Get Your Body Healthy

Countless studies in recent years have emphasized the importance of omega 3 fatty acids for wellness. Our bodies cannot synthesize omega-3s, so we must obtain them in our food. The most prevalent way that people consume omega-3 is by ingesting fish. However, this guide shall illustrate the problems with obtaining omega 3 fatty acids from fish, and then will explain what to aim for in fish oil supplements.

Fish No Longer a Secure Source of Omega-3

Previous to fish oil supplements, the consumption of fish was the only way to obtain omega-3s in our diet. This was an acceptable method, but the realities of an industrialized planet means added water pollution. The unfortunate outcome is that fish have become tainted with all types of toxins like PCBs, mercury, arsenic, dioxins and heavy metals. These contaminants factor in a wide array of diseases such as blindness, cancer, birth defects and even death.

Omega-3 Supplements Are Also Adulterated

Because of these problems, many more consumers are choosing fish oil supplements as a an answer. But, fish oil capsulesare handicapped by the same risks, despite the fact that many fish oil makers claim that their fish oils are purified. A fairly new study by the UK’s Food Standards Agency instigated the removal of several fish oil products because of excessive levels of pollutants!

Also, consider this alarming report from Greenpeace about OmegaProtein, the largest producer of fish oil supplements on the planet. Their investigative video attests that OmegaProtein’s fish oil merchandise were discovered to contain poisonous amounts of flame retardants! However, probably we should take this news with a grain of salt bearing in mind Greenpeace’s ideological stance, but if factual, it is extremely scary!

So now that you are aware of some of the risks possible in fish oil supplements, what can you do about it? Fortunately, there are a few guiding principles that make it easy to evaluate a fish oil supplement for strength and safety.

The Gold Standard: The International Fish Oil Standards (IFOS) Program

The ideal method to find out if an omega-3 product is a pure, quality supplement is by selecting one that has been regularly tested by the International Fish Oil Standards program, or IFOS. The IFOS program is a voluntary 3rd-party testing institution that measures fish oil supplements along 5 parameters:

* Meet and Exceeds All Testing Categories by the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) and World Health Organization (WHO)

* Higher than 60% Concentration of Fish Oils

* Oxidation Amount Less Than 75% of Council for Responsible Nutrition Requirement

* PCB Quantity Less Than 50% of CRN Requirement

* Dioxin Quantity Less Than 50% of World Health Organization Requirement

These benchmarks were selected because the standards used by the CRN (Council for Responsible Nutrition) and WHO (World Health Organization) were not stringent enough to let higher portions of omega-3 fish oil. To obtain the rewards of fish oil, one must regularly take more than just the 1,000 mg a day that has been typically recommended. The reason only 1 gram has been advocated, however, is due to pollution risks. This is plainly not a problem if you’re consuming an IFOS-certified brand.

If you aren’t taking an IFOS-certified product, you are most likely more in danger of ingesting contaminants. Chances are, despite the fact that your fish oil brand may assert to be purified by “superior molecular distillation” (a marketing gimmick), it may not be safe to take. Since the IFOS organization reports the outcomes of their tests on their website, you can look up the best brands of fish oil obtainable.

Learn in detail about fish oil supplements by visiting Brittany S.E. Wallace’s website. Brittany is a health and nutrition expert that studied fish oils for almost a decade.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tags: fish oil, fish oil supplements, health, omega 3