PajMon Information Blog

Posts Tagged ‘omega 3 fats’

It’s confusing isn’t it. DHA, EPA and more. How do you choose your Omega 3 supplements?

And it gets worse when you start reading all about converting ALA to DHA, then about long chain and short chain fats and so on.

I recently had one of my readers ask me about choosing his Omega 3 capsules. He had read all about long and short chain fats and the differences and had just got overwhelmed about how to go about choosing the best Omega 3 supplements.

It’s understandable how he got confused and so I’ll talk a little about it and then tell you how to go about choosing your Omega 3 fish oil supplements.

Of the three main Omega 3 fats (DHA, EPA and ALA) the most important by far is DHA. It makes up a major part of your brain.

You get ALA from plant sources like flax seeds, and your DHA comes from sources like deep sea fish. And DHA is a long chain fatty acid, whilst ALA is a short chain fatty acid. But the most important is DHA.

But DHA, the most important Omega 3 fatty acid along with EPA, is what you need from your Omega 3 supplements. And all Omega 3 fish oil capsules contain DHA.

Every brand of fish oil capsules has DHA.

So if you’re better using fish oil supplements are they all the same? If not how do you choose between the different fish oil supplements?

There are two factors in choosing the best fish oil supplements. You need to consider the quantity of DHA you get in each capsule and you need to look at the purity of the fish oil. That’s all.

You can’t decide which are the best value fish oil tablets without knowing how much DHA you get from them.

For example if you consider supplements with a third of the DHA, but at a half the price, of others you’re not getting good value.

And you also need to consider the purity of the supplements because many fish oil capsules can contain oils contaminated with small amounts of mercury, for example, because many of our deep sea fish are contaminated, and that’s where the oil comes from.

That’s the 2 things you need to consider when choosing your Omega3 capsules.

But actually doing that comparison isn’t as easy as you’d think and you may struggle. I have run the sums and one brand comes up as the best fish oil supplement on both DHA quantity and also on oil purity.

I tell you which brand on my website.