While you may tend to avoid saturated and trans fats in your diet, there is a source of healthy fats that helps to reduce inflammation in your body: fish oil. If you have trouble getting enough sources of fatty fish such as tuna or salmon in your daily diet, you may wish to take a fish oil supplement. These supplements are made with a variety of fish and manufacturing methods to benefit your health.
Fish Used
Contained within fish oil supplements are the oils of fish that are typically smaller and younger, like sardines and anchovies. This is because larger fish like shark and swordfish tend to have larger levels of pollutants like mercury. Smaller fish tend to eat food sources like algae, which also are high in omega-3 fatty acids, one of the chief reasons many take fish oil supplements. However, fish oil supplements also may be made from larger fish like mackerel, herring, tuna, halibut, salmon, cod liver, whale blubber or seal blubber.
Additional Components
Although fish oil supplement components may vary based on the manufacturer, many fish oil supplements contain additives like vitamin E. This vitamin helps to protect the supplement against spoilage. Other vitamins and minerals may be added to increase your nutritional intake. These include calcium, B vitamins, vitamin C or vitamin D. If you need to enhance particular vitamins in your daily diet, a fish oil pill with added vitamins may be for you.
Manufacturing Process
Once the fish type is chosen, the manufacturer will grind the fish either on the boat where the fish are caught or are processed in a factory. After this is ground, the fish are put in a centrifuge that spins rapidly to separate the fish oil from the fish itself. The oil rises to the top and is removed and purified. After a deodorization process, the fish oil is packaged into supplements.
Safety
Pollution over time has led some fish to have higher levels of mercury, an element that can be toxic to the human body. If you have limited your intake of tilefish or shark due to fears of high mercury levels, you may wonder if fish oil supplements are safe to take. In addition to using smaller fish that have lesser mercury levels, the centrifuge process helps to further reduce mercury. This is because mercury tends to cling to the fish meat -- not the fish oil itself. Further purification processes are used to reduce mercury. However, you may wish to speak to your physician about the right fish oil dosage for you.
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