Interesting question. How much fish oil should I take? What is the correct fish oil dosage?
That’s a good question, what is the right fish oil dosage. For example should you take more fish oil supplements if you already have heart disease?
Lets have a look at the view of the American Heart Association. They tell us the benefits of Omega 3 fish oil on their website, and they look at what is the correct dosage of fish oil for people with, and without, heart disease.
Lets look at what they recommend.
But first lets talk about where to get your fish oil. Why not just eat a lot of fish? Firstly it’s expensive, but there’s other problems too.
The first problem is that fish are generally contaminated with various toxins, and the FDA recommend limiting your intake of fish for this reason.
This doesn’t apply to the best fish oil supplements, they go through a rigorous process to ensure that they are free from contaminants. Note that not all fish oil supplements are free from contaminants.
And the second thing to be aware of is that there are large differences in how much Omega 3 fats you get from different types of fish. Oily fish are better than non oily fish.
Now the AHA tells us to eat 2 fish meals a week, but what if you’re worried about contamination, or fish is too expensive?
And they say that evidence from prospective secondary prevention studies suggests that taking EPA+DHA ranging from 0.5 to 1.8 grams per day (either as fatty fish or supplements) significantly reduces deaths from heart disease and all causes.
So healthy people should take around half a gram to 1.8 grams of fish oil (EPA and DHA) a day from either eating fish or fish oil supplements.
For those with existing heart problems the recommendation is as follows:
For those with documented Coronary Heart Disease: 1 gram of EPA and DHA a day. (Note that those with known heart health problems should consult a doctor before starting any supplements).
And if you have a level of triglycerides that need lowering, 2 to 4 grams per day.
That’s not too vague, but lets look somewhere else.
In a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology on 11th August 2009 the recommendations are at least 500 mg per day for those with no known cardio vascular issues, and 800 to 1000 mg per day for those with known pre existing heart disease problems, of EPA and DHA.
But what about the ratio between DHA and EPA, the 2 major Omega 3 fats? How much of each? The AHA don’t tell us, it’s being studied.
So, what conclusion can we draw? We can see that people with known heart disease should take more fish oil than those without.
And we can conclude that the science is still out on the exact dosage of fish oil that everyone should be taking. But its getting there. The dosage recommendations above are relatively clear.
A minimum of a half gram a day of EPA and DHA together for healthy people and about double that for those with known heart issues. More for lowering triglycerides.
The best fish oil supplements have 400 mg of DHA and EPA combined, being 280 mg of DHA and 120 mg of EPA. That’s around double that of your “average” fish oil capsules.
2 capsules a day give you 800 mg a day, about right. And the label tells us that we should take 2 capsules a day.
The conclusion therefore is that if you use the best fish oil supplements and have no known preexisting heart problems, just follow the recommended dosages listed on the label. Other fish oil supplements may require you to take 4 or 5 or more capsules, depending on the quantity of Omega 3 fats in the capsules.
So if you’re wondering how much fish oil should I take we hope this gives you some guidelines. There are no formal exact guidelines, these things are still under study.
We can draw some conclusions from the recommendations of the AHA and others.
And that conclusion of the right fish oil dosage also corresponds with the dosage recommended by the best fish oil supplements, 2 capsules a day.
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