i was thinking, since most of the literature about fish oil says as you increase dosage, benefits increase, would a mega dose every 2-3 days be better than say smaller doses every day or two times a day? i know more isn’t always better, but maybe here it is to a point. maybe the answer is obvious but i couldn’t quite reason one out
I very much doubt it. Very, very much doubt it.
I would use my common sense on this one.
The PUFAs in fish oil are some kind of building blocks for all kinds of metabolic functions it seems.
Getting plenty of them on a regular basis ensures a healthier metabolism.
Where exactly do you see mega-dosing once in a while having an effect?
Take into account that most of the health benefits of taking them are probably due to a highly skewed intake ratio between our omega-6 and omega-3’s. Taking in omega-3 supplements every day to correct that ratio sure seems like a good (if not perfect) plan to me.
Have you seen Flameout in the Biotest store? A single pill has like 700mg of the good stuff in it, and the recomended dose has over 3g of EPA/DHA/CLA… Its a hefty dose for like a buck a day.
[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Have you seen Flameout in the Biotest store? A single pill has like 700mg of the good stuff in it, and the recomended dose has over 3g of EPA/DHA/CLA… Its a hefty dose for like a buck a day.[/quote]
yeah, i’ve always known about Flameout. seems like a sound product. but my point is, think there’s any difference in taking a 3 dose serving say every two days instead of splitting up small doses more often? i know this seems odd to do with a supplement, but this is dietary fat we’re talking about, not a drug supplement. i was just being curious
[quote]toocul4u wrote:
Lonnie123 wrote:
Have you seen Flameout in the Biotest store? A single pill has like 700mg of the good stuff in it, and the recomended dose has over 3g of EPA/DHA/CLA… Its a hefty dose for like a buck a day.
yeah, i’ve always known about Flameout. seems like a sound product. but my point is, think there’s any difference in taking a 3 dose serving say every two days instead of splitting up small doses more often? i know this seems odd to do with a supplement, but this is dietary fat we’re talking about, not a drug supplement. i was just being curious
[/quote]
I see. Actually thats the idea behind the T-Boosting supps. After a little 2 day break or something you have a “first response” kinda thing where you might get a little bit more response than if you had just kept on taking it.
Something tells me its a little different with a supplement like fish oil because it just gets absorbed into the cells, as opposed to stimulating hormone production.
toocul4u, more is not better. If you had a health condition that benefited from fish oil supplementation (specifically EPA and/or DHA), then it would benefit you to take it at the dose used in the study you referenced.
In studies and clinical trial they will often try different amounts to see if they get better results with a higher dosage. So if a given amount was used, you’re safe going with that amount.
But taking more than recommended without a basis for doing so is probably a waste of money … not that your body doesn’t appreciate more of a good thing! (grin) But benefits always come at a price. If increasing the dose by double only generates 10% more benefit, I wouldn’t say it was worth it.
On the other hand, Charles Poliquin has been known to recommend higher doses of fish oil for a 30-day period of time (30-45g), and there’s some science to that. Fatty acids are building blocks for cellular membranes among other things.
It can take up to 3 months to replace pro-inflammatory fatty acids with anti-inflammatory fatty acids in cellular membranes, which is what Charles is trying to do with his higher-dose recommendations for that period of time. He’s attempting to speed up a process that would happen naturally at the lower dosage, albeit more slowly.
I take like 15 pills a day of fish oil. whenever I rememebr I just pop a few in. It won’t hurt you and they are dirt cheap.
I think it is far more important to be consistent than to strive for a specific dosage. FFAs are one of those things, any is leagues better than none, so focus on getting some in everyday and you should feel the effects pretty quickly.
Whenever I am consistently taking Flameout, I just feel better all around. Less fatigue, less depression, more energy, less soreness…etc. Even my skin looks better(I don’t really get acne anymore, but I still have some red marks/scars from when I did, but they seem to heal and fade more when I’m consistently taking Flameout).
I take 6 capsules of Flameout a day on the minimum, and that has been enough to feel/observe effects. Which reminds me, I should probably place a new order, I’ve only got a week or so left.
TT knows her stuff.
I usually take a couple with each meal of the day-- I’m pretty sure I’ve read that that helps with digestion, or maybe it just prevents the “fish burp” but either way, I think that’s a better way to do it rather than take a bunch all at once.
TT nailed it. There was a guy at the gym who decided to go into mega dose of fish oil. I can’t remember how much, but after a few days mega dosing he could be more than 50 feet from a toilet for a few days until he stopped.
Because the discussion has moved away from the largest misconception of the original post, I want to hammer it home
Taking a lot of fish oil is almost definitely good, like Tampa-Terry pointed out, there’s always a cost/gain ratio that should be kept in mind, but more in the case of fish oil is almost definitely good (CP usually only recommends stuff that works).
So now we’ve established that a) fish oil is good, b) lots of fish oil might be better.
Not anywhere have we established that skipping fish oil for a few days would be better than taking it every day. In fact, everyone recommends fish oil every day, CP recommends mega dosing–every day. So if you want to mega dose, sure go ahead, just do it every day.
Personally I try to get in around 3-4 tablespoons per day, that might be considered megadosing?