Are Your Fish Oil Supplements As Good As You Thought?

Some come bundled with an explosion of sales hype; some are even toxic!

Enveloping a handful of top quality fish oils, these substandard products have flooded the market in droves.

What are the chances of you popping in an impure fish oil soft gel?

The Missing Star Nutrient

Touted as being the ‘missing' star nutrient, the Omega-3 fatty acids make up one of the two families of essential fatty acids; the other group is the Omega-6s.

These ‘good’ fats are essential for our health but cannot be produced by the body; thus we have to get them through food.

Fish oil supplements containing Omega-3s, only come to the picture when it was reported that our average urban diets contain a disproportionately high intake of Omega-6s.

To balance this unhealthy diet pattern, scientists, nutritionists and even conservative doctors are suggesting we reduce the Omega-6 fats and increase the Omega-3s in our diet.

Unbalanced Diets

Our average Omega-6-laden diets usually come from sources like red meat and common cooking oils such as corn, cottonseed, olive, sesame, peanut and safflower.

We can of course get our Omega-3s from healthy sources such as fish, dark leafy vegetables or use oils like flax seed, walnut, wheat germ, and soybean, but are we consuming enough of them?

The answer is simply, no. Incidentally, many studies have been done about the health benefits of flax seed, which many consider as the next best alternative to fish oil.

This is also the time when supplement manufacturers of fish oil supplements chip in with their products as the primary antidote to the Omega-3 shortage in our diet.

Leveraging a host of health benefits of Omega-3s, companies both good and bad proliferate the fish oil market like bacterial spores at 63 degrees Celsius! Remember, as with all nutritional health supplements, not all fish oil supplements are created equal. There’s always something fishy about some companies, as you’ll see.

A Rotten 'Fish'

Poor quality control during the manufacturing process by some irresponsible companies yields a rotten fish in the fish oil industry.

Oxidized fish oil is loaded with free radicals which are hazardous to our health. Cunningly, these downright devious and unscrupulous companies will find ways to mask, coat or even ‘flavor’ the smell of the rancid oil!

Be careful if you happen to come across ‘enteric coated’ fish oil products. You don't need to enteric coat fish oil tablets—they are supposed to be digested in the stomach.

Fish Oil Supplement Hype—another one?

To create a perception of superiority and quality of their product, some companies engage in some slick marketing tactics. Many, however, are ‘trapped’ by their explosive sales hype and over-the-top claim! When you read something like this below, AVOID IT like the plague!

What the company is referring to is their green-lipped mussel (GLM) oil supplement. Leveraging the GLM tsunami was another MLM company, Mox**r—with similar outrageous claim (and price tag).

While the green lipped mussel’s anti-inflammatory properties have shown to be quite effective from several studies, but claiming it to be HUNDREDS of TIMES MORE EFFECTIVE than fish oil; and therefore eradicating fish oil supplements from the face of the earth—is simply not true.

So before you lay your fingers on your plastic card, read this Green-Lipped Mussel Powder Buyers' Guide first.

The Hidden Gem

Amidst all the fish fallacies and hype, there are bound to be a few honest companies vying their best to provide you with the highest quality fish oil products. You just have to open your eyes big and ears wide; cut down the unnecessary ‘hype’ noises and distractions; and apply some common sense and wisdom.

You could be swallowing probably the best Omega-3 fish oil right now, but just to play it safe, browse through this highly informative Omega 3/DHA Buyers' Guide and, more importantly learn the truth about your fish oil supplement that some irresponsible manufacturers do not want you to know.

Alternatively, you can read the condensed version of this guide here: Guidelines to help you choose the best fish oil supplement.

"If you truly care for your health, give it the best you can afford."

• The oily truth about krill oil!

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