How Much Fish Oil Should You Use, 500mg or 1000mg | Nutrition
The two most popular sizes of fish oil supplements are 1000mg[1 gram] or 500mg. Caution is warranted here. You might be making a mistake, if all you go on is how big the capsule is. Concentrate on the omega-3 content in the oil, not the total amount of fish oil.
Bear with me a moment. Look at the front label of a typical supplement. It will usually say how much fish oil is in each capsule. For this example, let us use 1000mg. Now look at the back label. You should see the words DHA and
how much fish oil should you use 500mg or 1000mg nutrition
DHA 300mg
EPA 200mg
In each 1000mg [1 gram] capsule, you would be getting 500mg [1/2 gram] of omega 3s. DHA and EPA are the two omega 3 fatty acids that are the most important for health. You will not find any practical source, other than fish oil, that would be this rich in these two essential fats.
Sometimes you will see a supplement that will not tell you the DHA/EPA mix. They will just say total omega 3s. Avoid this product. The
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y are cutting corners somehow.
They could be putting in an omega 3 called ALA. It is from flax seed and is much cheaper to produce. Flax does have some benefits but the ALA is a minor one. The body has to convert it to DHA and EPA. In a healthy adult, this conversion is about 20% at best. The older you get the lower the number.
Ok. How much fish oil omega 3s should I take? The FDA, AHA and others think somewhere around 2-3 grams per day for an adult is a good dose. Remember, they are talking
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Title › How Much Fish Oil Should You Use, 500mg or 1000mg | Nutrition
about the nutrients, not the size of the capsule.
A couple of other points. There are a number studies that have shown that many parts of the body need DHA more than EPA. This includes the brain and eyes. Also, because of the molecular chemistry involved, DHA converts very easily to EPA, but not vise versa.
In other words choose a product with a higher DHA amount. Plus, there should be no chemical additives of any sort. The better products use natural vitamin E or rosemary extract as a preservative.
Be sure to look at the companies website. What you should find is a COA, or Certificate of Analysis. It will tell you not only the amount of omega-3s that are there but also how pure the supplement actually is.