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Choosing Omega 3 Capsules? Confused?

You start researching Omega 3 supplements and you start finding out all about DHA and EPA and lots more. You’re confused. How do you choose the best Omega 3 capsules?

And it gets worse when you start reading all about converting ALA to DHA, then about long chain and short chain fats and so on.

One of the people who read my site recently asked me how to go about choosing his Omega 3 capsules because he had got confused about long and short chain fats.

I can understand his confusion. Heres a short explanation, and then well have a look at how to choose the best Omega 3 fish oil supplements.

There’s the 3 main Omega 3 fats, DHA, EPA and ALA. They are all good for you but the most important by far is DHA.

You get ALA from plant sources like flax seeds, and your DHA comes from sources like deep sea fish. And DHA is a long chain fatty acid, whilst ALA is a short chain fatty acid. But the most important is DHA.

DHA comes from fish oil capsules so you need fish oil Omega 3 supplements rather than flax seed capsules. You also get EPA from fish oil.

Every brand of fish oil capsules has DHA.

So it seems that fish oil supplements are better than flax seed Omega 3 supplements, but how do you choose between the different fish oil supplements?

There are only 2 factors that you need to consider when choosing between fish oil tablets. The amount of DHA you get with each tablet and the purity of the fish oil.

You look for the quantity as all fish oil capsules have DHA, but in different amounts. Thus you cannot just look for the cheapest fish oil capsules without knowing how much DHA is in them.

So if you look at supplements that are half the price of some others they may seem good value, but if you get a third of the DHA they aren’t.

And you also need to consider the purity of the supplements because many fish oil capsules can contain oils contaminated with small amounts of mercury, for example, because many of our deep sea fish are contaminated, and that’s where the oil comes from.

That’s the process of choosing your Omega 3 supplements. There’s only 2 things to consider, so forget long and short chain fats and so on.

But actually doing that comparison isn’t as easy as you’d think and you may struggle. I have run the sums and one brand comes up as the best fish oil supplement on both DHA quantity and also on oil purity.

I tell you which brand on my website.