Fish Oil

[snousle]

A recent comment reminded me of something I wanted to mention.



I'm hearing a lot about people taking fish oil capsules these days. I think it would be a good idea to mention that I had the unfortunate experience of fucking someone that was taking them and not being able to get the smell of dead fish out of my crotch for, like, a week. Or so it seemed, anyway. And of course because his body was saturated in the stuff he couldn't detect it himself. Countless "fish" jokes ensued...

I don't know if this is a general problem or if he just had a particularly bad experience. But finding a friend who will sniff your butthole and tell you if it stinks is a great way to bond. ;-)

More generally, has it really been determined that fish oil capsules improve your health? The problem with these interventions is that researchers first associate eating fish with better health, then infer that it's probably the fish oil that did it, and finally assume that processed fish oil products will have the same effect as actual fish. There are a lot of things that can go wrong on the path from fresh seafood to little gelatin capsules.

Maybe this question is well settled in the medical community but I'm kind of skeptical.

Comments

[robearal.livejournal.com]

At one point my doctor had me on a super-refined prescription fish oil. No fishy smell in the jar, and no fishy burps. But a mildly (or sometimes not so mildly) fishy odor exuded from my pores and my excrement. I got off of that fairly quickly, because I did not like slick but gummy, fishy feces.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Both Randy and I take 4800mg of fish oil capsules a day, and nobody's ever accused us of smelling or tasting fishy.

I will note that cheap fish oil capsules seem to reek more than higher end brands when I open up the bottle. I've had good luck with national brands such as Nature Made or GNC.

I take fish oil because both my doctor and my cardiologist suggested it. Their attitude is "it may or may not help, but it certainly won't hurt."

There's a pretty good article in Wikipedia which links to a number of interesting studies:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_oil

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

The newish enteric coated softgels eliminate fishy burps and the fishy smell in the bottle. They're the only reason I can tolerate taking such a supplement.

[gloeden.livejournal.com]

I take capsules from time to time along with my usual lashings of fish dishes.
Never any issues with smell or breath.
It's also absolutely wonderful for the skin.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

The correlation was noticed with fish intake, to be sure - but they know now that it's because of Omega-3 fatty acids; the two in fish oil are docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA); alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) from flaxseed, english walnuts and so on is also helpful.

The oil in the capsules is processed to concentrate the useful O3's into a quantity people can conveniently consume. In my case, my Dr. recommended this because as a vegetarian it's the only way I'm going to get any DHA or EPA - and while ALA is helpful it's not as effective as the first two.

I imagine it depends on quantity - but at two capsules per day, I have noticed no fishy effluvium emanating from my person from any vector. As I find the odor of fish highly objectionable - I'm quite certain I'd notice.

[jawnbc]

That is just as likely a result of too aggressively and too often douching. I get it when the Mr and I have had a particularly frisky week.

Besides, it's a kunt it's gonna smell fishy sometimes....

[snousle.livejournal.com]

Well, it may have been an atypical result but it was DEFINITELY the fish oil. I didn't know he'd started taking it, but I knew his doctor might have suggested it so that was the very first question I asked. He stopped and it went away.

I'm going to tell him it was an odd result, though, because he stopped taking it as a result, and it's probably a good thing for his health if he resumes with a less fishy brand.

[sfbootdog.livejournal.com]

I am neither a doctor or a biochemist, but I believe the fishy smell is due to certain proteins breaking down. Theoretically, fish oil shouldn't have proteins in it. One would imagine that higher quality fish oil would have such things filtered out a bit more effectively.

I like food; I like sex; I like smells (yes, I mean THAT). However, sex that smells like food make me softer than an angora sweater.

Not really the analogy I was hoping for there, but it's far too late now.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Well, I am a chemist, and the "fishy" smell is indeed due to amines - usually secondary or tertiary. As the primary source of nitrogen compounds in metabolism is protein, you're quite correct.

Highly substituted amines reek HARD. Some of them have names like "cadaverine" and "putrescine" because they smell so incredibly bad.

Did someone say "Fish Jokes?"

[broduke2000.livejournal.com]

Did you post this for the Halibut?
Or did you post it on Porpoise?
I had a Whale of a time reading it!

Re: Did someone say "Fish Jokes?"

[danthered.livejournal.com]

Are you finished?

Re: Did someone say "Fish Jokes?"

[snousle.livejournal.com]

Perhaps he's Swedished.

Re: Did someone say "Fish Jokes?"

[broduke2000.livejournal.com]

Alas, I have not yet begun to trout, for I've seen the Holy Mackerel, and he has given me the inspiration, to get up on my perch, and emote.

[jstregyr.livejournal.com]

As a biochemist, I did some research when the endocrinologist asked me to take O3s & O6s for lipid control. I decided I definitely wanted to avoid preps that weren't sufficiently refined (amines, heavy metals, etc). I settled on a lab that performs double distillation: it's costly but I detect no smells from the capsule, I've never had digestive distress (no fishy burps or poots), and no one has complained (yet) that I smell of fish. I take 6000 mg/day (six 1-gm capsules) with meals and it's lowered my LDL and triglycerides dramatically (in conjunction with other meds).

[snousle.livejournal.com]

What do you think of this review?

http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/178/2/181