You can get fish oil by either eating fish or by taking fish-oil supplements. Fish oils contain omega-3 fatty acids, which reduce inflammation and possibly decrease your risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and arthritis, the University of Maryland Medical Center reports. Omega-3 fatty acids are called essential oils, because your body can't manufacture them and must obtain them from your diet. Fish such as mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, salmon, albacore tuna and halibut are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids, as are other seafoods such as algae and krill.
Minimum Dosage
Two omega-3 acids that provide the most benefits are eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid. EPA benefits your heart and immune system and supports the inflammatory response, while DHA is beneficial for the brain, eyes and nervous system. Both forms of omega-3 fatty acids are especially important for pregnant and nursing women. Infants who are 1 to 18 months old need 32 mg per pound of body weight. Children from 18 months to 15 years old need 15 mg. Adults need 500 mg, with a minimum of 220 mg of EPA and 220 mg of DHA. Pregnant and nursing women need 300 mg of DHA per day.
High Doses
More than 3 g of fish oil a day is considered a high dose and possibly unsafe, because it might keep your blood from clotting and could increase your chance of bleeding, Medline Plus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, reports. Aside from this, high doses of fish oil might reduce the activity of your immune system and compromise your ability to fight infection. In addition, taking fish oil in large amounts can increase your levels of bad LDL cholesterol. If you are taking fish oil in large doses, you need to have your blood tested regularly to make sure that your LDL cholesterol does not become too high.
Precautions
Contaminants such as dioxins, methylmercury and polychlorinated biphenyls are found in some species, such as shark, king mackerel and farm-raised salmon, the Mayo Clinic website reports. While such safety concerns apply to eating fish, they may not apply to ingesting fish oil supplements, because methylmercury accumulates in fish meat more than in fish oil, and fish oil supplements appear to contain almost no mercury. This is an important consideration, because heavy metals harm young children, as well as pregnant women and nursing mothers the most.
Fish Oil Quality
When choosing which fish oil supplements to take, consider the manufacturing process, the smell and the taste. Look into the quality standards the manufacturer is using and see if it follows the maximum allowance for toxins, as set by quality standards such as the Norwegian Medicinal Standard, the European Pharmacopoeia Standard and the voluntary U.S. standard. Check if the supplement smells fishy, because quality fish oil supplements should not smell that way. An unpleasant fishy smell means that the oil has started to turn rancid. Taste is also important, because quality fish oil should not taste fishy, nor should it have any added artificial flavors to mask the fishy flavor of rancid oil.
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