It’s not quite clear what the right fish oil dosage is, I constantly see questions about how much fish oil should I take.
That’s a good question, what is the right fish oil dosage. For example should you take more fish oil supplements if you already have heart disease?
Lets have a look at the view of the American Heart Association. They tell us the benefits of Omega 3 fish oil on their website, and they look at what is the correct dosage of fish oil for people with, and without, heart disease.
Lets look at what they recommend.
But first lets talk about where to get your fish oil. Why not just eat a lot of fish? Firstly it’s expensive, but there’s other problems too.
The first problem is that fish are generally contaminated with various toxins, and the FDA recommend limiting your intake of fish for this reason.
The very best fish oil capsules do through a strict decontamination process, so are free from chemicals. But not all fish oil capsules are.
And the second thing to be aware of is that there are large differences in how much Omega 3 fats you get from different types of fish. Oily fish are better than non oily fish.
Now the AHA tells us to eat 2 fish meals a week, but what if you’re worried about contamination, or fish is too expensive?
And they say that evidence from prospective secondary prevention studies suggests that taking EPA+DHA ranging from 0.5 to 1.8 grams per day (either as fatty fish or supplements) significantly reduces deaths from heart disease and all causes.
So for healthy people we should be taking around half to 1.8 grams of EPA and DHA a day from fish or supplements.
For those with existing heart problems the recommendation is as follows:
For those with documented Coronary Heart Disease: 1 gram of EPA and DHA a day. (Note that those with known heart health problems should consult a doctor before starting any supplements).
And if you have a level of triglycerides that need lowering, 2 to 4 grams per day.
That’s not too vague, but lets look somewhere else.
There was a new study published just recently in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that suggests at least 500 mg (half a gram) per day for healthy people and 800 to 1000 mg for those with known cardio vascular issues.
Now next we need to ask what ratio we should look for between EPA and DHA, the 2 major Omega 3 fats. There is no AHA recommendation, it’s still under study.
So what can we deduce from all that? We can deduce that, firstly, the fish oil dosage for heart disease patients is higher than for people with no known heart disease.
And we can conclude that the science is still out on the exact dosage of fish oil that everyone should be taking. But its getting there. The dosage recommendations above are relatively clear.
Around 500 mg (1/2 gram) minimum of EPA and DHA a day for healthy people, and around 1000 mg (1 gram) a day for known heart disease patients, perhaps double for lowering triglycerides.
The best fish oil supplements have 400 mg of DHA and EPA combined, being 280 mg of DHA and 120 mg of EPA. That’s around double that of your “average” fish oil capsules.
2 capsules a day give you 800 mg a day, about right. And the label tells us that we should take 2 capsules a day.
So if you have no known heart issues take the best fish oil supplements at a fish oil dosage of 2 capsules a day. You need to take up to double that for your “average” fish oil supplements, depending on what is in them.
So I hope that helps a little for those looking for the correct fish oil dosage. There’s no exact recommendations, it’s still being studied.
But there’s conclusions we can draw from the recommendations of the AHA and others.
And the conclusion, 2 capsules day (of the best fish oil capsules, not all) corresponds with their own recommendations.
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