There are enormous health benefits to adding omega 3 fatty acid supplements to your diet, that’s for sure. These include cardiovascular, cognitive and anti-inflammatory benefits. What many people don’t know, however, is that in order to ensure that you’re getting these benefits, you have to take a concentrated fish oil supplement and not cod liver oil.
The health benefits of fish oil are directly proportionate to the amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids contained in the supplement. These omega 3 fatty acids, known as DHA and EPA, are the real workhorses of the best fish oil supplements.
Cod liver oil is not standardized to provide high amounts of these beneficial substances. In order to get the full health benefits, you have to take a molecularly distilled, concentrated product in capsule form, and with a high DHA content.
Furthermore, cod liver oil can actually have negative side effects.
Firstly, cod liver oil tends to be much higher in toxic heavy metals from sea pollution than the molecularly distilled supplements which are concentrated and high in DHA and EPA and at the same time free of contaminants.
Secondly, cod liver oil is very high in vitamin A. Since vitamin A is fat-soluble, it is stored in the body and is one of the few vitamins that you can actually overdose on. The high vitamin A levels are especially dangerous for pregnant and lactating mothers. Excessive vitamin A levels have been linked to liver problems and other ailments.
So, in summary, in order to get the full benefits of omega 3 supplementation, you have to make sure that you purchase a molecularly distilled product made from fish sourced in clean waters. This is the only way to ensure that you will get the full health benefits in the most cost-effective, safest way possible. It is no surprise that almost all of the advanced research proving the benefits of omega 3 supplementation have been done with pharmaceutical grade products.
Bonus tip: How is one to choose a fish oil wisely? There is one very unique concentrated fish oil with a far superior level of DHA.
For more information about fish oil, and to find out about the best value, purest, top-quality fish oil and multivitamins that I have discovered, and the ones that I use personally, please visit 12 Fish Oil Benefits Easily Explained.
