number and your overall risk. It might help you sleep easy without worries. But don't, for a second, think that the root cause issues that produced the problem is gone. The monster is still under the bed if you do not address diet and activity. The solution to most metabolic disorders: ...is not found in a pill. Wish it was! The solution is a simple, a whole foods diet that's mostly non-starchy vegetables, along with some Omega-3 rich seafood, grass-fed meats, fruits, nuts and pastured eggs, all cooked in low-Omega-6 fats like olive oil. A small portion of the population reacts to dietary saturated fats with dramatic increase in cholesterol levels. If you fall into this group, then, rely exclusively on Omega-9 or oleic-rich fats like olive oil. Note the absence of sugars, grains and Omega-6-rich seed-based vegetable oils! Popping a bunch of fish oil supplements will not correct metabolic disorders. Wish it did! High dose Omega-3 supplementation only gets you partly there...what's truly required to address metabolic disorder are exercise, reducing Omega-6 rich seed oils, and near-complete elimination of sugar and refined flour, while increasing fiber consumption from vegetables.* Mainstream medicine is changing...slowly Dr. Dwight Lundell, cardiologist, explains all this a bit more thoroughly... The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. It Is Not Working! These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible. The discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of poor heart health is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how poor heart health and other chronic ailments will be treated. What are the biggest culprits of chronic inflammation? Quite simply, they are the overload of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all the products made from them) and the excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods. - Dr. Dwight Lundell, Cardiologist BBC Video: Statins - use them or lose them? So should you ignore your high cholesterol? No. Don't ignore it. High cholesterol just means it's time for you and your doctor to take a better look under the hood. If the root cause is metabolic disorder, combine vigorous exercise with the dietary suggestions mentioned above. Statin drugs do not fix metabolic disorders. If the root cause is thyroid imbalance, work with your doctor or an endocrinologist to address it. Statins don't fix this. If the root cause is inflammation, work with an Integrative Medicine MD to address it. Statins don't fix this either. If it is an infection, again, work with your doctor to address it. Panicking about cholesterol won't get you far. What you need is a methodical plan developed by your doctor, nutritionist, and your gym trainer. You didn't get here overnight. And the problem won't be solved overnight. Start addressing root causes of the issue. *Individual results may vary. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Clinical research suggests the omega-3 dosage needed to help maintain healthy triglycerides is 2000-3000 mg per day when used as part of healthy diet and exercise.
Omega-3 Handbook
The internet is full of information about fish oil and Omega-3. Very little of it is unbiased. Omega-3s are not simple. It's complicated stuff. And there is so much to know! Who has time for that?! We live in a soundbite world where bits of knowledge need to fit on a bumper sticker. Anything more complicated is just ignored. So where can you get unbiased information about Omega-3? Gretchen Vannice MS, RD has written a book just for you. She is an author, speaker and researcher, specializing in Omega-3. She's worked with several universities, corporations and health care providers. Clearly, this work feels like the result of a few dozen questions that she must hear over and over. Unbiased Information About Omega-3 I ran into Gretchen a couple of weeks ago at a trade show and I noticed that she was holding a book about Omega-3. So I pounced and asked her about the book. "Oh yeah, it's my new book. It just got published," she said. I've known Gretchen (right) for a while and visit her Omega-3 blog regularly. "But I didn't know you were working on a book," I replied. "I wrote the book secretly because I wanted it to be completely unbiased. I didn't want to endorse any brands or have manufacturers ask me to mention their fish oil product." How 'bout that? I made an immediate mental note to get a copy of the book and blog about it here. When I first read the title 'Omega-3 Handbook. A Ready Reference Guide for Health Professionals,' my first reaction was that the book might be too technical for regular folks. It isn't. Useful Information in Simple Language The book is written in simple, clean language with lots of Q&A sections. The author answers several of your most common questions: How much Omega-3 you really need? What should you look for in an Omega-3 supplement? Amount of Omega-3 found in commonly consumed fish. Omega-3 recommendations for kids and pregnant women. Can you get too much fish oil? The difference between plant and marine Omega-3. And when the answer is 'we don't know,' she says so. How refreshing! To Krill or Not to Krill? Based on the sheer numbers of emails I get about krill oil, public interest (infatuation?) in krill has not peaked. The book briefly (albeit fairly) discusses krill oil, but krill worshippers are going to be left a little thirsty at the end of this book. It's possible that the space dedicated to krill oil reflects the amount of science available on the subject. Even though most of the science on krill is positive, from a scientific discovery perspective, there's a lot less to say about it than regular fish oil. This may be part of that unbiased approach that Gretchen was going for. Teaching you how to Fish Please don't let the words 'Guide for Health Professionals' hold you back from buying this book. You will easily understand and appreciate the contents of this book even if you are not a health professional. If you were looking for an expert to hold your hand and tell you which fish oil brand to buy and how many pills to take, well, look elsewhere. This book prefers to teach you how to fish instead. A noble achievement. You can buy a copy for $18 at Omega-3handbook.com
Understanding Fish Oil Labels
Guest blog by: Kathy Mankofsky, RD, LD. “Read the label,” you say, “how hard can that be?” Well actually, it can be very confusing. EVERYONE gets mixed up between the amount of FISH OIL and the amount of OMEGA-3 listed on the label. You might think you are taking 1000 mg of Omega-3 (which is a fairly effective dose) because the front of most bottles say 1000 mg FISH OIL. To find the amount of Omega-3 you need to read the BACK of the label. However, if you read the back of the label, you will find that the same bottle says '300 mg Omega-3.' According to the FDA, this is not deceptive. So, it is a very common practice in the fish oil business. It may not be deceptive, but it sure is confusing! The Omega-3 listed on the back are often divided into: EPA Omega-3 DHA Omega-3 Other Omega-3 Adding up all those individually will give you the total Omega-3. Proper Dosage It is important to take 2000 mg of total Omega-3 to achieve noticeable health benefits.* Note: make sure you are getting 1000-1400 mg of EPA. It is the EPA in fish oil that has been shown in studies to be the crucial component. It is also important to get some DHA, but not as much DHA is needed. In the label shown above it doesn’t specify how much EPA is in the fish oil. You need to buy a brand that tells you how much EPA you are getting. Optimal Dose Using the label above as an example, you would have to take about 7 pills to get the 2,000 mg Omega-3 that is recommended for noticeable health benefits. And how many of you are taking 7 pills? NONE, I BET! So, no wonder you are not getting the health benefits of Omega-3! Which Fish Oil Pill Has More Omega 3? Product 1 : 1000 mg Omega-3 (serving size=2 pills) OR Product 2 : 500 mg Omega-3 (Serving size= 1 pill) Answer: They both have the same amount of Omega-3. Each has 500 mg of Omega-3 per pill. Don’t be fooled! You have to look at the serving size. If the serving size is 2 pills, you have to divide the amount in half. SERVING SIZE MATTERS! The More Concentrated, the Fewer Pills Look around & see what’s within your budget that would give you 2000 mg of Omega-3. Make sure that it is an amount of pills that you are willing to take. Since fish oil pills are usually big, I'm willing to take no more than 2 pills per day. If you find an Omega-3 product that is more concentrated (sometimes called fish oil), you will be able to take fewer pills. When you are buying fish oil, remember that it is the Omega-3 content you are looking for & it is found on the back of the label. *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Favorite Fish Oil Brands - Part 2
In Part 1, I discussed some of the selection criteria for becoming a 'favorite fish oil brand.' And we looked at some good quality liquid fish oils. But how 'bout pills? Well, here are the brands of fish oil pills we love. Prices checked on company websites during July 2011 and may be different now. Minami Nutrition MorEPA Platinum with Vitamin D This is first on our list because it is probably the best of the bunch. Likes: Hi-EPA formula 1000 mg of EPA + DHA Omega-3 Finally being imported into USA Contains Vitamin D Dislikes: Cost Still hard to find in most places 3rd party IFOS Certificate of Analysis unavailable Not enteric coated Minami products were not always readily available in the US. They are now being imported from Europe by Garden of Life for distribution into health food stores. That's a few more middlemen that I'd like to see, because it affects cost. Minami's range of Omega-3 products tilt towards high-EPA formulas, like they should. They have high-DHA formulas for kids and pregnant women. Cost: $28.95 + $6.00 S&H (online) # of Pills: 30 Omega-3 Per Pill: 1100 mg OmegaBrite Did I mention that I love this product? Mostly because the pills are easy to swallow. Likes: High Omega-3 content Easy-to-swallow pill High-EPA formula Dislikes: Only 450 mg Omega-3 per pill Country of oil origin unknown 3rd party IFOS Certificate of Analysis unavailable Whenever OmegaVia customers ask me if we make our product in smaller pills, I always point them to OmegaBrite. I've sent people to OmegaBrite dozens of times with never a complaint - some people just can't swallow large pills, so this product is a great alternative. You'll pay twice as much and need to swallow twice as many pills, but that may be worth it to you if pill size is an issue. Cost: $22.99 + $6.95 S&H (online) # of Pills: 60 Omega-3 Per Pill: 450 mg OmegaSmart Super Critical This product is from RenewLife, a digestive health company. I like this formula a lot. A good, solid amount of EPA. They say their oil is 95% pure Omega-3 - I don't buy that. It's probably about 90%, which is good enough for me. Must be some marketer trying to brag. Likes: High Omega-3 levels per pill Contains Vitamin D3 High EPA to DHA ratio IFOS Certified Dislikes: Probably not quite 95% pure Cost Contains Vitamin D3 (yea, I know) This is the only one of the bunch with IFOS 5-star certification, a good sign of open, transparent business and quality. Cost: $24.99 + $6.00 S&H (online) # of Pills: 30 Omega-3 Per Pill: 1025 mg Comparison Chart Minami MorEPA Omega Brite Omega Smart OmegaVia Omega-3 Purity 90% 90% "95%" 90% EPA/Pill 765 mg 350 mg 780 mg 780 mg DHA/pill 240 mg 50 mg 120 mg 260 mg Total Omega-3/pill 1100 mg 450 mg 1025 mg 1105 mg Pills/Bottle 30 60 30 60 Total Cost $29.95 + $5.95 S&H $22.99 + $6.95 S&H $24.99 + $6.00 S&H $34.69 ($26.89 for AutoShip) Cost/Pill $0.97 $0.38 $0.80 $0.57 Cost of 1000 mg Omega-3 $0.91 $0.85 $0.81 $0.40 - $0.52 IFOS Tested No No Yes Yes There is a common formulation thread that connects these brands - they are all high in EPA Omega-3. Why? Because EPA Omega-3 is a feedback inhibitor to Arachidonic Acid and all its potentially harmful byproducts. DHA does not do this.* This is a key reason why OmegaVia is high in EPA. * These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. A little secret... 'Cost of 1000 mg Omega-3' is a very useful cost comparison tool. Why? Because it strips away all the hype and gets to the heart of the matter - the amount of Omega-3. Use it to compare similar products, like two ultra-high Omega-3 formulas. You can't compare a low-purity (30% Omega-3) formula with a 90% Omega-3 product because the raw material cost difference between the 30% oil and 90% oil is not 3X. It's more like 20X. You have to pay for purity. Besides, studies show that oils need to be about 80 to 85% Omega-3 before you can expect triglyceride reduction. In other words, Ultra-concentrated fish oil. Here's how you can calculate the 'Cost Per 1000 mg Omega-3': (Total cost of bottle X 1000) divided by (number of pills in bottle X mg of Omega-3 per pill). This formula works only if you compare products with roughly equal Omega-3 potency. Favorite fish oil brands...if you're pregnant What if you're pregnant? If you're pregnant, you need extra DHA Omega-3. These brands (above) very little DHA. Consider OmegaVia DHA 600. During the second and third trimester of pregnancy, you need a lot of DHA - between 500 and 1000 mg of DHA per day for not just your health, but the proper development of your baby.* No matter how much we like these other brands, you will need to take a DHA supplement. Your pediatrician may give you a prescription for a DHA supplement. They are good for you, except there is rarely enough DHA in any of the prescription DHA supplements. My recommendation if you're pregnant is to get OmegaVia DHA 600 or Nordic Naturals DHA 1000 or Ovega-3. * These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Favorite Fish Oil Brands - Part 1
Fish Oil Brands That We Like & Recommend Joan called last week with a problem. Her husband, Mark, (no, he's not the problem) is an OmegaVia customer and is very happy with the product. Encouraged by his results, Joan tried to swallow one of our pills. "I just can't do it," she complained. "I can't swallow pills. Is there a liquid fish oil brand that you recommend?" I told her to try my two favorite liquid fish oils: Zone Labs Nordic Naturals I know a few people at Zone Labs and they're driven by science, knowledge and quality, so I'm sure I steered Joan in the right direction. Yes, we sell OmegaVia here, which we think is pretty dang special. But that doesn't mean other good fish oil brands don't exist! Actually, there are a few that we really like. What's wrong with corner drug store fish oil? For the most part, fish oil supplements sold in corner drug stores (and, yes, even health food stores) are useless. There are exceptions, but most are useless because: Omega-3 content is too low Lack of transparency of purity & potency Unknown oil source and quality You need Omega-3 (lots of it) to balance the effect of too much Omega-6 that comes from eating vegetable seed oils. The two Omegas (3 and 6) compete in your body for enzymes and placement into cells. As your Omega-6 consumption increases, your need for Omega-3 goes up as well. It's a vicious cycle because unlimited amounts of Omega-3 is not the answer to compensate for unlimited amounts of Omega-6 in the diet. But given that the average American eats almost 20 times as much Omega-6 as he or she should, we need high-potency, ultra-concentrated grade fish oil to the rescue. And with drug store or mass market fish oils you'd have to pop a dozen a day! Mass-market fish oils contain 30% Omega-3. That aint enough! Some new products are 50% to 60% Omega-3. That's certainly better, but it still aint enough, amigo. Nordic Naturals makes some very good products that are about 50% Omega-3. I call these products 'health-food grade' or 'concentrates.' You will notice benefits with them. But there are much more potent and effective products available - see list in Part 2. Why High Omega-3 Content Matters Studies have shown that you can take the same amount of Omega-3 from 60% pure oil or 85% pure oil and you will significant improvement in absorption with lower potency oils. This is the main reason why I'm recommending the handful of products here - they are all at least 80% pure.* * These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. There is a reason why most retail fish oil are not this concentrated: cost. A drum of 50% pure Omega-3 fish oil costs about 4 to 5 times more than a drum of 30% pure fish oil. And a drum of 85% ultra concentrated fish oil can cost 25 times that of the 30% material. It takes a lot of work to get crude fish oil to over 80% purity. Do you REALLY Know What You are Buying? Transparency and Disclosure Are Important When you buy a bottle of fish oil from Walmart or CVS, you hope it is fresh. You hope it contains, what it says it does. Both Walmart and CVS have strong quality requirements from their vendors, but the point is, you don't have proof of quality and potency. You have to trust. You just have to believe what the label says. A few years ago, Walgreens used to have a No-Chinese-Fish-Oil policy - I don't know if that's still in place. But Walmart did not have a No-China policy on fish oils. Quality is where neutral, third-party testing agencies like IFOS help. IFOS testing lays it all bare for you to review, compare and make an informed decision. You will know the exact milligram amount of EPA or DHA Omega-3. You will also know how many parts per billion of mercury or PCB are present. It's not cheap for a brand to get its products tested at IFOS. And if it fails IFOS' guidelines, the certificate of analysis may not be posted for public view. There are dozens of IFOS tested fish oil brands - yeah, we're one of them. Click here to check our IFOS results for OmegaVia and other quality fish oils. IFOS-tested brands are confident in their quality, potency and purity that they are essentially saying, 'You deserve to know what you're buying and we have nothing to hide.' Not all the fish oil brands we recommend here are IFOS tested. But then again, IFOS testing is not the only criteria for selection. And also, IFOS testing won't tell you if the oil came from China! In part 2, we'll review and compare some of our favorite fish oil brands. * These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.