How Do You Get More Omega 3 Fatty Acids In Your Diet If Fish Is Contaminated With Mercury?

The health benefits of Omega3 essential fatty acids are becoming more and more mainstream, and gradually the population is becoming aware that most of us are deficient in their Omega3 intake and that increasing our intake of essential fatty acids may help improve a number of health outcomes for all of us. Omega3 fatty acids are found in fish oil and this obviously comes from fish, however fish is generally contaminated with Mercury. So what do you do increase your intake of healthy fats if the source, namely fish, is contaminated with Mercury?

There has been a study published this year which has looked at Mercury contamination of fish in the North Pacific Ocean. It found that the level of Mercury in the North Pacific has increased 30 percent over 10 years from 1996 to 2006.

And as well as this it also found that around 40 percent of Mercury found population of US can be traced back and tuna that they have eaten which has been caught in the North Pacific.

This is seriously worrying, because you do not want to be eating too much Mercury. It is a neurotoxin and it has serious health implications for adults, but in particular for the fetus and for infants.

It was found that Mercury made its way into the oceans because of atmospheric Mercury production as well as Mercury leakage from Asia. It was present in the oceans as methylmercury, and works its way up the food chain to the fish at the top of the food chain, commonly shark and tuna. And shark and tuna make up a large percentage of our fish intake.

So the conundrum for anyone that understands the importance of increasing their intake of Omega3 fatty acids, and who also understands that the vast majority of our population is deficient in Omega3 fats, is that by increasing your intake of fish to increase your intake of Omega3 fats you are also increasing your intake of Mercury.

Fish is expensive and is also a declining resource. Is there a better way of increasing your intake of essential fatty acids other than eating expensive fish? Yes there is.

The better way is by daily consumption of omega3 supplements. Fish oil supplements are extremely cost effective when compared to buying fish, and the best fish oil supplements are entirely free of Mercury. For both these reasons many people are now taking daily fish oil capsules, and the result is that the sales of omega 3 supplements have increased faster than any other nutritional supplement in history.

However if you like eating fish, you recognize the expense involved from eating fish and that you may be increasing your Mercury levels then eating fish is a good way to increase your intake of Omega3 fats. But if you don’t like fish, if you don’t want to undertake the extra expense of buying fish and you prefer not to take more Mercury in your diet then there is a much more cost effective and safer alternative, namely fish oil supplements.

It is however worth noting that there wide variations in the quality of the various supplements available, and that the best fish oil supplements contain almost 3 times as much Omega3 fats as average capsules.

If you’d like to find out how to compare the different omega3 supplements available then you can do so on my website.