Fish oil supplements?

[fleshconsumed]

I've been reading on benefits of fish oil/omega 3 fatty acids/DHA/EPA etc and I was thinking of including it in my diet. I don't like eating fish, so supplements is my only choice.

I do have a couple of questions however:

1. Do these supplements come as an actual oily substance in bottles or do they come in form of pills, digestible pills with oil inside?
2. Where do I buy those, if it's pills, do I need prescription?
3. Any recommendations as to specific form, i.e. oil or pills, or particular brand? I've also read that some companies make concentrated, or derived EPA products based on fish oil, should I go for those, or just stick to natural oil?


Anyway, just hoping someone could clear my confusion.

 

[DeckardBlade]

Only recently started it them myself so I'll leave #3 to the more experienced posters.

1. Both; you can get it either in oil or pill form. Some pills are advertised to come with an enteric coating which is supposed to alleviate any possible fishiness aftertaste. (I have only used enteric coated pills personally).

2. You can get them online or in a store (VitaminShoppe/GNC), probably anywhere that sells vitamins or nutritional supplements of any sort.

3. I don't want to make a recommendation as this is not an area of expertise for myself but I am currently using the pills from Optimum Nutrition which I purchased from Muscle & Strength.com since I already had free shipping on my current order on some protein.

 

[Titan]

I prefer the high-grade fish oil. (Pharmaceutical grade) it usually costs a bit more, but has a good high concentration of EPA/DHA. I prefer to get a bottle in liquid form as it is like 5x cheaper, though there may be issues with taste. I also take a high EPA mood fish oil as that is supposed to help with mood if you have anxiety/depression, which I have a little bit of. It does help me noticeably.

I usually mix the liquid, like 100 calories worth, in with my morning protein shake and then I have the same shake in the evening around workouts. Mixing the oil with the protein feel like I'm assembling foods from their basic elements, but it helps the powder mix and is very satisfying.

These are the products I have used:

fish oil capsules:
http://www.iherb.com/Natural-F...120-Softgels/2717?at=0

http://www.iherb.com/Country-L...80-Softgels/14541?at=0

best bang-for-buck liquid fish oil
http://www.iherb.com/Carlson-L...fl-oz-500-ml/7799?at=0

 

[StageLeft]

Before anybody says you can freeze them to make the fish belch not happen, no you cannot, they melt very quickly in the gut and you'll still smell it. I've not tried the extra-coated ones, though.

Make sure you do fish and not that silly grain stuff.

 

[PricklyPete]

Originally posted by: Titan
I prefer the high-grade fish oil. (Pharmaceutical grade) it usually costs a bit more, but has a good high concentration of EPA/DHA. I prefer to get a bottle in liquid form as it is like 5x cheaper, though there may be issues with taste. I also take a high EPA mood fish oil as that is supposed to help with mood if you have anxiety/depression, which I have a little bit of. It does help me noticeably.

I usually mix the liquid, like 100 calories worth, in with my morning protein shake and then I have the same shake in the evening around workouts. Mixing the oil with the protein feel like I'm assembling foods from their basic elements, but it helps the powder mix and is very satisfying.

These are the products I have used:

fish oil capsules:
http://www.iherb.com/Natural-F...120-Softgels/2717?at=0

http://www.iherb.com/Country-L...80-Softgels/14541?at=0

best bang-for-buck liquid fish oil
http://www.iherb.com/Carlson-L...fl-oz-500-ml/7799?at=0

Interesting post..thanks for the links.

 

[allies]

My mom's a registered dietitian and recommended Nordic Naturals to me. They're pretty pricey. She also has read some good stuff on Cooper's Clinic fish oil capsules.

I'm gonna start taking the latter: http://www.coopercomplete.com/store/detail/179.php

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Before anybody says you can freeze them to make the fish belch not happen, no you cannot, they melt very quickly in the gut and you'll still smell it. I've not tried the extra-coated ones, though.

Make sure you do fish and not that silly grain stuff.

The enteric coated ones really help with the burps/smell. If you can get some, try them. They're way better for those that hate the fish smell and flavor.

 

[AnnonUSA]

I am on prescription Lovaza...No burping issues...never taste it at all.

Good stuff....Expensive though.

 

[Jinru]

If you goto Vitamin Shoppe, a friend told me Carlson's liquid fish oil is the best bang for your buck if you have them price match it with the online deal.

http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/s..._detail.jsp?id=CL-1938

 

[coreyb]

Originally posted by: AnnonUSA
I am on prescription Lovaza...No burping issues...never taste it at all.

Good stuff....Expensive though.

prescription? Tell me more. Maybe I can get my insurance to cover my fish oil needs.

 

[KoolDrew]

I don't get why everybody thinks Carlsons liquid fish oil is such a great deal. Each serving has 1300mg combined EPA/DHA. To fall within the 2-3g range, that would be two servings, making it 50 servings per bottle for $22.66. On the other hand, trueprotein has 1000 1g pills for $24.49, with 300mg EPA/DHA per pill. Thus 10 pills gives you 3g EPA/DHA and 100 servings.

 

[Titan]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
I don't get why everybody thinks Carlsons liquid fish oil is such a great deal. Each serving has 1300mg combined EPA/DHA. To fall within the 2-3g range, that would be two servings, making it 50 servings per bottle for $22.66. On the other hand, trueprotein has 1000 1g pills for $24.49, with 300mg EPA/DHA per pill. Thus 10 pills gives you 3g EPA/DHA and 100 servings.

The current trend is to go for oils that have a 2:1 ratio for EPAHA. I'm quite not sure why, I think it has something to do with the ratio of the FAs actually found in the human brain. I know that's why the Natural Factors products endorsed by Dr Michael Murray are so expensive (the first link in my post above) But that stuff is very expensive. They do make a liqiud oil that is twice as concentrated as the carlson's but you get half as much oil (double the EPA/DHA). The Carlson's ratio is close at 8:5. The trueprotein ratio is 3:2. So that might be your answer.

 

[Capt Caveman]

I take these - Kirkland Signature? Fish Oil Concentrate 400 Softgels 1000 mg "Concentrated" Fish Oil w/300 mg Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Costco has this on sale($3 off) every other month. Can't beat it for the price.

 

[dealmaster00]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
I take these - Kirkland Signature? Fish Oil Concentrate 400 Softgels 1000 mg "Concentrated" Fish Oil w/300 mg Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Costco has this on sale($3 off) every other month. Can't beat it for the price.

yeah same, i take 3 every morning. haven't experienced fish taste either.

 

[AnnonUSA]

Originally posted by: coreyb

Originally posted by: AnnonUSA
I am on prescription Lovaza...No burping issues...never taste it at all.

Good stuff....Expensive though.

prescription? Tell me more. Maybe I can get my insurance to cover my fish oil needs.

http://www.lovaza.com/index.ht...26&rotation_s=30492789

 

[conorvansmack]

I had the "fish burps" once or twice. I just make sure that I eat something right after I take them and the fish burp problem stopped.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: AnnonUSA
I am on prescription Lovaza...No burping issues...never taste it at all.

Good stuff....Expensive though.

Ouch...$3360 a year vs. $150 for the knockoff stuff.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Thanks for all the great suggestion guys. One more question, for those who take pills, do you take them all at once (assuming you need several pills to make up for a daily dose of 2 grams), or one at breakfast, one at lunch and one at dinner? I don't think it would matter but I still wanted to ask.

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
Thanks for all the great suggestion guys. One more question, for those who take pills, do you take them all at once (assuming you need several pills to make up for a daily dose of 2 grams), or one at breakfast, one at lunch and one at dinner? I don't think it would matter but I still wanted to ask.

I take half with my first meal and half with my last meal. Since I take 10 total daily, I take 5 at a time.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
Thanks for all the great suggestion guys. One more question, for those who take pills, do you take them all at once (assuming you need several pills to make up for a daily dose of 2 grams), or one at breakfast, one at lunch and one at dinner? I don't think it would matter but I still wanted to ask.

I take mine as directed. One after Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

 

[FeuerFrei]

A bottle of capsules I have says to take with a full glass of water after eating. What's up with that? Water soluble vitamins?

Haven't been doing that.

 

[Kipper]

I should throw in here that a ton of mass-market fish oil supplements contain a lot of EPA and very little DHA. DHA is the fatty acid we are concerned with and it is probably DHA content that people should focus on if they are going to take supplements. Don't get me wrong, both are necessary but it does not follow that if you have a ton of EPA that it will "all" get converted to DHA. DHA in appreciable quantities, on the other hand, will act directly.

Additionally, cheaper fish oil supplements have been found in the past to contain large amounts of PCBs and other carcinogenic substances because the manufacturers haven't taken the additional steps to insure purity. Just a thought.

 

[Titan]

Originally posted by: Kipper
I should throw in here that a ton of mass-market fish oil supplements contain a lot of EPA and very little DHA. DHA is the fatty acid we are concerned with and it is probably DHA content that people should focus on if they are going to take supplements. Don't get me wrong, both are necessary but it does not follow that if you have a ton of EPA that it will "all" get converted to DHA. DHA in appreciable quantities, on the other hand, will act directly.

This is interesting to me. Do you know what happens when the body converts EPA to DHA? I'm wondering why high EPA has an effect on mood. Just looking for info on the conversion process.

Everything gets converted to poop in the end. Doesn't mean I'm going to eat it.

 

[Kipper]

Originally posted by: Titan

This is interesting to me. Do you know what happens when the body converts EPA to DHA? I'm wondering why high EPA has an effect on mood. Just looking for info on the conversion process.

Everything gets converted to poop in the end. Doesn't mean I'm going to eat it.

Do you mean what physiologically happens, or what happens to the molecule?

The enzymes you are looking for are the "desaturase" enzymes, which convert ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) to EPA and then to DHA by essentially stripping off a couple of hydrogens from a specific location on the fatty acid chain (a long chain of carbons). I can't remember the exact pathway off the top of my head but what I can tell you is that the conversion rate is extremely low in humans (I believe in the low single digits, like 2-3%). Most of the DHA in fish, for example, doesn't come from the fish. It comes from the algae that the fish eats (which is why farmed fish have much less DHA than wild fish). There is a DHA-rich supplement made from algae, but it's very expensive.

It is also worth mentioning that fish generally has much more DHA than supplements...so eat fish!

As far as what is going on physiologically with mood and EPA supplementation, I dunno. It's probably some sort of neurotransmitter-related mechanism (most psychiatric meds work on neurotransmitters, either inhibiting or stimulating their production).

Edit: Here is the algal DHA: http://www.amazon.com/Deva-Veg...ha-Algae/dp/B000V8BD4S

$39.95 :Q

 

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