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Since There Is No Regulatory Body For Supplements, What Is In Fish Oil Capsules?

rhinefire

rhinefire

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Billions of bottle of fish oil are sitting out the shelves of every store in the country so ask yourself...
What kind of fish is this?
Is there more than one kind of fish in them?
Are these farm raised fish?
When was the fish caught?
What country were they caught in?
How long after the fish are killed is the oil squeezed out?
What becomes of the meat after the oil is extracted?
Is the oil from one fish the same for all fish?
Why are some fish oil bottles in dark brown bottles and others in clear bottles?
Why should I buy fish oil when you don't tell me what is in the caps?
Hint: Just eat a can of sardines once or twice a week or cook a piece of salmon, the easiest fish to cook and stop eating what you don't know.
 
Basically anything. That is why the FDA needs to have power over them.
 
I've always wondered what happens to the fat that they extract out of "lot fat" versions of products.

Do they just dump it into the standard version, thus making it higher in fat that it would have otherwise have been? And if so, does that mean that my choice of eating healthy, actually reduces the health level of someone else?

Surely they aren't just extracting the fat and wasting it.

Like nearly all the fat in eggs is in the yolks. So when I buy cartons of egg whites, what did they do with the yolks? I assume that they used the fat laden yolks in products that normally would require whole eggs, thus those products would now be higher in fat than if they had used whole eggs.
 
And when I was in the Army, I used to eat these tasty pickled red sausages that they sold in our unit canteen. Then one day I noticed that the very first item on the ingredient list was beef lips.

My warped little mind imagined up a whole field of cows going "ooooo" because they could no longer say "moo". I never ate another pickled red sausage again.
 
rhinefire said:
...
Hint: Just eat a can of sardines once or twice a week or cook a piece of salmon, the easiest fish to cook and stop eating what you don't know.
Click to expand...

Do you realize that there is not actually a fish called a sardine? Sardines are, as someone else said, "whatever (small fish) swam into the net".
 
imagep said:
Do you realize that there is not actually a fish called a sardine? Sardines are, as someone else said, "whatever (small fish) swam into the net".
Click to expand...

You are totally correct: (cribbed from Wikipedia)

"Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names used to refer to various small, oily fish within the herring family of Clupeidae. The term sardine was first used in English during the early 15th century and may come from the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, around which sardines were once abundant.

So basically they are minnows or bait fish. Sardine sound much more classy!
 
rhinefire said:
Billions of bottle of fish oil are sitting out the shelves of every store in the country so ask yourself...
What kind of fish is this?
Is there more than one kind of fish in them?
Are these farm raised fish?
When was the fish caught?
What country were they caught in?
How long after the fish are killed is the oil squeezed out?
What becomes of the meat after the oil is extracted?
Is the oil from one fish the same for all fish?
Why are some fish oil bottles in dark brown bottles and others in clear bottles?
Why should I buy fish oil when you don't tell me what is in the caps?
Hint: Just eat a can of sardines once or twice a week or cook a piece of salmon, the easiest fish to cook and stop eating what you don't know.
Click to expand...



There's one hope of getting supplements that contain what they say: look for a "USP" label.

It's an independent entity that claims to do random product testing at various levels. It means a little more, at least, then products that don't claim to have been certified by such an entity.

We get the "Nature Made" brand, which uses USP. They also claim to have processed the oil to remove mercury.




Various brands use various sources of fish oil. I forget the name, but I believe they primarily use a really small fish en masse (a fish which, I believe, is now suffering in population)
 
Mr Person said:
There's one hope of getting supplements that contain what they say: look for a "USP" label.

It's an independent entity that claims to do random product testing at various levels. It means a little more, at least, then products that don't claim to have been certified by such an entity.

We get the "Nature Made" brand, which uses USP. They also claim to have processed the oil to remove mercury.




Various brands use various sources of fish oil. I forget the name, but I believe they primarily use a really small fish en masse (a fish which, I believe, is now suffering in population)
Click to expand...

Don't trust the USP until we know who they are. They could be as trustworthy as the fed.
 
rhinefire said:
Don't trust the USP until we know who they are. They could be as trustworthy as the fed.
Click to expand...

I suppose that leaves only one option: test it yourself.
 
Carjosse said:
Basically anything. That is why the FDA needs to have power over them.
Click to expand...

I disagree. for one the FDA is about as corrupt as anyone out there.
for two if the FDA regulates them its likely the price of all of that.. which is already high.. would be prohibitively expensive.
Just do your research. there are plenty of consumer driven ratings and reviews.
Looking for one buy something that has a lot of consumer review.

As far as fish oil I prefer krill oil. its a little bit more expensive but it doesn't have the fishiness so much. So its more tolerable. and its more bioavailable which is good.
But as I was saying.. consumer reports, WebMD, bodybuilding.com and many other resources are out there that have done pretty thorough reviews on several fish oil brands.
 
SocialD said:
I disagree. for one the FDA is about as corrupt as anyone out there.
for two if the FDA regulates them its likely the price of all of that.. which is already high.. would be prohibitively expensive.
Just do your research. there are plenty of consumer driven ratings and reviews.
Looking for one buy something that has a lot of consumer review.

As far as fish oil I prefer krill oil. its a little bit more expensive but it doesn't have the fishiness so much. So its more tolerable. and its more bioavailable which is good.
But as I was saying.. consumer reports, WebMD, bodybuilding.com and many other resources are out there that have done pretty thorough reviews on several fish oil brands.
Click to expand...

People can die and suffer very serious health effects form supplements. There is also rampant lying and bad advertising in the supplement industry with most supplements doing nothing at the best of times and causing serious health effects or death at worse and no one checks or regulates their claims. Take fish oil for example, it does literally nothing yet they are allowed to say it treats illness.

 
Carjosse said:
People can die and suffer very serious health effects form supplements. There is also rampant lying and bad advertising in the supplement industry with most supplements doing nothing at the best of times and causing serious health effects or death at worse and no one checks or regulates their claims. Take fish oil for example, it does literally nothing yet they are allowed to say it treats illness.

Click to expand...


Dr Oz is one I would 'not' go to. You are right there is some lying.. never trust one single source without checking others.. that goes for lots of things.
 
Carjosse said:
People can die and suffer very serious health effects form supplements. There is also rampant lying and bad advertising in the supplement industry with most supplements doing nothing at the best of times and causing serious health effects or death at worse and no one checks or regulates their claims. Take fish oil for example, it does literally nothing yet they are allowed to say it treats illness.

Click to expand...


brilliant. +1
 
SocialD said:
Dr Oz is one I would 'not' go to. You are right there is some lying.. never trust one single source without checking others.. that goes for lots of things.
Click to expand...

Do you not think we should regulate something that could quite literally kill you made by an industry that is well known for peddling lies and false advertising?
 
Carjosse said:
Do you not think we should regulate something that could quite literally kill you made by an industry that is well known for peddling lies and false advertising?
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I will refer back to my point that if you regulated it no one except wealth people would be able to afford it so what would be the point. no I don't think so. I think we should be out there doing our homework
 
SocialD said:
I will refer back to my point that if you regulated it no one except wealth people would be able to afford it so what would be the point. no I don't think so. I think we should be out there doing our homework
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But consumers do not know what is actually in these products, and they have no way of knowing. I would say keeping the industry responsible to consumers is more important considering you do not need "natural" supplements.
 
Carjosse said:
But consumers do not know what is actually in these products, and they have no way of knowing. I would say keeping the industry responsible to consumers is more important considering you do not need "natural" supplements.
Click to expand...

I will refer you back to sources such as WebMD, consumer reports and many other sources who have done homework on this stuff.
 
SocialD said:
I will refer you back to sources such as WebMD, consumer reports and many other sources who have done homework on this stuff.
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You should not have to to risk your life to take supplements, and those sources can only tell you part of the story, not what is actually in them or what potential harm they can cause, unlike a regulatory body. Do you believe drugs should work the same way?
 
Carjosse said:
You should not have to to risk your life to take supplements, and those sources can only tell you part of the story, not what is actually in them or what potential harm they can cause, unlike a regulatory body. Do you believe drugs should work the same way?
Click to expand...

Actually there have been several investigative studies that have don't just that and analyzed what is in them.
Such as from the Center for Science and the Public Interest.
Also if you read the FDA website there is 'some' regulation over supplements.
FDA still regulates they properly label, they must notify the FDA if they add a new ingredient, they are regulated that their products are made in a safe and sanitary practice and also if there are any adverse events with a supplement product they must notify the FDA.

THe problem is most of the supplement products that are not what they claim to be generally come from China. hard to regulate anyway.
Read up on the good brands. its really not that hard.
 
SocialD said:
Actually there have been several investigative studies that have don't just that and analyzed what is in them.
Such as from the Center for Science and the Public Interest.
Also if you read the FDA website there is 'some' regulation over supplements.
FDA still regulates they properly label, they must notify the FDA if they add a new ingredient, they are regulated that their products are made in a safe and sanitary practice and also if there are any adverse events with a supplement product they must notify the FDA.

THe problem is most of the supplement products that are not what they claim to be generally come from China. hard to regulate anyway.
Read up on the good brands. its really not that hard.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and those studies found that most of them do not even contain what they say on the bottle, not to mention that most supplements do literally nothing. They need to have total control over what is in them and force supplement comanies to actually prove they have the effects they claim to have. They should be treated the same as drugs.
 
SocialD said:
Actually there have been several investigative studies that have don't just that and analyzed what is in them.
Such as from the Center for Science and the Public Interest.
Also if you read the FDA website there is 'some' regulation over supplements.
FDA still regulates they properly label, they must notify the FDA if they add a new ingredient, they are regulated that their products are made in a safe and sanitary practice and also if there are any adverse events with a supplement product they must notify the FDA.

THe problem is most of the supplement products that are not what they claim to be generally come from China. hard to regulate anyway.
Read up on the good brands. its really not that hard.
Click to expand...

"1 in 3 products tested didn't actually contain the plant advertised on the bottle. If 1 in 3 bottles of milk didn't contain milk, you'd think twice about pouring that white mystery liquid over your cereal."
 
Carjosse said:
Yeah, and those studies found that most of them do not even contain what they say on the bottle, not to mention that most supplements do literally nothing. They need to have total control over what is in them and force supplement comanies to actually prove they have the effects they claim to have. They should be treated the same as drugs.
Click to expand...

LIke I said though, if you regulated them the same way you do drugs no one except the wealth could even buy them.
 
SocialD said:
LIke I said though, if you regulated them the same way you do drugs no one except the wealth could even buy them.
Click to expand...

Well you do not need to buy them, they are a luxury product that can do great harm.
 
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