• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Fish oil that passes toothpick test

Status
Not open for further replies.
K

katank

Senior member
Saw a Barry Sears (the zone guy) lecture recently and he mentioned that some fish oils can be contaminated with various pollutants (heavy metals etc).

A litmus test for whether your fish oil is good supposedly involves breaking a few capsules into a shot glass, freezing it, and then seeing if you can poke a toothpick through. If you can, supposedly that means the fish oil is OK w/ high probability.

Anyone heard of something similar or tried this on their fish oil?
 
Don't particularly think that theory holds water because fish oils are usually so unsaturated that freezing will only marginally solidify them. Besides, it depends on what the formulation of your "fish oil" pill is, and most of the heavy metals we're talking about are in trace amounts, at best. I really don't see what a "Toothpick test" is going to achieve besides tell you that your fish oil might not be as unsaturated as it claims.

If you are concerned about the purity and/or safety of your fish oil, skip the generics (i.e. store brands) and go for higher-quality brands. Or, forget about the pills entirely and eat fish that are lower on the food chain.
 
There are some brands that claim to be distilled to remove PCBs and metals but you might pay a bit more. I think natrol is one I found which also had the added bonus of lemon flavoring which is great for people that hate the fishy taste.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top