Fish oil brands

Now this is perplexing, because my Nature Made fish oil contains both omega-3 and omega-6. Per dose, they supply 360 mg omega-3 EPA and 240 mg omega-3 DHA in addition to 56 mg omega-6.

You are saying the omega-6 interferes with the omega-3’s ability to do it’s job? Shouldn’t Nature Made have some knowledge of proper supplement combinations? Is taking the omega-3 and omega-6 together really that big of a problem?

Must use more smilies to convey nuance. The only reason I said that was because it means I can’t talk about fish oil anymore here, at least specific brands. I’m not a shill, I’m a maven, if that makes any sense. I’m caving on the debate, because now I am easily trounced by the simple question—am I receiving benefit from a specific fish oil company? And while the benefit may not be personally financial, still the satisfaction of finding out for certain whether I am right about what causes vaginal orgasmic ability or whether it’s just the placebo effect combined with my persuasive personality is personally a tremendous benefit for me.

> The only reason I said that was because it means I can’t talk about fish oil anymore here, at least specific brands. I’m not a shill, I’m a maven, if that makes any sense. I’m caving on the debate, because now I am easily trounced by the simple question—am I receiving benefit from a specific fish oil company?

Can you not tell us how much EPA and DHA are in a bottle of the brand you use and how much the bottle costs, like I did for Kirkland? Isn’t there a label?

Are you financially connected to sales of fish oil pills? I haven’t seen you say that, nor have I seen anyone imply you are.

We are still in negotiations so I don’t want to talk about it too much yet until it gets going. I don’t want to screw up my last three years of work because I can’t keep my big mouth shut. Just an explanation for why I am now going to stop recommending specific types of fish oil. I’m feeling stupid enough for talking about Dr. Hibbeln in this thread. Will post the link to the protocol at clinicaltrials.gov once the study is up and running. In any case, more particulars about the study will come out in the December issue of Elle Magazine.

Of course I can tell you how much EPA and DHA are in my brand. 400 mg of EPA and 200 mg of DHA per pill. 120 pills in a $40 bottle. That’s the Sears. The Carlsons 500 mg of DHA and 100 mg of EPA per pill. 180 pills in a $45 bottle.

I am now in the last couple days financially connected to a fish oil company. Not personally, but my study is. So I am no longer qualified here to talk about specific fish oil brands. I should mention I am not expecting to receive money from my study, depending on if they find something useful for me to do on it I might make maybe a week’s worth of pay for a week’s worth of work. If that. Probably much less.

Can I assume that your study is being sponsored by one of the high cost fish oil people?

Well I wouldn’t be looking for a sponsorship from a fish oil that I didn’t think worked very well. Obviously I will using the company’s fish oil for my study. So yes.

But I’m at this website to talk about PC muscle exercise, not fish oil. Although I do of course feel passionate about fish oil, but will stop talking brands now in this forum.

Ok.

Kirkland:
45g EPA
30g DHA
cost: $7 at Costco (price reported by a recent purchaser)

Price per g of EPA: $.16
Price per g of DHA: $.23
Per g of combined EPA and DHA: $.09

Sears:
48g EPA
24g DHA
cost: $40 at ?

Price per g of EPA: $.83
Price per g of DHA: $1.66
Per g of combined EPA and DHA: $.56

Carlsons:
18g EPA
90g DHA
cost: $45 at ?

Price per g of EPA: $2.50
Price per g of DHA: $.50
Per g of combined EPA and DHA: $.42

Atta Boy :D

zane,

You’ve posted here before that you don’t recommend vitamin e supplemention because of the recent study about it being harmful, and I also replied in that thread that the same two John Hopkins guys that published warnings about fish oil were also involved in the bad news about vitamin e. According to what I’ve read, they hand pick a dozen studies, out of hundreds, and then put out a report just on those. Also, it’s not stated that at times people in some of those studies are very ill, that vitamin e may not can counter alone.

But concerning the e and fish oil connection, what I’m mainly wanting to bring up here is that since high dosages of fish oil can significantly lower the concentration of vitamin e in the blood, shouldn’t that be taken into consideration?

Summary of above:

1) The recent negative vitamin e report that made network news should perhaps be taken with salt. Afterall, the same two guys (I can find their names if I someone wishes) lashed out at fish oil years back by hand picking studies.

2)Fish oil lowers vitamin e concentration in the blood.

Just things to consider in connection with fish oil. Fish oil intake is healthy, but vitamin e supplementation should be considered when taking fish oil.

I’m actually requiring it in my study and I do recommend it in my diet—except I’m only recommending the RDA, contained in a good multivitamin. I used to recommend extra Vitamin E supplementation.

I quoted a post of Elzi Volk’s about fish oil and vitamin E here. She hangs out on Lyle’s board.

Gprent,

“Now this is perplexing, because my Nature Made fish oil contains both omega-3 and omega-6. Per dose, they supply 360 mg omega-3 EPA and 240 mg omega-3 DHA in addition to 56 mg omega-6.”

“You are saying the omega-6 interferes with the omega-3’s ability to do it’s job? Shouldn’t Nature Made have some knowledge of proper supplement combinations? Is taking the omega-3 and omega-6 together really that big of a problem?”

It’s not a huge deal or anything but I would switch to a pure omega-3 supplement if I were you. Firstly, omega-6’s are cheap and easy to aquire because they are in so much of the food produce in the western diet. Secondly, supplement companies often sell omega-6’s because it’s part of a trend and will produce what ever they know will sell well. They would sell grass trimmings if enough people wanted it. They know that omega-6’s are popular because of all the press coverage on omega-3’s. Unsuspecting customers’ trends dictate what most supplement companies choose to produce. Not that your supplement isn’t any good but they only put the omega-6’s in with the omega-3’s because it sells well to customers, who don’t know that the last thing they need is more omega-6’s, especially when taken at the same time as their omega-3’s.

Jerry Cott PhD, who mentions Zane’s friend, states it well.

“At a seminar at the May 2004 American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, Jerry Cott PhD, an FDA researcher, had this to say about omega-3.”

“Omega-3, he said, is a fatty acid that appears to work much like a calcium channel blocker. Not uncoincidentally, he related, Joseph Hibbeln MD of the NIH, who has led the way in omega-3 research, had been working on a calcium channel blocker study. Omega-3 competes with its sister fatty acid, omega-6, for the same enzyme chain. From there, omega-3 and omega-6 are metabolized, then stored as highly unsaturated fatty acid in tissue phospholipids.. The ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is one to one, but with modern diets favoring omega-6 at 20 to one it’s fairly obvious which fatty acid is going to win the battle of the enzyme chain.”

Gottagrow,

I got this quote from fatsforhealth.com:

Quote
Today, most popular literature suggests that “we get too much omega-6” and should therefore focus on the omega-3s. It is true that the typical North American diet already contains an excess of the omega-6 linoleic acid obtained through many of the cooking oils and pre-packaged foods we eat on a regular basis. However, as with many things in life, the process of converting linoleic acid into beneficial GLA doesn’t always go as planned.

Several metabolic roadblocks often hinder the conversion process of creating GLA. Environmental factors (such as pollution) along with aging, daily stress, smoking, viral infections and other illnesses (like diabetes) get in the way. And, according to current research, diets rich in sugar, trans fats (like those found in margarine and processed foods) and alcohol can also block the critical process of creating GLA. Since these impediments to healthy GLA production are so common in the North American population today, it is safe to say that most of us are deficient in GLA, even though we get lots of omega-6 linoleic acid.
Unquote

In addition to the above, my diet is low in cooking oil and pre-packaged foods, so I think, at least for my situation, I could use omega-6 supplementation.

In any event, what’s important is the type of omega-6 that is in your diet, and the GLA is what seems to be deficient in the American diet.

But who knows for sure? Everyone is out to make a buck and sell something.

A bowl of oatmeal only has a few mg of GLA. Personally I think that’s enough per day. I don’t think it requires additional supplementation. But I’m biased.

I should say I am taking CLA, which is another omega-6, but I’m taking enough omega-3’s to grow gills and I cook my own food.