Poliquin's Mega Dose Fish Oil

Diet and Nutrition
1

Some time ago (about December to be exact) Charles Poliquin posted some comments about mega dosing with fish oil. It seemed to have recieved a luke warm reception for the most part. I certainly thought he was off his rocker a wee bit.

Anyway, the comments stayed in the back of my mind for some time. The “bite” festered and eventually I had to do something about it. So a month ago I got some generic fish oil (typical 180mg EPA/120mg DHA capsule stuff), an anti-oxidant formula vitamin (to protect the oil. Vitamin E was recommended in the thread that followed) and jumped in.

Since Poliquin gave a range (30 grams to 45 grams), I decided to start at the lower end and work my way up if needed. I made no changes to diet or training during this time.

The first week I noticed absolutely nothing, zip, zero, zilch, nadda. I did begin to think that Chuck was flying on something that I didn’t want to get anywhere near, but I stuck it out. I even thought about increasing the dosage, but decided against it just to see what happened. If after two weeks, no changes of any kind were noticed, then I would increase the dose.

Well, after two weeks I noticed a few changes. I’ve had problems with dry skin for a few years. Most everything I tried didn’t work. After two weeks with the fish oil, my skin started to change. It started getting softer (yeah, yeah, get it outta your twat, pecker wood). Forearms, elbows, and knees went from feeling like shark skin to feeling like human skin. My hands went from dried and cracking in the knuckles to nice. I had began having problems at work because I couldn’t hang on to anything (but oh what a feeling at home!)! These changes alone made me start to think that maybe Chuck was on to something. But, for me at least, there was better things to come.

After three weeks some nagging aches and pains (my doc likened them to arthritis) that wouldn’t go away were seriously lessened. Only the good shit from the hospital seemed to help those. And the skin seemed to get even better. However for me the biggest benefit that I got this week was seriously improved sleep. I haven’t woke up in the middle of the night for any reason in the last couple of weeks. No muscle cramps, no hour of the wolf nightmares from hell, no stiffness in the wrong places. Nothing! I was now beginning to think that Chuck knew a thing or two about a thing or two.

With all this, I was pretty happy with the results. So happy in fact that I didn’t bother to up the dose. I stayed at 30 grams a day through out.

The last week everything stayed the same or increased. I also began to notice increased energy. How much? Hell if I know, but after a 12 hour shift of moderate to heavy intensity work, I’m still ready to rock. So much so that I don’t want to go to sleep at night. And when I finally get to sleep, I wake up well rested and ready for the day with less than 6 hours of sleep.

This is what I happen to notice. Anyone else do it? If so throw up your experiences and let’s see what happens. Got a comment? Go ahead, but if it’s negative don’t get your panties in a wad if someone flames you!

2

So…you’re taking 30 caps of fishoil a day? Did you ramp it up or just went for 30 in one go? Were you taking fishoil before starting the megadosing? If so, how much?

3

Do you have a link to the article?

I heard a friend talk about the Poliquin article but I never actually read it. Instead, I said WTF and went ahead and tried it based on what I heard.

I have been using about 25g a day spread in 4-5g doses. I have noticed the skin changes but the biggest change has been a major decrease in joint soreness/ inflamation whatever the hell you want to call it. I’ve been able to squat, DL and do sprint intervals on seperate cardio days and my knees, hips and shins take the beating like a champ. Before, I would have been crying like a bitch if I sprinted one day and squated the next.

I also notice a decrease in body fat while keeping scale weight fairly high. I’m not a fan of caliper measurements and bullshit, but if I look leaner and my weight isn’t dropping much then I’m inclined to think that the weight I did drop was fat.

Thanks for starting this post. I’d like to know if anyone else tried this.

4

[quote]Miserere wrote:
So…you’re taking 30 caps of fishoil a day? Did you ramp it up or just went for 30 in one go? Were you taking fishoil before starting the megadosing? If so, how much?[/quote]

I didn’t ramp it up, I just went for the 30 at one time (divided up during the day of course). As for the fish oil before, yes kind of. I was taking Flameout.

5

I’ve been taking 20-25g’s a day for a few months now with all the benefits of the OP. I’m thinking about upping the total to 30g’s. For me, it seems these are free calories that I’m not “penalized” for while maintaining or losing weight. Best of all, my joints feel unbelievable.

6

Mazevedo,

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1371812

You’ll have to scroll down a couple of questions. Also, read the following thread. Be warned it’s quite long and the real jems (I think anyway) are towards the end of it.

7

i definitely noticed fat loss. DEFINITELY.

however, i had a question. does he prescribe his amount of fish oil year-round? he said somewhere that lack of omege-3s may be the thing holding back our progress

8

When taking doses this high does anyone notice decreased clotting or immune system function?

9

[quote]Vyapada wrote:
When taking doses this high does anyone notice decreased clotting or immune system function?[/quote]

I’ve noticed that razor cuts can get a little out of control, but nothing unmanagable.

10

cw recomends 1 gram per 10lbs of lean body mass.

11

[quote]Madman2 wrote:
Mazevedo,

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1371812

You’ll have to scroll down a couple of questions. Also, read the following thread. Be warned it’s quite long and the real jems (I think anyway) are towards the end of it.[/quote]

Thanks man. I’ll have to give the full article a read during lunch tomorrow.

12

Just for kicks I decided to look at what the equivilent dosage would be with Flameout.

Assuming generic fish oil had the 180/120 EPA/DHA dosage you mentioned, I looked at the lower and upper limits CP suggested, which is:

EPA: 5400 - 8100 mg
DHA: 3600 - 5400 mg

1 capsule of Flameout has:

EPA: 220 mg
DHA: 550 mg

Doing the math, and adding to the fact that I have some generic wild salmon oil capsules 80/70 EPA/DHA (as well as 5 bottles of Flameout), I chose to try the following dosages for 4 weeks.

12 caps Flameout/day
12 caps Generic/day

This will give the following:

3600 mg EPA
7440 mg DHA

I won’t be hitting the EPA target, but I’m hoping Tim knows what he’s talking about regarding the DHA/EPA ratio.

Why go this route. I’ve got ridiculously low HDL ~30. I’ve got cardiovascular disease (triple by-pass at age 39, six years ago). I suffer from progressively worsening psoriasis, which I’ve held in check up until the last 6 months or so using topical steroidal medication. Lastly arthritis has started to set in, particularly in the knees.

Cardiologist (yes, I consulted him), thinks it’s overkill, but is curious as to the results.

BTW, I’m one of those freak heart patients, as I’ve posted previously. Never smoked, never had diabetes, never been excessively overweight, ran cross country in High School, ran regularly ~5 miles/day up until about age 30 when work became too demanding, never had high cholesterol, etc., etc.

Doctor reckons it’s hereditary, which is the typical fall back excuse when they don’t have another answer.

What are my expectations? Lose the joint pain, see the effect on my blood work, see the effect (if any) on psoriasis, allergies, and general energy levels.

I won’t officially start until Sunday April 1st, but will actually begin working into my daily routine tomorrow.

I’ll keep you posted.

13

[quote]Tokendude wrote: I looked at the lower and upper limits CP suggested, which is:

EPA: 5400 - 8100 mg
DHA: 3600 - 5400 mg

[/quote]

This is for daily, LONG TERM use? This equates to about 40gm of Carlson’s fish oil daily… Would’nt this high an amount be unhealthy?

14

[quote]solidgk wrote:
Tokendude wrote: I looked at the lower and upper limits CP suggested, which is:

EPA: 5400 - 8100 mg
DHA: 3600 - 5400 mg

This is for daily, LONG TERM use? This equates to about 40gm of Carlson’s fish oil daily… Would’nt this high an amount be unhealthy?
[/quote]

why? It is fat, your body can still burn it if it is not needed.

People who eat a lot of fish do not seem to suffer from any unwanted side effects.

15

I totally agree with the benefits of fish oil. I’ve been practicing jiu-jitsu and MMA long before the UFC came around and since then I’ve had both shoulders dislocated three times and my elbows go well past 180 on the preacher curls.

Pain was something i got used to having EVERYDAY. I started the Flameout (recommended dose) and I noticed ALL of my pain went away in about two weeks. I also noticed that when I run out of Flameout and stop taking it the inflammation and soreness returns each morning.

Personally, I think 30g a day is overkill because I’ve gotten results with the regular Flameout dosage. Hope that helps.

16

Use liquid instead of caps & its a hell of a lot easier to get 30-45g.

CW recommends 4 caps Flameout & 2 tablespoons carsons liquid fish oil p/day

17

Have used 30 grams of Kirkland fish oil in the past. Managed to stay at my 15% bodyfat while going through the worst period of my life - ate and trained like shit, breakup, lost job etc etc.

I moved and had to settle with the GNC brand and kept it at 9 grams per day, got better sleep, trained better and ate better - I went to 20% bodyfat.

Just started 8 Flameout caps per day maybe around 6 weeks ago with HOT-ROX (4 per day) and am back down to 15% with ZERO achy joints and INCREDIBLE sleep (I sleep straight through for 6 hours each night) and my penis grew bigger by 2.743%.
It is now a modest weiner of epic ability.

But seriously - Flameout rocks. Feel like I’m back on the 30 gms per day dose of the Kirkland oil from Costco atleast as far as my joints go.

Amir

18

[quote]B.b. in stress! wrote:
i definitely noticed fat loss. DEFINITELY.

however, i had a question. does he prescribe his amount of fish oil year-round? he said somewhere that lack of omege-3s may be the thing holding back our progress[/quote]

On page 8 jaybee responded:
"Just so you know, Charles says that 45g of Fish Oils equates to about half the Omega-3 content. So, 45g will be about 22.5g of Omega-3. That’s the proportions he’s thinking about when recommending the 45g.

45g is also the max he recommends taking.

Charles also recommends you take about 1200IU of Vit E with this large does of Fish Oil.

And after a month or two of taking 45g of Fish Oil, you can drop it down to 15-20g.

It’s also worth swapping the Fish Oils you take every 8 days or so. Your body gets used to one type very quickly. All you need to do is get slightly different mixtures (different %'s of EPA & DPA) or another brand. Just swap between the two.

I know all this because I’m a Level 1 PICP coach ;-)"

20

I was in the same position but once I bumped dosage up-to about 8-10 caps a day plus I made an effort to eat more salmon and I usually eat omega 3 eggs for breakfast as well. Started noticing all the benefits…4 caps simply isn’t enough, get some Flameout and try 4 caps of that a day…