All companies claim to provide good fish oil. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be in business for very long.
The question is this. Can they prove their claims?
It’s not that hard for a manufacturer to provide proof.
The better companies pay for an independent laboratory analysis of the purity and potency of their supplements.
The results are recorded in an official Certificate of Analysis or COA such as that provided for xtend life fish oil supplements.
The manufacturer can then post a copy of the COA on their website.
The internet makes it easy for companies to provide the information that consumers need.
There’s no need to read the fine print on a label or carton. You can change the size of the font on your computer screen and read all about a supplement without putting on your reading glasses.
The COA will include information about contaminants like mercury, dioxins and PCBs.
The lab will measure and record total oxidation levels, which indicates the purity of the oils before they were encapsulated.
The COA will also include information about potency or omega-3 content.
Good fish oil will provide a minimum of 500mg of omega-3s per 1000mg capsule.
Some people think that all of the oils derived from fatty fish are omega-3s. That is not the case.
There are several kinds of fat in the oils, including omega-6s and omega-9s. The biggest benefit of oils from fish is that the omega-3 content is much higher than the omega-6 content. The reverse is true in any other foodstuff.
The content of cooking oils is greatly skewed towards the omega-6s.
In fact, some of them contain no omega-3s at all.
The content of beef, pork, lamb, chicken and eggs is greatly skewed towards the sixes, as well. The ratio is more balanced if you can afford to pay for grass-fed or organic meats, but they will still provide more sixes than threes.
The idea behind taking good fish oil is to help restore the omega-6 to 3 balance that is best for human health.
Diet experts suggest that we strive to reach a ratio of 4:1 or lower.
They say that the typical American diet provides as much as 40 times more sixes than threes. That is a major health concern. Some researchers consider it a preventable cause of death.
The risk of heart disease goes up dramatically as your intake of omega-6s increases.
Good fish oil, such as that provided in xtend life fish oil supplements can dramatically “reduce” your risk.
Other things that you will learn about when you read the manufacturer’s COA include the amount of specific omega-3s provided by the supplement. Docosahexaenoic acid or DHA is believed to be the most important, but Eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA must be present, too.
If you pick the right supplement, there are some benefits that you should notice immediately.
Improved mood and ability to concentrate are two of them.
Whether or not you are getting the long-term benefits is something that you cannot judge.
But, if you read the COA and pick good fish oil, you can be confident that the manufacturer’s claims are justified.
