Posts Tagged ‘pharmaceutical grade fish oil’
Written by admin on 17 January 2010
Using pharmaceutical grade fish oil becomes a necessity due to the presence of excessive amounts of contaminants such as mercury, lead, PCBs, etc. in Omega 3 rich fatty fish. Find out the expert facts to help you choose the best product out of many different brands and types of fish oil available in the market.Omega 3s play a vital role in our optimum health and well-being. Fish oil is unarguably one of the best sources of omega 3 fatty acids and fish oil supplements are among the most popular. But it is important to properly choose the most effective and safe products to avoid the health hazards associated with toxins and contaminants.Various reports from leading health care agencies such as the Food Standards agency of UK, Greenpeace International and The Food Safety Authority in Ireland have indicated that a lot of fish oil supplement brands were containing very high levels of heavy metals like lead, mercury, PCBs, etc. and banned pesticides.Although the production of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) had been banned in the 1970s, their presence in the environment will haunt us for hundreds of years or maybe more than that. This is because they degrade very slowly.PCBs are very harmful for animals, marine life, birds and human beings. They are known to cause many adverse health effects such as damage to the immune system, liver, the endocrine and the reproductive system. The National Toxicology program classifies them as “cancer causing agents”.Due to the above reasons, health experts recommend the consumption of molecularly distilled and pharmaceutical grade fish oil supplements. Molecular distillation is the process that separates toxins and contaminants from the oil, so that the resultant purified oil is then encapsulated into supplements.However, it might be difficult to find the right place to buy pharmaceutical grade fish oil. Only a few select producers use molecular distillation. So, it becomes quite essential that you do the right research so that you get the safest and the most effective product free of all toxins and contaminants.Here is a concise list of “worst choice” companies that has been listed by the Environmental Defence. It has compiled and classified these companies as they did not follow the prescribed and the strictest standards with regards to the safe and acceptable levels of contaminants or did not respond to their repeated inquiries.They submitted only partially complete or incomplete data, so the product security of these manufacturers could not be confirmed –Vitamin Shoppe, Springreen, Target, VE Irons, Vitamin World, Rexall, Sonne’s Organic Foods, Luxury, Physiologics, Puritan’s Pride, Nutrition Warehouse, Nature’s Bounty, NOW foods, Holland & Barrett, Department of Pharmacy, Good ‘N Natural, Health from the Sea, American Country Life, GNC. Due to excessive levels of contaminants such as dioxin, The Seven Seas fish oil in the UK has been removed. 10 more brands of fish oil were removed by The Food Safety Authority of Ireland as their levels of dioxins exceeded the latest guidelines set by the European authorities.Cod liver oil and fish liver oil contain the highest levels of contaminants as they are derived from the liver of the fish which is the organ that purifies the blood from harmful toxins such as mercury, etc. So, make sure to avoid them as far as possible.To ensure the highest product safety and effectiveness, you should ensure that you buy only from manufacturers that guarantee the safety of their products and can prove that their products are totally free from ANY toxin and contaminants.Besides that, verify on their website or product label, whether they have given the product’s security guarantee in writing or not. If not, then do not buy such products at all as they are a huge threat to your health.Even though leading organisations like Environmental Defence have done their part to safeguard us from the threat of malpractices of the fish oil manufacturers with regards to toxins and contaminants in their products; the ultimate responsibility to protect the safety of our health lies on us.Visit my website to gain deeper insights into what essential elements you should look for in the highest quality pharmaceutical grade fish oil and what harmful substances you should avoid, so that you can achieve the safest, most effective omega 3 fish oil products and the most value for your money.
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Vijay K Raisinghani is a Natural Healthcare Expert and a passionate advocate of Omega 3 Fish oils for a healthy mind and body. His website
http://www.your-omega3-fish-oil-guide.com provides a wealth of information on what works and what doesn’t work in Omega 3 fish oils to achieve a young, vibrant and robust health.
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Written by admin on 16 January 2010
Many of the omega 3 oil supplements on the market today are not pharmaceutical fish oil, and therefore leave you at risk of contamination. Let me show you why.
A high quality oil will be pharmaceutical fish oil and will have undergone molecular distillation which removes all the harmful impurities that the fish have picked up in their flesh from our polluted oceans.
This process will just leave the pure concentrated oil, and in fact this can double or even treble the level of omega 3 content.
Many inferior oils don’t undergo this process to save the manufacturer money and enable them to make more profits, but the fact is contaminants like lead, arsenic and mercury can be present in the supplement.
Recently, products were removed from sale in the US and UK after high levels of contamination were found in several brands of omega 3 supplements from fish.
It is absolutely essential if you are pregnant or breast feeding to only take pharmaceutical fish oil to ensure the health of both you and the baby as it is recommended to take a daily supplement to help with the baby’s growth and development.
To get the amazing benefits from this oil, you need to select one with high levels of the most important omega 3, DHA. This provides most of the health benefits as opposed to the other main one, EPA.
Unfortunately, 95% of the supplements out there have higher EPA levels as it is cheaper to produce, so check the label or website carefully and look to get at least 250mg of DHA per tablet or gel for the maximum effectiveness.
As you may know, price is no indicator of quality!
Some of the $50 a month products I have seen contain far less DHA and omega 3′s and are not as pure as some of the below $20 a month ones, so check them out carefully.
If you follow these tips you will be able to select the very best pharmaceutical fish oil and start enjoying all the many benefits without any of the risks.
If you would like to learn more about the high quality DHA fish oil supplements I personally take daily, visit my website today.
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Written by admin on 15 January 2010
Just what is pharmaceutical grade fish oil and do you need it? Surprisingly, the answer is no but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take fish oil supplements. Just be careful about some of the claims made on the label.
What does ‘pharmaceutical grade fish oil’ mean? It refers to products that have been highly refined (‘ultra-refined’) to rid them of impurities and contaminants.
Now contaminants are a major cause for concern in oily fish, since most of the waters where species such as salmon, mackerel and tuna are caught are likely to be contaminated with mercury, PCBs and dioxins.
These contaminants are extremely bad for your health, causing developmental problems in children, cancers, fertility problems and birth defects.
So it stands to reason that you would want a product that removes these substances.
Unfortunately, pharmaceutical grade fish oil is, in essence, a meaningless term. There is no globally recognized standard to define what it means. The US Pharmacopeia does not yet have a monograph to regulate it. The US Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) has a voluntary monograph based on various international standards but not all manufacturers heed it.
Even the US FDA, which as some rather low standards for purity, makes no requirement that omega supplements meet any pharmaceutical standard.
But there is another way to get supplements with a very high standard of purity and freshness without making spurious claims about any non-existent standard.
How can this be done? By sourcing species from waters that are not contaminated by mercury, PCBs and dioxins in the first place.
One such area is the Southern Ocean, off the coast of New Zealand. There is only one fish oil supplement I know of that is made of species sourced from this area. The oil is molecularly distilled to remove any tiny hint of contamination and it has been tested by government laboratories to guarantee that its purity is greater than any so-called pharmaceutical grade fish oil.
Instead of claims about meeting non-existent standards, you simply get what you pay for: pure, safe, effective omega 3 supplements.
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Written by admin on 13 January 2010
In the United States, there is no such thing as pharmaceutical grade fish oil. In some parts of Europe, the supplement is prescribed and there are regulations concerning its potency and purity. But, in the US, we must rely on the manufacturers’ ability to provide a safe supplement.
Laws passed in the 1990s placed the responsibility of providing a safe supplement solely on the manufacturer’s shoulders. If a supplement proves to be unsafe, the Food and Drug Administration will step in and remove the product from the market. But, that’s it.
There are regulations concerning the health claims that can be included on the label. Complaints can be made to either the FDA or the Federal Trade Commission, if a manufacturer makes misleading statements about what a supplement can and cannot do.
Independent evaluations have shown that most brands are safe. Surveys conducted by the Environmental Defense Fund have shown that most manufacturers follow guidelines created by the supplement industry’s watchdog group, “The Council for Responsible Nutrition”. But, there are exceptions.
If there were such a thing as pharmaceutical fish oil in the US, it would be free of mercury and cancer-causing chemicals like PCBs. PCBs were banned in the 1970s, but they are “persistent” in the environment, meaning they are still in our oceans and still in our fish.
Several years ago, Green Peace paid for testing of “Omega Pure” supplements, manufactured by a Houston company called Omega Protein. The organization decided to conduct the tests after watching Omega Protein’s poor fishing practices for several years. They basically vacuum menhaden, a filter fish, out of the delicate Chesapeake Bay, which disrupts the eco-system in many ways.
The testing showed that “Omega Pure” would not qualify as pharmaceutical grade fish oil, because it contains high levels of cancer-causing PCBs and dioxins. That’s not surprising, since the Chesapeake Bay, the rivers that empty into it and the Atlantic Ocean have been damaged by industrial pollution for decades.
So, there are some bad supplements. There are many good ones, too. Consumers can easily identify the best by looking for a manufacturer that displays a copy of an independent laboratory analysis on their websites. They are usually referred to as COAs (Certificates of Analysis).
A COA will list common contaminants like lead and mercury and cancer-causing chemicals like PCBs and dioxins. It will also list the omega-3 content.
If there were such a thing as pharmaceutical fish oil in the US, there would probably be regulations concerning the minimum amount of omega-3s that could be present in order to “pass”. Most capsules contain 1000mg of oils or fat, but only part of that is omega-3 fat. The rest is omega-6 or 9. We get more than enough omega-6s in our diet. That’s why we need an omega-3 supplement in the first place. It helps to counteract the negative effects of omega-6s in the diet.
If you look at the COA and buy a supplement that is certified to provide a minimum of 500mg of omega-3s per capsule, you will be getting the closest thing possible to pharmaceutical grade fish oil. That’s a fact.
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Lauren Casey is a consumer advocate and a dedicated researcher who has been on a search to find the best nutritional supplements available. After extensive research, she has found an exceptional nutritional supplement that is now a part of the foundation of her own health program. Visit her website at
http://www.omega-3-guides.com to discover what she personally recommends and why.
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Written by admin on 12 January 2010
I don’t know anything about you, but chances are you would already be aware of the amazing health benefits that pharmaceutical grade fish oil can provide us. Not only does it protect our heart, it also prevents all kinds of cancer, reduces arthritic pain and keeps our brain sharp. However, it can be a little difficult to choose one out of so many available options. Here’s a checklist to make this process easier.
Qualities of a good pharmaceutical grade fish oil:
What kind of fish has it been extracted from? This is the most important factor in evaluating the oil. We need to look for oil containing Omega 3 fatty acids in it. These are the most beneficial kinds of fats that we can get from any food source. The point is, not all kinds of fish contain Omega 3, and an even lesser number have enough DHA Omega 3 fats. Make sure your oil has been extracted from fish rich in DHA Omega 3, like the salmon, mackerel, or even better – the Hoki fish from New Zealand.
Check the DHA and EPA content in the oil DHA and EPA are essential fats that are responsible for all the fish oil benefits. A pharmaceutical fish oil containing high amounts of DHA and EPA is one you should be looking for. In fact, the DHA levels should be at least double of that of EPA.
What about refining? Fish oil can contain contaminants like mercury and lead that the fish absorbs from the polluted ocean water. That’s why it is essential the oil be properly refined to remove all impurities and made fit for human consumption. Molecular Distillation is the process that can do this effectively. Check if your oil has been refined through this process or not.
Is the oil up to industry standards? There is no single set of standards that identifies an oil as pharmaceutical grade fish oil. There is the IFOS (International Fish Oil Standards), Norwegian Medicinal Standard, and many others. In fact, some companies follow their own quality standards that are even stricter than the ones set by these organizations. This kind of product should be your first choice as it would be the safest one you can get. If not that, then aim for an oil that follows the established standards at least.
So, go ahead and find out now a pharmaceutical grade fish oil that does well on the parameters that we have identified here.
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Visit my website today to learn more about
zone fish oil and other fish oil supplements I’ve discovered that I’d like to share with you.
Michael Holman is a dedicated researcher and reviewer of fish oil supplements. He shares his research on his website – Omega3Information. To discover the highest Omega 3 fish oil supplements our editors personally use and recommend, visit –
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Written by admin on 11 January 2010
You can find a lot of people talking about pharmaceutical grade fish oil and how it is superior in quality to other types of fish based oil found on the market today. If you are one of those people, I have something very important to tell you. So, please make sure you read this entire article.
Read the next few words very carefully – there is no such thing called pharmaceutical fish oil. It is nothing but a figment of imagination of fish based oil manufacturers around the world. If you find it hard to believe, allow me to present the facts.
The U.S. Pharmacopeia does not have any specifications to assess the quality and purity of fish based oil. Therefore, reputable fish based oil supplement manufacturers usually try to meet the standards set by the US Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the International Fish Oil Standards (IFOS), and the European Pharmacopeia. Now, you might want to ask an important question – If this is the case, why do a lot of companies claim that their products contain ‘pharmaceutical grade fish oil’? Let me tell you why.
They call it so because they want to sell their product desperately. You see, most companies, whether they admit it or not, make low quality fish oil based products. They catch fish from the most polluted regions in the world, do not purify them properly, and extract low quality fish based oil which is neither effective nor pure. To sell such a product, you need to come up with an attractive gimmick, right? This is why they call their product pharmaceutical grade, A-grade, B-grade, and so on.
Reputable companies get their basics right. They catch fish from certain regions which are not polluted, extract high quality fish based oil, purify it properly, add essential additives which make it even more effective, and market it honestly. How can you find such a product? Let me tell you.
Look out for three important things in a fish based oil supplement.
1. It should contain at least 500 mg of omega 3 fatty acids. It is even better if it has a DHA – EPA ratio of 2:1.
2. It should have been purified properly. Never settle for any product that has not been molecularly distilled. Molecular distillation is one of the few processes which can get rid of all the contaminants and heavy metal toxins present in fish based oil.
3. It should meet the standards set by the European Pharmacopeia, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), International Fish Oil Standards (IFOS), and the Norwegian Medicinal Standard.
The bottom line is simple – stop looking for pharmaceutical fish oil. It does not exist. Instead, look for high quality fish oil based supplements which are both pure and effective.
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Written by admin on 11 January 2010
Although you may see a product advertised as pharmaceutical grade fish oil and you may see it referred to as such in some literature, there is no such thing in the US. There are some medicinal standards in Europe and Norway that have to do with maximum contaminant levels and peroxide value, which has to do with lack of freshness. But, in the US, it is up to the manufacturer to provide a safe and effective product.
Manufacturers are not required to apply for FDA approval before they market a product. The health claims made about products are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission. They must not be “misleading”.
A manufacturer should be able to back up the claims that they make. But, they are not required to present the evidence to the FDA for their approval. What does the Administration suggest that consumers should do? They advise them to consult the supplement manufacturer.
In my opinion, if a US manufacturer advertises their product as pharmaceutical fish oil, they are not to be trusted. Anything that they have to say would be questionable.
The better manufacturers do everything within their power to educate the consumer, including providing the standards set by the European Pharmacopoeia and the Norwegian Medical Standard, as well as those set by the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) and the IFOS, which brings up other questions. Who is the CRN? What is the IFOS?
The CRN and the IFOS are trade organizations that supplement manufacturers may join; being a member means that the company adheres to their standards. The membership requirements vary between the two organizations. It is difficult for a non-manufacturer to find information.
But, if there were pharmaceutical grade fish oil in the US, it might not meet the standards set by either the CRN or the IFOS. The medicinal standards set in Europe are more lenient. So, it stands to reason that any standards set in the US would be more lenient, too.
There are some states, such as California, that have standards for manufacturers located within their jurisdiction. But, the big problem with all of these standards and regulations is that they are not enforceable.
In the US, a supplement cannot be removed from the market, until it is proven unsafe, by doctor reports and patient complaints. If one brand is removed, others, of the same type, may still be available.
So, those are the facts about pharmaceutical fish oil. Your best bet is to look for a manufacturer that has each batch of oils tested by an independent laboratory and posts the results of those tests on their website. You will find a few companies do that.
Make no mistake about it. To get the best value for your money, look for a brand that provides a minimum of 280mg of DHA per capsule. That is a specific omega-3 that research indicates provides most of the benefits. There may be pharmaceutical grade fish oil in the US, at some point in the future, but with a little research, you can find a high quality product, today.
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Laurel Cohen is a strong advocate of natural health in all its forms: skin care, supplementation, and farm fresh foods. She enjoys introducing people to the best natural products she can find and uses herself daily. Visit her site
http://www.omega-3-for-health.com to learn about the omega 3 fish oils Laurel uses daily for optimal health.
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Written by admin on 09 January 2010
Pharmaceutical grade fish oil is one of the best health supplements that offer amazing benefits on our brain, heart and skin health. Find out the expert facts on what makes it the best source for essential Omega 3 fatty acids.Fish oil is the best known source of essential Omega 3 fatty acids. Our body does not produce Omega 3 fatty acids, so they must be obtained from food or from external sources. You can find one of the best fish oil supplements in the form of pharmaceutical grade fish oil.Omega-3 fatty acids play an important role in the health and vitality of our body. For many years, cod liver oil was the form of Omega 3 fish oil supplementation, but it has an awful taste and smell. Now, many brands of pharmaceutical grade fish oil supplements are available. They are a much better alternative to supplement a healthy diet and are easy to swallow in capsule form. They are an easy and effective means to achieve the health benefits without any hassles in the form of bad taste, etc.Research shows that Omega 3 fatty acids in the diet can reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. Pharmaceutical grade fish oil supplements are rich in Omega 3 fatty acids which help in the brain’s functions and rebuilding new cells. It also plays a positive role in improving the symptoms associated with arthritis.Around 50% of the brain mass is composed of fats and a third of the mass is in the form of Omega 3 fats. Omega-3′s are not produced by the body, so they need to be supplemented from external food sources. It is a fact that a majority of us do not consume enough amounts of fish regularly in our diet.The best alternative to supplement this Omega 3 deficit is to use high-quality pharmaceutical grade fish oil supplements. Fish oils help to enhance the mood and also are very effective in conditions such as attention deficit disorder and depression. The memory sharpens and our concentration ability improves on adding fish oil supplements to our diet.Hoki fish is one of the best sources of pharmaceutical grade fish oil. It is found natively in the cleanest waters in the southern seas of New Zealand, which are regulated and protected by the government of New Zealand. It is very rich in the two types of Omega 3 fatty acids called DHA and EPA.Visit my website to find out in greater detail the essential elements that you should look out for in the best pharmaceutical grade fish oil supplements, which can help you achieve a vibrant skin, sharp mind and a healthy body most effortlessly.
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Vijay K Raisinghani is a Natural Healthcare Expert and a passionate advocate of Omega 3 Fish oils for a healthy mind and body. His website
http://www.your-omega3-fish-oil-guide.com provides a wealth of information on what works and what doesn’t work in Omega 3 fish oils to achieve a young, vibrant and robust health.
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Written by admin on 01 January 2010
By the time you finish reading this, you’ll have a great understanding of what makes pharmaceutical grade fish oil the safest and most effective fish oil on the market, and why it can be unhealthy to choose otherwise.
The term “pharmaceutical grade fish oil” was coined by Dr. Barry Sears, a staunch advocate for rigorous testing and experimenting involving high doses of ultra-pure omega 3 supplements. His research and findings are nothing short of amazing, and make a very compelling case for the daily use of long-chain omega 3 fatty acids in the diet.Health Food Grade Fish OilThis type of fish oil is the kind seen on the shelves in stores. It’s important to know these are not pharmaceutical grade omega 3 oils because of the way they’re manufactured. Often they contain high amounts of toxic chemicals like PCBs, dioxin and mercury which are all extremely toxic to human beings.As fish exist in the wild, the amount of toxins their skins absorb is directly related to the pollution levels in their regions of the ocean. Often, the manufacturers of health food grade oils don’t do the best job at making attempts to purify them or extract them from good fish sources.The fish oil supplement standards in the United States are dangerously lax and “allow manufacturers to put whatever they want on a product label as long as it doesn’t promise to cure or prevent a particular disease” (Sears p 95). This is disconcerting to say the least. Over-consumption of health food grade oils can quickly lead to nasty side effects like cramps, GI issues, mercury poisoning and exposure to carcinogens like PCBs and dioxin.Pharmaceutical Grade Fish OilBased on the downsides of health food grade fish oil, you probably clearly see the need for a purer alternative. What makes an omega 3 oil “pharmaceutical grade”? Simply put, you can define an omega 3 oil as “pharmaceutical grade” once it passes ultra-stringent purity standards. These standards require impurities to be measured and verified by a third party and the results printed on a Certificate of Analysis for public view. Pharmaceutical grade fish oil also needs to be comprised of more than 60% total omega 3 fatty acids and have impurities so low that they’re either nearly, or completely undetectable in order to qualify.Many different companies who cannot substantiate their purity claims will mark up their products with “pharmaceutical grade” on the labels in an attempt to sell more products. It’s important you see through this, and first check for the company’s Certificate of Analysis. If the company you’re working with cannot, or will not provide this information for you then something is very wrong. Most companies that offer pharmaceutical grade oils have their Certificate of Analysis proudly posted on their websites to prove their claims.For your reference, and I hope this isn’t too scientific, here are the standards that need to be followed in order to consider a fish oil pharmaceutical grade:• Total Long-Chain Omega 3 Fatty Acids: More than 60% of the total fatty acids• Mercury: Less than 10 parts per billion• PCBs: Less than 30 parts per billion• Dioxin: Less than 1 part per trillionSo you can see, pharmaceutical grade fish oil standards are literally thousands of times more stringent than the requirements for standard health food grade oil, and it is the adherence to these standards – verified by the Certificate of Analysis – that allows an omega 3 oil to be considered pharmaceutical grade.Now that you’re armed with this knowledge, it’s time to make your move and start doing some smart shopping for fish oil. You know what to look for and you know what to avoid, and always remember that the Certificate of Analysis is your proof of purity and guiding light to choosing the right products.To learn more about the pharmaceutical grade fish oil I use daily, please visit my website today.
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