Fish Oil

Training Bodybuilding
1

I hate to post this question cause I am sure this topic has been discussed over and over but…

Can you consume too much fish oil? I am presently on a diet which requires a macro nutrient profile of 50-25-25.

I am getting half of my daily fats from chicken breast, red meats, walnuts and the remaining +/- 35 grams from herring fish oil.

This particular diet calls for me to consume a rather large amount of fat and supplementing with fish oil makes the chore a little easier.

Am I over doing it on fish oil?

I could use some feed back… thanks!

2

Yes, you can take too much:

  1. It is a blood thinner. It affects coagulation and bleeding time.

  2. It lowers Arichidonic acid.

  3. It may have a negative effect on androgen levels at high doses.

  4. Related to 1, it has be shown that getting more than 3 grams a day of EPA and DHA from food and supplements combined may raise the risk of hemorrhagic stroke.

Now this isn’t to say that anything more than 3g of EPA/DHA per day is bad. However, you simply need to be aware of both the pros and the cons of too much fish oil.

  1. Too much unsaturated fat (monos and polys) will make your cell membranes more susceptable to peroxidation… (free radical damage which leads to disease, early aging, and DNA damage.)
3

You need more saturated fat. Also keep in mind that the fat in beef is only half saturated. The other half is monounsaturated.

4

Thunder,

Thanks for your reply. I recently had blood work done and test results indicated that my thyroid was a little sluggish and my test levels were a little low. Could over doing it on fish oil have an effect on testosterone levels and thyroid output?

5

In following advice from T-mag I increased my fish oil caps to 5 a day - not much by standards around here.

After about a month (time for it to be incorperated into cell membrane) I began to have light headed spells. Granted, I believe some of it to be self induced due to nervousness, but despite this the light headed feeling was initiated by something other than psychological.

I ceased the fish oil and since then (not immediately) the light headedness has stopped.

So I’m weary of polyunsaturated fats in excess these days.

Take this however you want, it may be isolated to myself. Than again watch for symptoms.

6

I have been taking 20 fish caps a day for the last 2 years and have yet to have any side effects. I think your light headedness was caused by something else. I could be wrong though.

7

wow, I take in about 25-35 g fish oil a day with no ill effects…but I weigh 220, so that may be why