Posted on 12/23/2004 12:02:09 AM PST by neverdem
I'm an infrequent fish eater (yuk, it makes the house smell fishy) and daily fish oil user. I look carefully at the composition of Omega 3s and especially want Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA). My guide for this is Barry Sears, author of the Zone Diet books and a high-level ivy-league biochemist who trains Olympic athletes.
If you use fish oil, you might check out Natural Factors RxOmega-3 Factors, pharmaceutical grade, with 630 mg Omega3 in each cap, 400 of which is EPA. Nice product! I found it at www.iherb.com at a very good price.
Also, because I live in the gloomy northwest, I take Cod Liver Oil in the winter, buy Carlson's Norwegian 1000 mg, supposedly the most pure product available. So that also gives me an additional 240 mg of Omega 3. Also available at iherb.com at a nice discount.
And to think I used to live in Florida and had a vacation house in Key Largo. Who worries about fish oil there?
Though I am concerned with the Statins as I am with almost any drug with an advertising budget bigger than some small nations' GDP the above statement seem like a hyperbolic extrapolation. Still it would be interesting to see the unmodified data from the original trials.
I guess Jean Luc will have to go back to making ST movies. :)
Christopher eggs sound perfect. However, I live on an island far from any WalMart. I do have a local grocer who stocks specialty and super-healthy items and they might be willing to order them. I find all kinds of terrific stuff there from all over the world.
I thought I'd chime in with a little insight (hopefully!).
Regarding Natural Factors fish oil, it IS pharmaceutical-grade, but it's in "ethyl ester" form, rather than the natural "triglyceride" form, which means its absorption by the body is severely impaired. Regarding cod liver oil, it contains toxic levels of vitamin A, so in the winter, I'd make sure you balance it with another fish oil, or just take a Vitamin D supplement in place of the Cod Liver Oil (The nutrient that sunlight produces). Also, Carlson's claims their fish oil is pure, but they don't test every batch with the International Fish Oil Standards program.
Those Christopher eggs are interesting, but I don't see any mention on their website that they contain DHA and EPA. It just says Omega-3s, but what kind of omega-3s is conspicuously absent. Since the omega-3s come from feeding their hens all-vegetarian diet, I think it's safe to assume that it's ALA, the short chain omega-3s, rather than the long-chain EPA and DHA that are useful to your body.
I operate a website about the benefits of fish oil supplements and I also have a report that goes into more detail about ethyl esters vs. triglycerides, cod liver oil, international fish oil standards, short and long chain fatty acids, and other things about fish oil. You can request the report by e-mailing me at marshall@fishoilblog.com if you'd like.
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