Hello,

I have a question regarding fish oil in the context of heavy metals and other contaminants in certain fish... What harmful substances can be found in fish oil? How can the quality of a given fish oil as a dietary supplement be assessed?

Thank you.

In animal fat, residues of antibiotics, petroleum industry derivatives, and toxic elements most commonly accumulate. It is not possible to avoid this; however, there is no need to worry excessively about it because dietary supplements are subject to a relatively strict quality control system for the raw materials used. It rarely happens that a batch of contaminated products "slips through," and if it does and is discovered, it results in significantly negative publicity for the manufacturer.

As a consumer, you cannot assess the quality of fish oil supplements because manufacturers have the legal obligation to provide the State Health Institute with a microbiological analysis upon approval of the product for sale. However, there is no guarantee that all batches of a product are controlled in this way. Consequently, although there is a quality system established with its rules, it is still only a system that can occasionally be circumvented.

One of the interesting indicators of fish oil quality is the manufacturer's effort to declare the origin of the fish. Deep-sea environments of the Atlantic are often presented as ecologically clean areas, although, in today's world, due to ocean pollution with plastics, even this is highly relative...

Themes:  Fish oil