Fish oil is the best source of omega 3 for a lot of different reasons, including the amount of oil that is in the fish as well as the types of omega 3 that you can get in the oil. You should still be careful which supplements you take as a lot of the fish oil supplements on the market are not actually as useful as they could be – and some of them still have high levels of mercury or PCBs in them.
The oil from fish has high levels of omega 3 fatty acids.
The biggest reason that most people go to fish first for their omega 3 supplements is just that this is a great source of omega 3. Although there are some plants out there (like flax) that technically have a higher percentage of omega 3 fatty acids, there are a few reasons why you should prefer fish to flax.
For one thing, using fish as your source of omega 3 will give you the right kinds of omega 3 fatty acids. Flax and other plant-based sources of omega 3 will only have alpha linolenic acid, or ALA. This ALA is a type of omega 3 that only has 18 carbon bonds. While this can be changed in the body to give you DHA and EPA, these types of fatty acid are very difficult to form since they require 2-4 more carbon bonds.
EPA and DHA are both necessary for your body’s health and without them, you can still suffer from most of the effects of omega 3 deficiency. DHA is one of the primary fatty acids that is used in the formation of the brain. Additionally, the oil that has high levels of DHA has been shown to be at least twice as effective as the normal fish oil that you might buy on the market – and is even more effective than highly concentrated tuna oil!
Fish oil can also be manufactured through molecular distillation. What this means is that the triglycerides in the fish oil are broken down into esters. The esters are then collected (with all of the nasty PCBs, mercury and other toxins taken out) and turned into fish oil capsules. Since your body would break down the natural triglycerides into esters anyway, this is an effective method of getting fish oil omega 3 to your body.
As a result, it is clear that the best omega 3 sources are fish oil that has been manufactured and purified using the method of molecular distillation.