Omega 3 Fatty Acid Supplementation Found as Effective as Consumption of Oily Fish.

A study conducted at the Lipid and Diabetes Research Center of Saint Luke's Heart Institute, Kansas City and published in the December 2007 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Vol. 86, No. 6, 1621-1625) compared the rate and extent of enrichment of red blood cell (RBC) membranes and plasma phospholipids from supplementation with fish oil capsules and consumption of oily fish. Healthy premenopausal women were randomly assigned to two study groups. All subjects consumed a daily average of 485 mg eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids from either two servings per week of oily fish (such as salmon or albacore tuna) or from one or two fish oil capsules per day for 16 weeks. At the end of the test period researchers found that the percentage of EPA and DHA in total RBC Fatty Acids had increased equally for both groups. The oily fish group increased from 4% (±0.6%) to 6.2% (±1.4%) while the fish oil capsule group increased from 4.3% (±1.0) to 6.2% (±1.4). Similar results were found for plasma phospholipids. EPA in RBCs increased more rapidly in the oily fish group than the fish oil capsule group during the first 4 weeks, but did not differ significantly thereafter. Researchers stated that the consumption of equal amounts of EPA and DHA from oily fish on a weekly basis or from fish oil capsules on a daily basis is equally effective at enriching blood lipids with Omega 3 Fatty Acids. Bio-Design Deodorized Omega 3 provides 1090 mg of fish oil per capsule yielding 30% total EPA and DHA.