46 replies to this topic

[Dmitri]

There's a thread for Vitamin C and Melatonin, so why not Fish Oil; one of the more popular supplements out there. How much do you supplement, what's your reasoning and has it helped? I used to supplement with triple strength gel caps at 900mg. However, I realized that I might not need as much considering my age (25) and the fact my blood pressure and cholesterol had always been very good even before using it. Therefore, I have reduced the dosage; I bought regular strength (300mg) gel caps from GNC and take two (during breakfast and dinner) daily. WHO recommends people consume 300-500mg a day, so the 600mg dosage seems reasonable to me. I'm primarily taking it for it's purported skin health benefits and thus far I've been happy with the results.

[niner]

Here is a thread that talks about the problem with getting too much DHA. Like everything else, there's such a thing as too much fish oil. I take 2 grams of a not-very-high potency oil, in a split dose. (breakfast & dinner)

Edit: Added the missing link...

Edited by niner, 02 August 2010 - 11:58 PM.

[pycnogenol]

I take up to 4 softgels per day of LEF's "Super Omega-3 EPA/DHA" for reducing inflammation and managing glucose.

Product here:

http://www.iherb.com...gels/23722?at=0

Edited by pycnogenol, 02 August 2010 - 10:29 PM.

[Riceater]

Here is a thread that talks about the problem with getting too much DHA. Like everything else, there's such a thing as too much fish oil.

^ Listen to this people ^

I was taking 1200mg pills that contained 400mg fish oil, 400mg flaxseed oil, and 400mg borage seed oil three times a day like the bottle said and I started urinating dark orange LOL

Edited by Riceater, 02 August 2010 - 11:31 PM.

[rwac]

Here is a thread that talks about the problem with getting too much DHA. Like everything else, there's such a thing as too much fish oil. I take 2 grams of a not-very-high potency oil, in a split dose. (breakfast & dinner)

Did you forget to include a link ?

[niner]

Did you forget to include a link ?

Yup. Thanks for figuring that out. It's fixed now. Sorry everyone.

[Iron.E]

Arguably the most important supplement in your regimen, I take 6-8g/ed

[FunkOdyssey]

500mg DHA / 200mg EPA

[chrono]

I take 720mg EPA + 480mg DHA per day. Ideally I would take 1.5-2x this, but I'm trying to keep expenses down atm.

That thread niner linked is a good read, I hadn't seen it before. Also, too much omega-3 can negatively impact bleeding time, and increase risk of stroke (see brief post here). The FDA recommends a 3g max of omega-3 per day, though I'm not sure how arbitrary that number is.

[e Volution]

Paleo reasoning says n-3 and n-6 are usually found together in nature in ratios of 1:1 ~ 1:3 (n3:n6), so that the ideal amount of fish oil/n-3 is dependant on your n-6 intake, ideally approaching as close to 1:1 as you can get.

BUT it appears excess n-3 may be bad. So could (and should?) this same reasoning be applied to n-6? If so, optimally the superior outcome would be the best of both worlds; lower n-6 enough that a low/moderate dose n-3 does bring your intake into a ratio close to 1:1. Failing that however, what is better? Should fish oil consumption be as high as required to get the good ratio, or do you deal with an unbalanced ratio and just supplement fish oil moderately due to any possible negatives from high n-3 consumption?

My laymen question is, is there any biological/biochemical reasoning to be more critical of n-3 than n-6? I know the government/doctors like n-6 seed oils but I don't think this should have any bearing as they have lost all credibility and authority IMO.

edit: I am not sure what I take (on average) as it varies daily, anywhere from 1g-4g EPA/DHA. I have Fish Oil, Fish & Flax Oil, and Krill Oil, and I rotate and combine randomly

Edited by e Volution, 04 August 2010 - 12:16 AM.

[tintinet]

I aim for 1 gram of EPA/day. I usually end up taking a total of 2 to 3 grams of fish oil to acheive this.

[Dmitri]

Arguably the most important supplement in your regimen, I take 6-8g/ed

Why such a high dose? There's studies that show high doses can be harmful not beneficial.

[eternaltraveler]

What "bad effects" are those? I haven't seen anything convincing in that regard.

[Dmitri]

What "bad effects" are those? I haven't seen anything convincing in that regard.

In the following thread someone posted an article on why the FDA doesn't recommend people consuming more than 3g a day: http://www.imminst.o...ish oil__st__20

There was also another huge thread going around a few months ago (I think Duke had posted it, not quite sure though), but I can't find it at the moment. For some reason why I type fish oil in the search section it only allows to view the first 200 posts that contain those words.

[chrono]

What "bad effects" are those? I haven't seen anything convincing in that regard.

See this post about possibility of bleeding and stroke risk, but read through DHA-Accelerated Aging Hypothesis for some more involved discussion of a different issue.

[tintinet]

What "bad effects" are those? I haven't seen anything convincing in that regard.

See this post about possibility of bleeding and stroke risk, but read through DHA-Accelerated Aging Hypothesis for some more involved discussion of a different issue.

Conversely...

[Dmitri]

What "bad effects" are those? I haven't seen anything convincing in that regard.

See this post about possibility of bleeding and stroke risk, but read through DHA-Accelerated Aging Hypothesis for some more involved discussion of a different issue.

Conversely...

Yes, but that study doesn't mention whether the people consumed fish oil through supplements or eating fish. Just because it has benefits doesn't mean the more you take the better. Remember everything is bad in large quantities even water. The dangers of high dosing is what's being discussed not whether or not fish oil in general is healthy.

Edited by Dmitri, 05 August 2010 - 07:12 PM.

[Happy Gringo]

Scary stuff, I am going to cut back from 8 grams to 4 grams until I get more info. Does anyone have a link that supports their dose? I am finding pros and cons but no clear guidelines. Is there an amount that benefits but doesn't oxidize?

[david ellis]

Scary stuff, I am going to cut back from 8 grams to 4 grams until I get more info. Does anyone have a link that supports their dose? I am finding pros and cons but no clear guidelines. Is there an amount that benefits but doesn't oxidize?

Happy Gringo - Maybe you don't need to cut back if you are taking 8 grams of regular fish oil. 8 grams of fish oil is 2.4 grams of EPA/DHA, well under the FDA limit of 3 grams/day of EPA/DHA.

Edited by david ellis, 06 August 2010 - 04:43 PM.

[chrono]

Conversely...

Yes, but that study doesn't mention whether the people consumed fish oil through supplements or eating fish. Just because it has benefits doesn't mean the more you take the better.

The threads I linked to stress the importance of moderate dosing. This study measured blood levels of omega-3, and not the effect of fish oil dosages. Since the FDA dosage recommendation has been in place since the 90s, I really doubt that any of these people were supplementing more fish oil than that, or as Americans were on a high-fish diet.

To what Dimitri said, I'll add that a positive effect does not necessarily disprove or outweigh a different negative effect. Even if this study shows that fish oil has a positive and dose-dependent effect on telomere length, that doesn't mean that a high dose won't also have those negative effects, which are probably also dosage-dependent. Telomere length is not going to help much if you're increasing your risk of hemorrhagic stroke.

Edited by chrono, 06 August 2010 - 08:23 PM.

[ajnast4r]

350mg dha + 50mg epa from algae, varying amounts of ala from flax... usually 10+g

[Kutta]

~ 3,5 g fish oil concentrate, 900 mg EPA, 700 mg DHA

[FunkOdyssey]

500mg DHA, 200mg EPA daily

[nito]

500mg DHA, 200mg EPA daily

It's the DHA that is better for cognition right? I'm thinking of buying something that has high DHA.

[Logan]

500mg DHA, 200mg EPA daily

It's the DHA that is better for cognition right? I'm thinking of buying something that has high DHA.

You really need to experiment to see what ratio works best for you. I would shoot for what ratio you feel best on, feeling good and functioning well will lead to better cognition.

[JLL]

DHA is also the most susceptible to lipid peroxidation...

[mike250]

so higher EPA and lower DHA would be a good combination

[FunkOdyssey]

Hey, important update, the amount of fish oil I supplement is now zero. I figured out that after I've been taking it for three years now or whatever it's been that it's been disposing me to have palpitations the entire time. Crazy huh? I guess fish oil causes palpitations in a significant number of people, if you google "fish oil palpitations" you'll see what I mean.

[mike250]

could it be a lack of something else that the oil exacerbates

[caruga]

I'm consuming about 1700mg EPA and 1140mg DHA per day, as a single capful of oil at mealtimes. Can't say I've seen any effects from it.