Saturday 18 July 2009

Is Eating Fish The Best Way To Get Your Omega3 Fatty Acids?

By Peter Bertonich

Now that's a good question. We all need more omega3 fatty acids in our diet, but should we eat fish. Fish is contaminated with mercury.

And how else do you get that Omega3 in your diet if eating fish is a bad idea?

Ive pointed out before that Omega 3 fats are most prevalent in fish, but that there are plant sources like flax seeds but they dont have the optimum types, or amounts, of Omega 3 fats that you need.

But there is a problem with eating fish isn't there? What about mercury contamination? Isn't fish contaminated with mercury?

According to the EPA there is mercury contamination in all fish.

Now of course mercury isnt something that you want in your body, and your body doesnt get rid of it all that easily. Its a particular problem for children.

But the EPA does not tell us to take fish out of our diet. It only has small amounts of mercury, and eaten in moderation it's ok to eat fish, and they offer guidelines on how much.

2 serves a week is fine, but for children and pregnant women they do offer some more guidelines about the types of fish to avoid.

Pregnant women and children ought to avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish. These fish are high mercury fish.

But dont eliminate all fish from your diet just because youre worried about mercury. If you like fish you can eat it, sensibly and in relatively small quantities.

But there's another problem before we conclude that we all ought to be eating fish for our Omega3 fatty acids. Fish is scarce and getting scarcer. Have you seen the price of fish lately? It's really expensive.

It's fine to eat fish but eating it just for those Omega3 fatty acids is expensive. There are better ways.

There is mercury in fish, but small amounts. There is a way to get your Omega3 fats into your diet with no mercury, and at a lower cost.

User Omega3 fatty acid supplements. Fish oil capsules. These have fish oil in them, but the best ones have levels of mercury that are basically undetectable. They are sourced from fish stocks in the most pristine ocean in the world, the southern ocean, and they are put through an extremely robust molecular distillation process that removes anything that may be there. They are very clean.

There's no binding standards for levels of contamination allowed if fish oil capsules, and some are cleaner than others.

So if you're just eating fish for it's Omega3 fatty acids, don't bother. There's cheaper ways that allow you to take your Omega3 fats daily, without the mercury. But if you just love to eat fish then go for it.

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