Archive for January, 2010

You can buy fish oil capsules just about anywhere these days. There are plenty of brands available on the drugstore shelves and a number of brands available strictly online. However, not all brands are created equal. With regulation over the supplement industry being quite lax, the consumer has to do their own due diligence and research to compare fish oil supplements and discover which brands are the best ones.

With some things, price is a good indicator of quality but that is not totally the case when it comes to nutritional supplements. It is true that the lowest prices available are often low only because the manufacturers have used the lowest quality fish for their oil extraction as well as because they don’t use the best processes in the manufacture of their supplements. As a result, every fish oil supplement that we could find on the low end of the price range (less than $10) were not ones we can recommend in good conscience.

Every single low priced brand we could find had no information on what type of fish were used nor where the fish came from. Common sense tells you that if they were using only the best sources of fish or that they only came from less polluted waters, the manufacturer would be eager to share that information. After all, that would give them a marketing edge so why wouldn’t they use it? Be sure to remember this when you begin to compare fish oil brands for yourself.

How the oil is then rendered from the fish is another consideration. There are three main processes used to extract oil from the fish: cold pressing, centrifuge or solvent-based extraction. Solvent extraction is something you absolutely want to avoid as it means a toxic solvent is used to obtain the oil. Even if purified after the process, some of these toxins will remain in the resulting oil. The centrifuge process is much safer but doesn’t get all of the rich oils that it could, therefore results in more waste. The best process is the cold-pressed oil extraction as it is not only completely safe but also keep the oils fresher while not wasting large parts of the fish.

Purity certification is also something you should be paying attention to when you compare fish oil brands. Since the regulations are quite lax, fish oils supplements are actually allowed to have quite a bit of toxins remaining in the oils. The best manufacturers will have their own higher standards that they strive for, rather than the loosely held regulations. If the maker doesn’t provide that kind of information, you should avoid that brand.

When we compare fish oil capsules from three of the leading brands, we find that two brands are largely made up of oils from sardines and anchovies – two of the cheapest sources of fish oil available – but these two brands are $7 to $16 more expensive than the third.. The third, Xtend-Life, was the only one that was derived from only two fish: hoki fish oil and tuna. Yet the one with these oils was the least expensive of the three top brands. Xtend-Life Fish Oil Capsules also had the highest levels of purification, far above the government regulations that the other two met.

As you can see, when we begin to compare fish oil supplement brands, they are clearly not created equal. Xtend-Life was the only one that we could find that met the standards of using the highest quality fish oils and the highest level of purification. They were also the only company that had offered complete disclosure of all the factors involved in the manufacture of their supplements. Needless to say, we give it the “buy Xtend-Life” rating as it is the brand that we use and recommend to our readers.

Fish oil capsules are the latest craze in the natural health world but do they offer real health benefits or is fish oil just the newest fad supplement? Instead of listening to all the hype, let’s take a look into the research behind fish oil and see what science has to tell us.

One of the most recent studies has yet to even have their results published but results show great promise for children with certain learning disabilities, particularly attention deficit disorders. For over a year, more than 100 students in Durham, England were involved in a study to see the effects that fish oil capsules on children who had normal abilities yet were still under-performing in school.

The study was conducted by Dr. Alex Richardson, researcher with the University of Oxford, and Madeleine Portwood, a special educational psychologist that works with the Durham Education Authority. The double-blind study found that 40% of the children taking fish oil supplements showed remarkable improvements in academic functioning.

Another study just released its findings on January 20. The findings indicate that not only do omega-3 fatty acids protect against heart disease, like scientists have known for close to 40 years, but that they may actually “protect against cellular aging in patients with coronary heart disease” (JAMA, 2010; 303 (3): 250-257). This could be very good news for those who have already developed heart disease since they can easily obtain the omega-3 fatty acids they need by taking high quality fish oil.

Yet another recent bit of research has turned up a connection between long chain omega-3 fatty acids and a lower risk for colorectal cancer. The results of the study and this conclusion was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research conference held in December, 2009. The study participants who had the highest intake of fish oil reduced their risk of colorectal cancer by 39%.

As you can see, research into the benefits of fish oil capsules is on the rise in recent years. The value of fish oil in the diet was definitively identified almost 40 years ago but at that time, the research only revealed the cardiovascular effects. As further studies have been done, more and more health benefits continue to be discovered. Fish oil has truly turned out to be one of the smartest things that you can do to maintain and improve your health.

While there are clearly many benefits to increasing your intake of omega-3 fatty acids, it is very difficult to do in our Western diets. One of the best sources of these essential micro-nutrients is from fish – particularly fatty, cold water fish varieties. Unfortunately, this isn’t a staple for many people. Even those who do eat a lot of the right fish don’t get nearly the benefits they think they are getting. That is because omega-3 fatty acids are destroyed by heat so cooking the fish basically eliminates much of the health benefits.

Luckily, fish oil capsules are readily available and easy to add to your daily routine. The only problem with buying supplements is that they are not as highly regulated as prescription medications. That enables less scrupulous makers to offer inferior products and get away with it. These lower quality supplements are not only derived from inferior fish to begin with, they are often not processed correctly. This results in the fish oil oxidizing before it is encapsulated, turning it rancid. Not only does this result in the nasty “fish burps”, but it also introduces free radicals into your system which can cause damage to the cells.

When you buy fish oil capsules, stick to highly reputable supplement manufacturer’s like Xtend-Life. This company guarantees the purity and freshness of their fish oil supplements. Another advantage to fish oil capsules from Xtendlife is that they are a natural form of triglycerides instead of the synthetic versions packaged by many companies. This enables the Xtend-Life fish oil capsules to have a greater bio-availability than most other brands. That means that more of the omega-3 fatty acids are able to be utilized by the body, giving greater health benefits.

Learn More About Xtend-Life Fish Oil