Are Fish Oil Pills Good To Lose Weight?

Whether sourced from mackerel, salmon or anchovies, fish oil capsules contain a high concentration of omega-3 oils. This sub-group of fats has demonstrated an ability to improve a wide range of chronic complaints, from arthritis to high blood pressure, although their effects on weight loss now fall under scrutiny.

Fish Oil Pills

Many manufacturers now offer fish oil in capsule form. You should select your capsules carefully, as not all manufacturers screen their products for contaminants like mercury or polychloride biphenols; these toxins may present depending on which area of the ocean the fish were sourced from. Most have a concentration of 300 mg of EPA and DHA, also known as eicosapentanoic acid and decosahexanoic acid respectively, for every gram of oil; these two compounds take responsibility for the majority of health effects associated with fish oil.

EPA and DHA

As super-unsaturated oils, both EPA and DHA oxidize very easily when consumed. The body also uses EPA to manufacture prostaglandins, hormone-like substances that affect cells locally to control the inflammation cascade. Between these two processes, it becomes almost impossible for the body to use the energy in these oils to make fat. However, aside from simply not being stored as fat, both compounds appear to actively enhance the fat-burning process across the body.

Mechanisms

The jury remains out on the most important mechanism through which fish oils promote fat loss. Mike Roussell, a nutritional researcher and contributor to T Nation, notes that the EPA and DHA in fish may stimulate fat loss in a variety of ways. These include blocking the creation of fat cells, altering the way in which the body burns fats after meals, increasing insulin sensitivity and by upregulating the rate of fatty acid oxidation at cells across the body. Roussell recommends a minimum of 2 to 3 g of EPA and DHA each day, which you will obtain from around 7 to 10 g of standard-strength oil.

Evidence

Scientific evidence supports the fat-burning pedigree of fish oil. In an experiment conducted in 1997, researchers split volunteers into two groups and gave them the same diet for three weeks. Then they gave one group 6 g of fish oil per day, while the others maintained their food intake. In the three weeks that followed the fish oil group lost an average of 2 kg while the control group recorded only 0.7 kg. The team concluded that fish oil did effectively burn fat and the results were featured in the "Nature" journal the same year.