How do I pick a good omega 3 product?
Sue Brennan: Well, you do want to get a quality product. Looking for a standard of
manufacturing—the Good Manufacturing Product, GMP seal is often a good way
to know that one is a good quality. Fish oils can vary in terms of potency and
reading that ingredient label is important to see what the content is and comparing
to what your doctor wants you to take. Freshness is very important. If fish oils go
bad—whether it’s in liquid or in capsule—they will have a characteristic really
off-odor and taste bad. In term of their effectiveness, if it becomes rancid, it’s
probably not effective and should be discarded. When you look at some of the
studies that have come out about how does some of the heavy metals that might
be in the fatty fish—do they get into, you know, fish oil products—most of the
heavy metals they were concerned about like mercury, and PCBs, and dioxin,
were in the fish meat versus the oils. So, very few have actually come through to
the product line, which is a good thing. The consumer labs, which is an
independent testing organization had done studies on, like, 42 individual products
in the U.S. and they tested them for their potency, was the label accurate to what
the product said it was and were there any problems with additives or toxins.
They found that no problems with high levels of mercury or PCB or dioxin. That
was not a problem. There were only 2 that weren’t as fresh as they could have
been, so that puts forth a pretty good record for product safety.
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