Heavy metals in fish oil, should I be worried?

[Droo_]

After learning the importance of omega-3 fatty acids I bought some fish oil from the company Legions. I know that there can be heavy metals in fish oil so I looked for a high-quality brand. I eat no fish at all. According to the labdoor report, this product contains 0.16 micrograms per serving and my plan was to take half a serving perday so this would be 0.08 micrograms a day. Also, no cadmium or mercury was detected. I am currently chelating with AlA and DMSA, I am taking 100 mg of DMSA per round.

Labdoor reports:

https://labdoor.com/review/legion-triton-fish-oil/certifications

https://cdn.labdoor.io/certification/images/ggsh9zr4hikelgwupmpk9l.pdf

I have a few questions:

1. Is this safe to take while detoxing heavy metals?

2. Does the benefit of getting omega 3's outweigh exposing myself to this small amount of lead?

3. Will it all just be detoxed?

4. Are there any better brands that you might know of? 

 

 

Edited May 12 by Droo_

[Droo_]

@Michael569 

[Droo_]

Update: I took the supplment and now I feel off

[Osaid]

Certain fish oil supplements will have some sort of seal or label showing that it went through a purification process to remove heavy metals, like the IVO label for example:
https://ivopure.org/ivo-testing-practices/#Promise of Proven Purity

https://www.webbernaturals.com/en-ca/omega-3-500-mg-softgels/

Edited Friday at 03:11 AM by Osaid

[integral]

13 hours ago, Droo_ said:

Update: I took the supplment and now I feel off

When i take fish oil supplements i always feel light headed or that "i got up to fast" feeling. Could be related to many things not heavy metal related. Low blood pressure for example.  

[Droo_]

8 hours ago, integral said:

When i take fish oil supplements i always feel light headed or that "i got up to fast" feeling. Could be related to many things not heavy metal related. Low blood pressure for example.  

Yeah, I don't think it was heavy metal related but I was surprised at how much it altered the way I felt. It was stronger than most nootropics. It made my heart rate decrease and made me more alert (almost like a very small microdose) but it also made me feel unmotivated and just off. I looked it up and I believe it has something to do with acetylcholine. Not sure if this is placebo but I'm probably not going to take it anymore. 

I also took it on the 5th day of a round of heavy metal detox so maybe that had something to do with it

Edited Friday at 08:46 PM by Droo_

[zurew]

 

[Average Investor]

I would try something like flax seed oil instead. Krill oil is also an alternative. Much higher quality than fish oil. 

[Michael569]

@Droo_ thanks for the tag. Damn, reading that warning, I would have hard time justifying consumption of that stuff if I'm being honest but maybe the company is one of the rare ones who actually disclose something that should be omn every product or maybe it is just the laws of California businesses. Either way, I have been staying away from fish oils my whole life and I don't recommend them to my clients unless they specifically want to take fish oils even with the knowledge that algae oils are an option (after learning about algae & flax oils, most people seem to prefer the animal-free ones). I don't think taking fish oils with the knowledge that we have plenty of plant alternatives is the most ecological and the most sustainable choice and I have an ethical dilemma with recommending these products. But that's just my biased opinion. 

I see fish oils as a sorta outdated thing that's just going around forever like products from Procter & Gamble & Red Bull. Not because they are better but simply because they've been around for longer and have gained a lot of customer recognition. 

If you have doubts, for your own piece of mind I would take a combo of flax oil and algae oil. If you buy the liquid form in a glass bottle (often mixed with lemon and olive oil to mask the gross taste) that you dose yourself (rather than capsule) you may save a few bucks. 

As to a question, of whether it aids chelation, I have no idea but DHA & EPA have lot of important metabolic and physiological functions so I don't see how making sure you have all you need would be harmful. Hard to tell if PUFAs have any additional benefits in excess, I'm tempted to say No but have never looked deep into this. 

Hope that helps 

 

[Human Mint]

7 hours ago, Michael569 said:

. I don't think taking fish oils with the knowledge that we have plenty of plant alternatives is the most ecological and the most sustainable choice and I have an ethical dilemma with recommending these products.

Omega 3 from algae is substantially more expensive, at least where i live. You may say that that's not an excuse but i barely have the money to buy food and some cheap supplements, although the fish oil i buy has IFOS certification.

If making algae oil is considerably accessible, i am open to be a producer so i can sell it at a good price and also make money. But: idk what algae should i cultivate, idk if i can make it where i live, idk if i need fresh or sea water, idk if i can exctract omega 3 in a easy way with what is most accesible, etc. I would need good research... How would you do it?

[Michael569]

@Human Mint That's a fair point. I think in cases where it is not available, you can justify taking the fish oil. I suppose I was being a little bit too dismissive in that previous post. You're right there are times when it is not one or the other in an equal balance. 

6 hours ago, Human Mint said:

If making algae oil is considerably accessible, i am open to be a producer so i can sell it at a good price and also make money. But: idk what algae should i cultivate, idk if i can make it where i live, idk if i need fresh or sea water, idk if i can exctract omega 3 in a easy way with what is most accesible, etc. I would need good research... How would you do it?

Interesting business idea. I don't have any answers for you unfortunatelly but you could start by contacting large producers in USA and see if you could offer some sort of local distribution partnership. It's gonna cost you and you'd need to figure out the delivery chain, the logistics of storage and most of all connect to a company that would harvest and extract it for you. But I'd never say impossible....just "not easy" 

[The0Self]

On 5/12/2022 at 6:44 PM, Droo_ said:

Update: I took the supplment and now I feel off

Fish oil is mildly psychoactive if you're sensitive. It's probably not the miniscule level of heavy metals that's causing the noticeable effects. Fish oil thins the blood and noticeably increases alertness in some. With that said, I would just not take the fish oil while chelating.

Are you sure you're chelating correctly? You said 100mg per round... did you mean 100mg per dose? The "round" length is simply the length of time gone without missing a scheduled dose (always minimum 72 hours per round; taken every 4h for DMSA; every 3h for ALA).

So you're taking DMSA every 4 hours for at least 72 hours straight? With no missed or late doses? (Hopefully that's the case, because failing to do at least that means virtually guaranteed problems, unless maybe you just accidentally messed up once and never will again.) If you aren't at least doing that, you're going to hurt yourself or cause lasting brain fog. There are examples showing that when DMSA is taken every 8 hours for any length of time, or when DMSA is taken for less than 60-72 hours straight at a frequency of at least every 4 hours, it doesn't have net positive effects, no matter how much mercury is successfully cleared... it just does too much damage on the way out to produce net positive effects in the end... unless taken in a very specific way i.e. a constant dose every 3 hours (for ALA; up to 4h for DMSA) for a bare minimum of 72 hours straight, followed by a period lasting as least as long as the round, of no chelator...

Again, 72 hours minimum, non-negotiable -- you'll cause brain damage if you miss a dose before that point. And it's best to just go way beyond it, as that actually is far more effective -- e.g. 96 hours or even 1-2 weeks. And time on = time off, to be safe -- i.e. 10 days on, 10 days off -- though that's not a hard and fast rule. The 72 hour minimum is a rule though, assuming you care about your health and mental faculties.

You want to minimize the number of times the blood concentration of the chelator falls (minimizing redistribution) -- and this is accomplished by doing longer rounds. Break-even healing is not yet accomplished in a round until blood levels have been steadily elevated for 72+ hours straight. So once you make it to hour 72, you're safe, and you can continue without the stress of a potential missed dose causing brain damage -- but significantly longer is beneficial, because the longer the round...the higher the healing-to-redistribution ratio. And this information can be found by delving into Andy Cutler's posts on onibasu as well... Though he said that just to be safe, it's probably best to not exceed 2 weeks with DMSA -- yet ALA can be done quite a bit longer. If you want to do it efficiently, you'd be better off doing something like: plan on an indefinite round, and then stop at whichever comes first -- 1. two weeks (or somewhere in the range of 7-14 days, decided ahead of time) has passed, or 2. you miss a dose.

Make sure you never EVER miss a dose, until the round has been going on for at the very least 72 hours. Make it to hour 72 -- no messing around before then.

Maybe this is already clear (it should be to anyone even considering having chelators on their to-do-list). But I'm somewhat doubtful... because in the past I've seen people on here willing to chelate, while having absolutely no idea how to do it, and basically describing stuff that I know will lead to mental slowness or, at the very least, no sought-after effects.

Edited Sunday at 04:08 PM by The0Self