Advice From The Aisles: Omega-3 Fish Oils

By Hailey Neal

Every day we get customers coming in asking about omega-3s. “Can hempseed oil really help with my arthritis? I’m trying to lower my blood pressure, should I take fish oil capsules? Does this stuff work?”

While we cannot legally tell our customers that a product will absolutely work for any specific condition, we can endorse fish oil as one of the most versatile and important supplements that anyone can add to their diet, for greater overall health. Some of the potential benefits of taking fish oil include supporting eye health, cardiovascular health, skin health, and joint health.

It used to be that fish oil, literally, meant having a tablespoon of slimy, fishy-tasting cod-liver oil shoved down your throat every morning before school. If that’s your game, by all means, we’ve got your good old fashioned, liquid fish oil. But, if the thought of daily ‘fish juice’ less than enthuses you, we recommend taking the encapsulated approach. If you want to go one step above that, and avoid the fishy aftertaste altogether, try any of Nordic Natural’s capsules, which have been molecularly distilled and should leave no fishy flavor, whatsoever. The molecular distillation also removes any toxins that have come from the ocean.

For something a little easier on the wallet, try Spectrum’s fish-oil capsules. While not quite as potent as the Nordic Naturals product, they are made from sustainably sourced fish sources. They also have been tested for furans, mercury, PCBs, and dioxins and are below California Prop 65 and European Union defined limits.

Vegetarian? We do carry flax-seed oil in both liquid and encapsulated forms. However, be wary that flax oil will never be quite as effective as fish oil because your body loses some omega-3s converting them into a form it can actually use. When you take fish oil, the fish does all the work for you! Flax oil, however, can make an excellent addition to salad dressings, popcorn, and other foods, and since you can never really have too many omega-3s, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t stock up on both. Nothing ‘fishy’ about that!