Fish Oil (EPA and DHA)

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Updated: September 24 2013

What Is It?
Fish oil comes from tissues of fish. Fish oils contain the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
Omega-3 fatty acids are actually not produced by the fish itself; the acids accumulate when the fish are consuming either microalgae or prey fish that have accumulated omega-3 fatty acids, together with a high quantity of antioxidants such as iodide and selenium, from microalgae.

Sources of Creatine
Dietary source of EPA and DHA is cold water oily fish, such as salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies, and sardines.
Fish or marine oil supplements for quality prior to sale is not routinely tested neither the FDA nor any other federal or state agency. Problems of quality such as contamination, inaccurate listing of EPA and DHA levels, spoilage and formulation issues have been identified in fish oil supplements. ^[98]

What Does Research (Human Studies) Say?
1. Decreases triglycerides (15-30% lower); large and reliable effect. ^[1,2,4-45]
2. Decreases symptoms of depression; notable effect in some types of depression; not minor depression. ^[46-67]
3. Decreases blood pressure (BP); small effect; affects people with hypertension (elevated BP). ^{[2,21,25,33,41,68-70]}
4. Decreases inflammation (has anti-inflammatory effect); small and unreliable effect. ^{[1,13,17,21,23,26,49,71-80]}
5. Increases HDL-C; small and unrelialbe effect; limited and mixed evidence; may increase HDL-C in unhealthy persons. ^{[1,2,6,12,15-19,23-27,29,30,33,36,37,41-44,74,81-83]}
6. Decreases symptoms of ADHD in children; small effect; usually DHA > 300mg. ^[84-90]
7. Decreases TNF (also called TNF-alpha); small effect. ^{[23,25,50,73,80,91]}
8. Decreases cortisol; small and unreliable effect. ^[26,92-94]
9. Increases endothelial function such as vascular reactivity and blood vessel responsiveness; small effect. ^{[21,23,95,96]}
10. Decreases platelet aggregation; small effect; limited evidence. ^{[33,38,77,97]}
11. Decreases VLDL-C; small effect. ^{[12,30,31,32,36,41]}
12. Increases infant birth weight; small effect. ^[105]
13. Small reduction in risk of DNA damage, immunosuppression, and erythema in response to sunlight (i.e. fish oil acts as a sun protector); this was ween with high doses of EPA (1,800mg). ^{[106,107,108]}
14. Small reduction in depressive symptoms in bipolar disorder (only in large magnitude depression). ^{[58,66,109-111]}
15. Notable reduction in symptoms of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); up to 50% symptom reduction; benefit came from lower doses (160mg EPA and 140mg DHA). ^[45,112-116]

Conclusion
Decreases triglycerides and symptoms of depression. May also help with muscle soreness.

Verdict: May be added to your supplement stack

Recommended Dosage (Used in the Studies)
1. Maintenance dose: 250 mg to 1 gram fish oil (not omega-3) / daily. ^[100-101]
2. Reduction of soreness and increase of metabolic flux of muscle cells: 1 to 6 grams fish oil (not omega-3) / daily. ^[81,101-102]
3. According to the FDA, it is safe to take up to 3000 mg of omega-3 per day, this means 10 pills/capsules that are 1000 mg each and contain 300 mg of omega-3 each. ^[104]

Please read the disclaimer before supplementation