Supplementing with fish oil: aye or nay? page

[maba]

I've been supplementing with fish oil since I turned primal and upped that amount to 2000mg when I became pregnant. I've been wondering about how helpful it really is since my intake of O6 is minimal and I eat wild salmon regularly. And then I come across this article now. What are your thoughts?

http://tinyurl.com/67qxwef

[Jenny]

Assuming you're still pregnant (or breastfeeding), there have been several studies pointing to positive benefits for you and the baby from O3 supplementation. Fewer birth complications, better for the baby's brain, etc.

It's great that you eat salmon regularly and you might as well continue, but my take is, it's easiest to have a steady intake using the fish oil.

As for the study, 5% of a mouse's diet is a lot! Much more than we could possibly ingest. When you compare that with studies of actual humans and how much it's helped them, I tend to put more credence in the latter.

[peril]

I was taking 6000mg of fish oil (1080mg EPA and 720mg DHA) a day, as well as eating oily fish most days. A couple of articles by Chris Masterjohn on Daily Lipid late last year caused me to reappraise this. Essentially the points are that total PUFA intake should be minimised and that O# should be mostly DHA. The oily fish has more DHA than EPA

Also I was getting headaches while doing pushups and I was afraid that my blood was too thin. So I dropped all the fish oil supplements and am just relying on the oily fish, which gives me about 1500mg of O3 per day, mostly DHA. Also save money this way so its win-win. And no more headaches

[muaythaimike]

If your diet is nutritious enough and protective like that of traditional cultures then you will probably be ok, but these people weren't eating fish oil capsules. If you are eating fish on a regular basis you probably don't need it especially if you are eating grass fed or pastured animal foods.