subject: Is Your Safety In Good Hands With Fish Oil? [print this page] Is Your Safety In Good Hands With Fish Oil?
Are You Safe With Fish Oil?
Fish oil is one of the most beneficial health supplements that comes from the tissues of oily fish. Fish oils contain the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), precursors to eicosanoids that are known to reduce inflammation throughout the body, and are thought to have many health benefits.
Scientists first took notice of these natural health products when Danish doctors noticed that Greenland Eskimos had low incidence of heart diseases despite their diets. Intensive research soon discovered that two of the fats (oils) they consumed in large quantities, EPA and DHA were actually highly beneficial. More research have also shown that these fish oils play a role in the prevention of diseases like cancer, heart diseases, and even depression. There are also clinical trials which show that fish oil supplements is effective in treating disorders like diabetes, ulcer, and Raynaud's disease.
Therefore it is clear that consuming a rich diet of oily fish combined with fish oil is the most important thing that we can do to ensure good health. Pollution of fresh water lakes have limited the number of species that we are able to take in large amounts because of their pollutants and mercury content. Medicines From Nature by Ross Gardiner deodorised liquid fish oil now available in New Zealand from Vitality Plus. This is comprehensively batch tested for a range of environmental contaminants including microbial, pesticides and heavy metals.
Fresh, wild pacific salmon is still an excellent source of safe fish oil, but if that is not available then a high quality fish oil is the answer to ensuring that daily needs for EPA and DHA are met. Only fresh, highly purified fish oils (molecular distilled, pharmaceutical grade) stabilized with vitamin E should be consumed. Some very recent British research has shown that emulsified fish oils are absorbed at twice the rate of non-emulsified oils. Low quality oils should be avoided as they are unstable and may contain significant amounts of mercury, pesticides, and undesirable oxidation products.
EU regulations are put in place n order to limit the percentage of toxins present in these oils in order for them to still be beneficial to the consumers. There are recent concerns in the UK and Ireland becayse of upholding the limits which resulted in some major manufacturers pulling out their products off the market. It should be noted that these health supplements were either cod liver or shark liver oils. Since the liver is a major detoxifying organ, PCB content will be higher in products than in most common fish oil produced from whole fish processing.
