The Two P’s That Are Most Important

The Two P’s That Matter Most in Fish Oil

In my 20 years of studying omega 3 fish oil biology, I have heard it all and seen it all.

Here is an interesting fact. Interest in omega 3 was preceded by several years of interest in its counterpart, omega 6. The earliest scientific work centered on the necessity of omega 6 in the diet. There was even talk of people needing omega 6 supplements.

We now know that is almost never the case, at least in Western countries. The huge skew in the omega 6 to omega 3 ratio that is conferred by the typical Western diet makes it almost a no-brainer that we need omega 3 fish oil to bring the ratio back in line.

I have written volumes about this ratio and spent hours on the phone with its originator, Dr. Bill Lands. I have also listened to gurus, including one Paleo personality who has said the ratio is not important and you do not really need to supplement. Do you know your ratio? Have you read Dr. Lands’s book?

Over time, wisdom has prevailed over bias. We are beginning to see more and more recommendations to get the ratio tested. It is a lot like telomere testing. Many more people are taking supplements than are actually testing.

OK, so what are the two P’s that matter most?

Purity and potency.

I do not care if you take a triglyceride, a re-esterified, a phospholipid, or an ethyl ester form of fish oil. Marketers go on and on claiming this or that form is superior. If you look at actual clinical outcomes, the molecularly distilled ethyl ester remains the most studied, most evaluated, and most effective in terms of real-life clinical results. I am not talking about esoteric tests or one specific biomarker. I am talking about what happens to you.

This is because in terms of purity and potency, anything beyond a certain point is wasted effort. You can squeak a few percentage points above 85 percent pure, but it does not save you or help you. An extra 7 percent means you can take 7 percent less fish oil in a day. If you are taking 4 to 6 capsules a day like I recommend, that means you could take 3.95 to 5.9 capsules instead of 4 to 6. Not a meaningful difference. The cost of that tiny improvement literally doubles the cost of production. The retail price would have had to be more than $130 a bottle for what amounts to no real-world benefit.

And for what? 7 percent.

85 percent pure and potent is as pure and potent as you can practically need, even though it is possible to push the number higher.

Now what about purity. Further distillation of my product will not remove any more toxins because there are not any more there to be removed that can be humanly measured. So you can take any format of fish oil you want, triglyceride, phospholipid, ethyl ester, or re-esterified, but you will not find anything better than this.

I have been making and taking my own fish oil for 14 years and so has my family. I would not put my name on it, and I would not put it in my body, unless I had complete control over what is and what is not in there.

Remember the two P’s, and tell your friends.

The real and original Dr. Dave

Footnote on “natural” triglyceride forms. Marketers have spread the idea that ethyl esters are not natural. Most of that comes from people selling triglyceride formulas. If you club the fish over the head and squeeze it, you get triglyceride fish oil along with every toxin in the ocean it came from. There are no clean oceans. Read the mercury data on PubMed.

— Doc