Pharmaceutical Grade Fish Oil Is There Certainly This Variety Of Point?
Monday, May 14th, 2012“
Pharmaceutical Grade Fish Oil Is There Really Such A Thing?
By Michael * Filed under: Fish Oil With the growing awareness of Omega 3 fatty acids and their health benefits, more and more people have now started taking fish oil supplements regularly. Fish oil, after all, is the hands down best source of these beneficial fats. And of all these supplements, a pharmaceutical grade fish oil would clearly be the one to look for or would it?
The US Pharmacopeia doesnt have any set specifications that regulate the purity levels of any fish oil supplement. Manufacturers are free to choose how pure they want their oil to be, and can then sell it with impunity in the market. Theres no stopping them even if their oil contains significant levels of contaminants like Lead, Mercury and PCBs.
Fortunately, there are some private organizations that have come up with specified purity levels, which many quality supplement manufacturers choose to follow.
The IFOS (International Fish Oil Standards) is the most popular monograph, supplement companies follow. It works like this the company would submit their fish oil to IFOS for testing, they would evaluate the contamination and oxidation levels in the oil and prepare a report of their findings. Usually, the companies whose supplements pass the IFOS standards, call their oil to be a pharmaceutical grade fish oil.
However, if your omega 3 supplement hasnt been IFOS verified, that doesnt mean its not pure. It could have been tested according to other purity standards like the CRN (Council for Responsible Nutrition), European Pharmacopoeia or the Norwegian Medicinal Standard. Some companies Xtend Life for example choose to follow their own standards of purity that are even stricter than any of these organizations. Heres a comparative chart where you can see exactly what level of purity you can expect in an oil tested according to these standards.
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Found At: (pharmaceutical grade fish oil capsules) http://omega3information.com/272/pharmaceutical-grade-fish-oil/