Saturday, July 11, 2009

The Way To Choose Your Omega 3 Capsules

By Peter Bertonich

It's confusing isn't it. DHA, EPA and more. How do you choose your Omega 3 supplements?

You know what it's like. The more you read the worse it gets. You start learning about EPA and DHA, and long chain and short chain omega 3 fats. About ALA and converting ALA to DHA.

For example a reader recently asked me about how to choose his omega 3 fish oil capsules. He was confused about the difference between long chain and short chain Omega 3 fats, and confused about which were the best Omega 3 supplements.

I can understand how he got confused, so here's a little more about it and some ideas on how to choose the best Omega 3 fish oil supplements.

The three Omega 3 fats weve mentioned (DHA, EPA and ALA) are polyunsaturated fats. They are all good for your body but by far the best and most important is DHA. Remember DHA is the fat that makes up a large part of your brain, though of course that isnt the only reason.

You get ALA from plant sources like flax seeds, and your DHA comes from sources like deep sea fish. And DHA is a long chain fatty acid, whilst ALA is a short chain fatty acid. But the most important is DHA.

But DHA, the most important Omega 3 fatty acid along with EPA, is what you need from your Omega 3 supplements. And all Omega 3 fish oil capsules contain DHA.

All fish oil supplements have DHA.

So if you're better using fish oil supplements are they all the same? If not how do you choose between the different fish oil supplements?

There are two factors in choosing the best fish oil supplements. You need to consider the quantity of DHA you get in each capsule and you need to look at the purity of the fish oil. That's all.

To decide which are the best value fish oil capsules you must consider how much DHA are in them, not just the price.

Supplements with a third of the amount of DHA than other supplements are not good value even if they are half the price, because on a price/DHA quantity comparison they are actually more expensive.

And don't stop there because you need to find out which are the purest oils used in the supplements because, sadly, most of our fish can be contaminated with toxins. You don't want to be taking capsules with fish oil that may be contaminated with mercury, for example.

That's the process of choosing your Omega 3 supplements. There's only 2 things to consider, so forget long and short chain fats and so on.

It isn't easy to do that comparison though. I have spent some time doing it and the good news is that there is a brand of Omega3 capsules that do offer good value on DHA quantity as well as the highest purity in the industry.

Visit my website to find out which brand.

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