Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Eating Fish. Is This The Best Way To Get Your Omega3 Fatty Acids?

Now that's a good question. We all need more omega3 fatty acids in our diet, but should we eat fish. Fish is contaminated with mercury.

And if eating fish is a bad idea because of the mercury, how else do you get that Omega3 in your diet?

Ive pointed out before that Omega 3 fats are most prevalent in fish, but that there are plant sources like flax seeds but they don't have the optimum types, or amounts, of Omega 3 fats that you need.

But surely there's a problem with eating fish, because we all know that now fish is contaminated with mercury.

The EPA says that there is mercury contamination in all fish.

And it's not a good idea to get mercury into your body, particularly for children. Your body doesn't get rid of it.

But notwithstanding, the EPA doesn't tell us to remove fish from our diet. Fish is ok in small quantities and they do offer some guidelines for how much, and what type, you should eat.

2 serves a week is fine, but for children and pregnant women they do offer some more guidelines about the types of fish to avoid.

Pregnant women and children ought to avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish. These fish are high mercury fish.

But dont eliminate all fish from your diet just because you're worried about mercury. If you like fish you can eat it, sensibly and in relatively small quantities.

But of course if you understand the importance of omega3 fatty acids in your diet you need a regular supply of fish oil. Preferable a daily supply. And there is the rub. You see for most of us ordinary people eating fish regularly is really expensive. Fish is getting more and more expensive all the time, and as it gets scarcer it gets more expensive.

And it's ok to eat it in small quantities, but if you're just eating it for those good fats there are better ways. Of course if you love eating fish then no problem. Eat it.

And there is still mercury in fish, albeit in small amounts, and there is a solution to getting your Omega3 that doesn't involve eating fish, that is cheaper than buying fish a couple of times a week, and overcomes the problem with mercury contamination.

Use the best fish oil supplements. You can get Omega3 fatty acid supplements. They contain fish oil, and they are extremely clean, sourcing their oil from fish that live in the cleanest ocean in the world, the southern ocean, and then this is put through a molecular distillation process until contaminants are undetectable.

There's no binding standards for levels of contamination allowed if fish oil capsules, and some are cleaner than others.

So if you love to eat fish, and you're independently wealthy, go for it. But if you're eating it to get your Omega3 fats, then there's cheaper better ways, with no risk of eating any mercury.

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