Healthy Andy

A recent question arose concerning fish oil side effects, and since I discuss so much about the value of fish oil supplements, it only seems right to specifically address any safety concerns people may have.  The good news is, there really isn’t much to worry about.

This is NOT how to take fish oil.

In fact, when it comes to fish oil and safety, the main concern is not side effects from the fish oil, but a concern about potential toxins contaminating the supplements.  As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the very first thing to check when buying fish oil is to insure that it is filtered, particularly for mercury and dioxins. 

The oceans of the world are horribly, horribly polluted… there’s apparently a giant swirling pile of garbage the size of Texas floating around out there… and if you’re a fish swimming around in those nasty chemicals 24/7, it isn’t such a stretch to recognize that some of those chemicals are going to find their way inside of that fish.  And if another fish eats that polluted fish, or many polluted fish, then all of those chemcials will become concentrated in the bigger fish as a result.

And if another, even BIGGER fish, comes along and eats that super-polluted fish… well, you get the idea.  The point is, toxins tend to get concentrated as you move up the food chain.  Then, you add in the fact that fish oil is basically a concentrated fish product, and you really, really concentrate a lot of the industrial pollutants into this product.

Most repuatable brands filter their oils for just this reason, so there’s no worry.  But, some of the real cheap-o brands out there don’t bother (it’s the most expensive step in the filtering process), so if you’re buying your fish oils at Walmart or Target or some other bargain basement place, be sure to double check on the label to be sure your fish oils are filtered.  In fact, just check regardless of where you get them.  I’d hate to see you grow a second, evil head from something so easily prevented.

Mild Side Effects Of Fish Oil

So other than extra evil heads, what other potential fish oil side effects are out there?  Well, there’s a couple of mild ones.  If you’re not used to fish oils and you start taking too much, too fast, you might start burping up fish taste (that’s called “fishy repeat”).  Kind of gross but harmless, and fairly easy to avoid.  Just ease gradually into your dosage over time, stick to good quality products, and take your fish oils with food (preferably something with fat in it).  You can also split the dosage up over the course of the day.

Related to that same idea is gastric upset, also known as “sore tummy”.  Again, the same things that cause fishy repeat are behind an upset stomach.  You may just be taking too much, too fast, or taking a particular brand that your body has an issue with.

These are relatively mild concerns.  Some more serious concerns are allergic reactions, blood thinning, and issues with pacemakers.

Allergic reactions are pretty self-explanatory.  If you’re allergic to fish… don’t take fish oil.  There’s unclear evidence on the interaction of fish oil with an increased irregular heartbeat for those people with pacemakers.  If this is you, talk to your doctor before supplementing with fish oils.

Blood Thinning From Fish Oils

Blood thinning effects are the most common concern.  Really, the blood thinning effect of fish oils is extremely mild, and are probably unnoticeable at dosages under 3 grams a day.   It’s not like fish oil capsules are going to turn a healthy person into a hemophiliac.

The real concern here is for people who are on medications for either blood thinning (such as Warfarin or other blood thinners) or medication for lowering blood pressure.  Those medications exert a very powerful effect, and large doses of fish oils might just bump you into a danger zone if you mix the two.  Again, it doesn’t happen often, usually only at high doses. 

My advice if you’re on blood thinners or blood pressure lowering medications is this:  talk to your physician about your interest in fish oils, and once you get the okay, gradually increase your dose.  I’m talking start at 500 mg a day for a couple of weeks, then up to one gram a day for several weeks, and so on and so forth.  If you start feeling light-headed or have any other symptoms, cut back your dosage. 

Fish Oil Side Effects:  Medications

The other major thing you need to look out for when it comes to fish oil side effects isn’t really a side effect per se.  It’s actually good news.

Here’s what I mean.  Fish oils have an amazing amount of research showing impressive effects in a variety of chronic diseases, from diabetes to depression and all kinds of other things you might never think of.  So if you start supplementing with fish oils at a therapeutic dosage, you may find some of these chronic conditions becoming more mild.

Nice, right?  Except if you’re taking medications for these conditions, all of a sudden, you’ll find that you’re now taking more than you need!  For example, if you’re a diabetic who requires a certain amount of insulin per day, and the severity of your diabetes reduces (and your need for insulin reduces along with it), if you continue taking your typical dose, you’ll actually be over-doing it.

Like I said, this doesn’t really qualify in the fish oil side effects category, and is actually good news… the less medication you need to take, the better… but still, you need to keep an eye on this.  Taking too much of a medication is just as bad as too little (actually, it’s usually worse).  Another reason to keep your doctor in the loop; monitor any improvement in your condition and whether or not that allows you to reduce the dosage of  your medication.

Notice you handle a lot of these issues the same way.  Ease into your fish oil dose (click here for more on fish oil dosage)  over time.  This will help you to avoid any digestive issues and also anticipate any problems you may have with side effects from fish oils with any medications you may be taking.

It’s worth saying that overall, the massive health benefits of fish oils far outweigh any potential side effects.  Just be smart, go slow, stick to the filtered stuff, and keep your doctor informed.

Stay healthy!

Hey everybody, here’s the first Youtube video clip I shot, all about how to pick out good fish oil supplements.  The preview doesn’t seem to show up here on the front page, so just click on “Continue Reading” or the title to view the video.  Or, go to Youtube and check out all the clips on our channel:  healthyandy9.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIJDY-AhoxI

After reading my previous post, I realized I should probably take a quick minute and let you all know how to pick out good fish oils.  There’s a ton of products out there and a lot of them are total crap, so I’ll give you the inside scoop on how to choose wisely when it comes to adding these vital supplements.

There’s two basic things you need to consider:  filtering and dosage.

Filtering, means just that.  Our oceans are horribly, horribly polluted, and since fish live there, they suck all that garbage into their bodies, which then gets embedded into their tissues.  Since fish oil is essentially just a concentrated fish product, if you take a whole bunch of fish and squish them down into oil, you concentrate those toxin in the oil as well.  Toxins like mercury, dioxin, and no doubt all manner of nightmarish poisons we haven’t even discovered yet.

Anywho, the point is, you don’t want that toxic yuck in you.  So, you have to buy fish oils that are filtered.  Somewhere on the bottle it should say “molecularly distilled”, “filtered”, something along those lines.  Don’t buy any fish oils that aren’t filtered.  I mean it.  Walk away.  Set the cheap fish oil down, and walk away.  It’s not worth it.

After you make sure your fish oil is filtered, now it’s time to check quality, which has to do with proper dosage.  The active ingredients of fish oil are EPA and DHA, two chemicals you don’t have to remember… they’ll be the only things listed on the label.  Add the amounts of these two babies up, and that’s how much fish oil you’re really getting per dose.

I say “really getting”, because often the company making the oil will say something like 1,000 mg of fish oil! while in reality, if you add up the EPA and DHA, it’s only 250 mg.  The rest is some sort of un-named fish yuck that won’t do you any good.  The best you’re probably going to find is about 50% purity.  So, the label may say 1,000 mg of fish oils, but you’re really getting about 500 mg of active ingredients.

How much should you take?  I usually suggest somewhere around 1,000 mg of EPA and DHA total for general health maintenance… you know, you’re pretty healthy, have a pretty good diet, don’t have any major health issues you want to take fish oils to help you out with.  For more active problems, I usually ramp it up to 3 or even 6 grams per day, at least until those issues resolve, and then back down to more of a maintenance dose.

As I mentioned in the previous blog, I take 3 grams a day, but then, I’m Healthy Andy.

Hope this info help you out!

So I came across this article on fish oils posted on msnbc.com and got so angry that my shaved head began to emit steam (it happens, sometimes).  If there’s one thing I hate, it’s a poorly designed scientific study.  If there’s one thing I hate more, it’s when people misinterpret that study’s results, and even worse, plant a deceptive headline that’s totally incorrect and misleading.  That’s bad science AND bad journalism.

“Fish oils doesn’t benefit the brain, study shows” goes the headline.  WRONG.  First off, they contradict themselves within a few sentences, by stating that multiple studies HAVE shown a cognitive benefit to fish oils.  But really, it only gets better, when you actually read the details of the study in question.

Basically, they took a bunch of 70-somethings and gave them about 500 mg of fish oils a day for two years.  Then they tested cognition and found no difference.

Let me put this in technical terms first.  NO DUH.

Where do I begin?  Okay, let’s start with the fact that we are using 70-somethings as our test subjects.  Do you think maybe, just maybe, the fact that there was no difference in cognition MIGHT just be because we’re using an elderly population?  I know it may not be PC to say that the older brain just don’t adapt as quickly as young ones, but sorry, it’s true.  So any decline in mental function has already occurred, and could be permanent no matter what you give them.  This is like putting on your seat belt AFTER an accident and declaring that seat belts don’t do squat.  If you really want to test if fish oils will prevent cognitive decline, then you must PREVENT cognitive decline, as in, pick much younger test subjects, and give them fish oils, and see how they do.

Then there’s the issue of dosage.  500 mg?  Really?  That’s nothing!  A typical recommended dosage for a healthy, young person is 1000 mg of fish oil, just as a health maintenance sort of issue.  I take 3000 mg a day.  Why?  Because I’m Healthy Andy, that’s why!  And because fish oils are super-fantastically healthy for you!

The point is, they gave these people a miniscule dose, and were shocked when it didn’t perform miracles on a 75-year old brain.  REALLY.  This just in, folks.  In a related story, fish oils are not magic beans, that will grow into an enormous beanstalk leading you to a land of adventure and excitement.  In case you were wondering.

How about we actually design a study that makes sense?  Say, use a realistically sufficient dose of fish oils, on a population that might actually be able to PREVENT decline… you know, BEFORE it occurs?

Guess what?  If you never change the oil in your car, and let all that engine wear and tear accumulate, and then at 100,000 miles start changing the oil, don’t expect a dramatic increase in engine performance. All this study proves, is that a very low dose of fish oils doesn’t dramatically reverse the consequences of aging in the 75 year brain.  Shocking.

Of course, that finding is accurately depicted in the headline oh WAIT.  No, it isn’t.  The headline suggests that fish oils have been definitively proven to be useless for issues of cognition, which, of course, is crap.  Way to go, Journalist Guy.  Because nobody just reads a headline, skims past the article, and assumes the headline is accurate.  Yeah.  Nobody.

Okay, now I’ve vented and the steam is starting to dissipate from my head.  The real truth is, fish oils have been proven over and over again to be an essential part of a healthy lifestyle.  It’s pretty staggering, actually, how many studies have been done showing all kinds of health benefits from fish oils.  So don’t let headlines fool you, or poorly designed studies steer you astray.

Of course, that’s why I’m here- to help sift through the nonsense and bring you the real deal.  Stay healthy!

Oh, I saw the article here-

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36832338/ns/health-aging