If you're in the 10% of Americans 5 who actually eat two or more servings of oily fish per week, you might not need to take a supplement every day to meet baseline levels of omega-3s. For plant-based folks, eating lots of ALA-rich foods and finding a high-quality omega-3 supplement to meet the recommended intake for ALA is important for whole-body health. 'Algae is great, flax is great-but again, it's not quite as efficient,' Cording reminds us. For those who don't eat fish by choice or because they cannot (e.g., because of an allergy), there are some viable options derived from plants. Omega-3 supplements are not one-size-fits-all. We recommend choosing fish oil derived from a thin fish (such as anchovies or sardines), as those are less likely to have high levels of mercury and other metals than bigger fish. Ferira explains that, of course, this is not a concern when taking top-notch fish oil, as 'high-quality fish oil products are highly purified to achieve negligible trace levels of contaminants like heavy metals.' In other words, it's the form found in nature and native to the fish.'įish oil comes from many types of fish-including salmon, anchovies, tuna, sardines, herring, and mackerel. 'The triglyceride form is how marine omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA are found in the fat of the fish-and how we consume and absorb fat in our diet. 'For fish oil, the triglyceride form is where it's at,' Ferira shares. It's also the most bioavailable form 3 (i.e., more easily absorbed and accessible to your cells).* The native form of fat is triglyceride for fish and humans. The main forms are triglyceride, ethyl ester, and phospholipid. (By 'form,' we mean the type or chemical structure of the omega-3 fats.) There are a variety of forms this fat can be delivered in based on how the fish oil is processed. Fish oil is the concentrated and purified oil from-you guessed it-the tissue of oily fish.

Omega 3 supplements