Krill Oil or Fish Oil – How Should You Choose
For many years I got my Omega 3's from GNC Salmon oil capsules. The Salmon oil never gave me a fishy after-taste. I always take my supplements right before bed and the Salmon oil seemed to balance my digestive system and prevent acid reflux during the night. I would have purchased this product forever, but for some reason GNC dropped the product. The last Omega 3 product I purchased from GNC was a blend of fish oil and krill oil. I loved it! Then, as before, GNC decided to drop this product. So, I decided to start trying other Omega 3 supplements other than those sold by GNC. They are obviously moving from one vendor to another and selling whatever fish oil brand that brings them the best return. I have now chosen to go with MegaRed krill oil as my 1st experiment with an alternate Omega 3 supplement. It has zero fish oil in it. All the essential ingredients are extracted from the tiny crustacean harvested in the Antarctic known as krill. I'm working with my Doctor to reduce my cholesterol and our first treatment was to raise my very low levels of vitamin D prior to initiating a prescription medication. Initially, I was prescribed 10,000 units of vitamin D2 or D3 per day (I forget which one), but I could not tolerate it. My face looked like a well boiled Maine lobster each morning, so I quit it after a couple of weeks. I switched to (1) vitamin D capsule from the pharmacy and (1) 500 Mg. MegaRed capsule per day and now I'm back to normal (the 500 Mg. MegaRed lists around 1000 Mg. of vitamin D). Antarctic krill oil contains a blend of Omega 3, antioxidants, and choline. That all sounds good to me. The Omega 3 fats found in pure krill oil are predominantly EPA and DHA, the same as found in Cold water fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring and sardines. The typical krill oil dose has less DHA and EPA than fish oil, however, the Omega 3 found in krill is bonded to "phospholipids", as opposed to the triglycerides found in fish oil. Because of this, some health experts believe that Omega 3 fats in krill oil are more easily absorbed into your system. I have no idea what a phospholipid is, but my blood tests have shown that I need to lower my triglycerides, so I'm seeing this as one more benefit in switching to krill oil. I like the fact that krill are way, way down in the food chain and, as such, they are much less likely to bio-accumulate toxins in significant quantities. Compare this to the salmon, which are way higher in the food chain, and as such, they are way more subject to bio-accumulation of toxins as these contaminents move up through the food chain. Final note: There are warnings on this product if you are allergic to shellfish or take blood thinners… Talk to your Doctor before you start taking this supplement. I'll try to post on my results again in the future my friends. Be Well, Jimm
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