Keep Your Mind & Body Young, Active, And Fully Functioning
With the Miracle of Omega 3s
Thank you for visiting the site today. Here you will learn all about fish oil, a dietary supplement proven to be beneficial for your overall health and well-being. Let me start by dispelling a few myths.
Myth: You can get all of the nutrients you need every day from the foods you eat.
Unless you eat certain kinds of fatty fish or seafood every day, you are not getting Docosahexaenoic acid or Eicosapentaenoic acid. Also known as DHA and EPA, they are long-chained omega-3 fatty acids.
A lack of DHA and EPA in your diet would not cause an obvious nutritional deficiency like scurvy or rickets. That much is true.
You could live without them for a while, but you would not enjoy good health. You would get depressed. You would lose your ability to concentrate. It would be harder for you to learn new things.
As time went by, your heart and circulatory system would start to suffer. Your vision would suffer. If you are a man, you would have fertility issues.
You see, DHA and EPA are essential for normal brain and heart function. They are major components of the retina in the back of the eye. They are needed to produce healthy sperm.
Those are just a few of the functions the two fatty acids perform in our bodies and they are only present in some fish and seafood. Years ago, people may have gotten enough by eating wild game and water fowl.
Suffice to say, the foods we prefer to eat have changed greatly over the last century. But, the human body has not changed much for thousands of years.
Myth: Flax seed oil is as good as fish oil.
Flax seeds and other plants contain an omega-3 called alpha-linolenic acid or ALA. ALA is the shortest of the long-chained fatty acids.
The human body can produce EPA from ALA if it must, which would be the case in a strict non-supplemented vegan diet. Your body also has the ability to elongate EPA through a very complex process and convert it into DHA.
Scientists believe it is something of an emergency response that developed to allow people to survive during foods shortages. But, because the process is there, DHA is not considered an "essential" nutrient; something that must be present in the diet.
Despite the fact that the body can produce a small amount of DHA if it must, the USDA has established minimum recommended daily intakes for EPA and DHA. For a woman, the recommended intake is 1100mg. She may need more if she is pregnant or breast feeding. For a man, the recommended intake is 1600mg.
It is not possible to meet your needs for DHA by taking flax seed supplements. Scientists have proven that by testing vegan blood levels before and after ALA supplementation. EPA levels rose slightly. DHA levels did not rise at all.
Myth: All fish and seafood are good for your health.
In terms of omega-3 content, salmon, trout and tuna are good choices. Tilapia and shrimp are not. Shrimp provides no omega-3 fatty acids and is high in cholesterol.
Farm-raised fish and seafood typically have poor nutritional value when compared to the wild varieties. Farm-raised tilapia may be as bad for your health as a hamburger in terms of the fatty acid content. It contains about 11 times more omega-6s than omega-3s.
One of the causes of modern health problems has to do with an imbalanced intake of omega-6s and omega-3s. The imbalance causes chronic inflammation throughout the body, which plays a major role in age-related heart disease and cancer.
The farm-raised salmon contains none of the natural astaxanthin (a potent antioxidant) responsible for the pink color of the filets. The color is added artificially.
Farm-raised fish and seafood typically contain higher levels of PCBs, cancer-causing contaminants. The USGS has found mercury in all fish samples taken from streams, lakes and rivers of the US.
Around the world, the most common cause of mercury poisoning is consumption of contaminated fish or seafood. Eating contaminated fish could be very bad for your health both in the short-term and the long-term.
Myth: All fish oil supplements are the same.
There are actually more differences than similarities. To judge the quality of a supplement and decide whether or not it is actually good for your health, you should consider the following factors.
- The type of fish oil included in the product
- The total omega-3 content
- The total DHA content
- The total EPA content
- The purity
- The freshness
A few details about each of those considerations follow.
Type of Fish Oil
Some fish species will inevitably contain very high levels of contaminants. Atlantic cod is an example, because the Atlantic Ocean is heavily polluted.
Cod liver oil was once a very popular supplement. Liver oils are absolutely the worst choice for two reasons. Number one, the liver is the dumping ground for all of the mercury and other contaminants the fish consumed throughout its life.
Number two; liver oils contain large amounts of the retinol form of vitamin A. Retinol can be toxic if too much is consumed at once. Retinoids found in carrots and other vegetables are non-toxic.
Large species like sharks are higher up on the food chain. Contaminants can bioaccumulate up the food chain. Large species eat smaller species as well as all the contaminants they contain.
Only certain species are rich enough in omega-3s to be considered. Some species are being over-fished, as a result.
Those of us who care about the environment care about sustainable fishing practices and the effect that what we eat or the supplements we take will have on fish and other wildlife.
Because of the popularity of wild Pacific salmon (low in contaminants, high in omega-3s), the populations are declining. In some coastal areas, sport fishing for salmon is prohibited.
If the populations continue to decline, it will have a detrimental effect on bears and other forms of wildlife that depend on the salmon for survival.
Most of the supplements sold in the US are derived from a tiny feeder fish called the menhaden. The practices used by the companies that catch the menhaden cause damage to the entire underwater ecosystem.
Overall, the best choice is the New Zealand hoki. It is a small fish with a wide strip of omega-3 fat running through each filet. The fishing practices allowed off the coast of New Zealand are sustainable.
The waters surrounding the island nation have yet to become polluted. Because of that, it is possible for companies to process the fat into oil without using molecular distillation.
Research has shown that natural fish oils such as hoki have more anti-inflammatory activity than those that are concentrated and molecularly distilled. The best companies use special purification processes prior to molecular distillation, in order to ensure the purest possible fish oil. Reducing inflammation throughout the body is one of the major health benefits of fish oil.
Total Omega-3 Content
The average fish oil brand provides 300mg of omega-3s per 1000mg capsule. The better brands provide 500mg of omega-3s per capsule.
Most companies list the average amount of omega-3s. The actual content could be a little higher or a lot lower.
The omega-3 content varies from one season to another. In order to provide accurate information concerning the omega-3 content, the manufacturer should have each batch of oils tested by an independent laboratory.
Total DHA and EPA Content
The average brands provide 200-250mg of EPA and 50-100mg of DHA. Some companies do not list the DHA, EPA content on the label, only the total omega-3s. The better brands provide a minimum of 300mg of DHA per capsule and 130mg of EPA.
From what we know today, DHA is the most important nutrient in fish oil. If your body needed the shorter long-chained fatty acids, it could easily convert the longest to one of the shorter.
Purity
The supplement industry as a whole is not well-regulated. It is up to the manufacturer to ensure the purity of their products.
The best manufacturers set high standards for purity. They publish a copy of their most recent certificate of analysis on their website.
That way, you can see that the oils are free of contaminants like mercury and PCBs. So, you can buy with confidence.
Freshness
Ever had a nasty fishy-tasting burp after taking a fish oil supplement? The cause of the burping has to do with rancidity.
If the fish are not processed quickly after they are caught, they start to spoil. The oils can quickly become rancid.
Consumption of rancid oils can make you sick. They also contain free radicals, which are bad for your long-term health.
Freshness is something that can be determined in the laboratory. The level of peroxides can be measured and included on the company's certificate of analysis.
Conclusion -- What's the Best Brand on the Market?
I did the research for you. I did the comparisons and questioned the manufacturers.
After taking all of the important factors into consideration, I am convinced that Xtendlife Omega-3/DHA fish oil is the best. It is the brand that everyone in my family takes on a daily basis.
Xtendlife used natural hoki and tuna oils. The anti-inflammatory activity of the supplement has been compared by scientists to other brands on the market.
Xtendlife's fish oil has two and a half times the anti-inflammatory activity of the average brand.
The recommended dosage is two capsules per day. Each capsule provides at least 500mg of omega-3s, a minimum of 300mg of DHA and 130mg of EPA.
Xtendlife's fish oil is one of the few on the market that also provides DPA, an omega-3 that scientists believe to be beneficial to the heart. Each capsule provides 34mg of DPA.
In terms of purity and freshness, Xtendlife's standards are the highest. There are no detectable levels of contaminants in their fish oil.
The oils are so fresh that Xtendlife guarantees you will not be bothered by fishing tasting burps or repeating. If you experience any problem of any kind, you can always get your money back.
The company is easy to deal with. They offer free shipping, free samples and discounts for volume purchases and repeat customers.
You cannot go wrong with Xtendlife. Click here to place an order or to learn more about the supplement that you should be taking.
PS - If you're still unsure about whether Omega 3 Fish Oil is right for you, I urge you to subscribe to my five-part report on Omega 3. In it you'll learn: