Cod liver oil is a common type of fish oil and contains important substances called omega-3 fatty acids. These fatty acids don't appear to have a beneficial effect on your cholesterol levels. However, these fatty acids can improve your cardiovascular health by reducing your blood levels of harmful fats called triglycerides, which have a chemical composition similar to that found in cholesterol.
Cholesterol Effects
Cod liver oil and other fish oil sources --- including tuna, mackerel, halibut and salmon --- contain omega-3 fatty acids called eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA; and docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA. According to MayoClinic.com, these fatty acids can slightly increase your blood levels of the beneficial cholesterol called high-density lipoprotein, or HDL. However, the potential benefit of higher HDL is offset by associated increases in your blood levels of the harmful form of cholesterol called low-density lipoprotein, or LDL. As a result, the consumption of cod liver oil or other types of fish oil does not have an overall positive or negative effect on your cholesterol status.
Understanding Triglycerides
Along with cholesterol, triglycerides belong to a class of substances called blood lipids. When you eat more food than your body can use at one time, it converts any excess food calories into triglycerides and keeps them to meet any future energy needs. Like cholesterol, triglycerides are too heavy to move through your bloodstream on their own and require transportation by protein structures called lipoproteins. The presence of too many triglycerides in your blood may directly harm your health by hardening your blood vessels. In addition, high triglyceride levels can indicate the presence of other significant problems, including high cholesterol levels, obesity, high blood glucose and high blood pressure.
Triglyceride Effects
The omega-3 fatty acid content of fish oil has a clinically proven ability to significantly lower the triglyceride levels in your bloodstream, MayoClinic.com reports. However, the triglyceride-lowering effects of EPA and DHA seem to be linked to the amount of fish oil you consume, and lower doses may not provide as much benefit as higher doses. When you take more than 3 g per day of DHA and EPA from cod liver oil or other fish sources, you can significantly increase your risks for bleeding. For this reason, you should only take therapeutic doses of any fish oil product with your doctor's explicit advice and ongoing supervision.
Considerations
Your doctor can assess your triglyceride levels at the same time he checks your cholesterol levels. Triglyceride levels in excess of 149 mg/dL can trigger or indicate the presence of related health problems. Typically, you can reduce your triglyceride levels by reducing your intake of foods that contain high amounts of cholesterol. In addition to helping diminish the presence of triglycerides in your bloodstream, cod liver oil is commonly a significant source of vitamin A. Consult your doctor for more information on cod liver oil, cholesterol and triglycerides.
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