Fish Oil Fiasco

Ok I’m all set to order my fish oil online (not very excited about lemon-lime fish but oh well).

Then I read that the oil is derived anchovy and sardines. Now does it matter the source of the fish? I thought salmon was the best for highest EPA/DHA content??

Or is all fish oil that is commercially bought derived from sardines and anchovies??

I wouldn’t sweat it, fish oils are standardized to contain the specified amounts of dha/epa. While salmon , the fish itself, contains higher quantities fo the acids, in fish oil caps the amounts are going to have guaranteed minimums regardless of the source.

Well, I’m not so sure I agree with that, Mayfield. While there may (may, I stress; I’ve never seen anything like a “legal minimum”) be a minimum amount, it would make sense to shop around and get as much acid per X amount of oil as you can for your money. Also, there was some talk a while back about the salmon having to be bred in cold water for the oil to have a decent amount of the good stuff in it. Don’t know if this is absolutely true or not (maybe one of the real experts can chime in here…?), but it bears thinking about.

In any case, I get mine from the Oradix website. It’s cheap, easy, and they’re fast and reliable. Give 'em a shot.

I’ve heard that the cold water salmon has better EPA/DHA content than warmer water salmon and farm raised salmon. I’ve also read that the fish farms are starting to feed the fish cheaper grain based feed just like cattle. That makes the fish almost worthless as a source of EPA/DHA. Does anybody have a source of facts on this topic?

The oil has to have whatever EPA/DHA concentrations it says on the label, so I don’t think the source fish has much to do with it. On the other hand, Dr. Mercola (www.mercola.com) seems to think there are different uses for cod liver oil versus fish oil. You might check out his web site.