The Side Effects of Fish Oil and What to Do About Them

Its unbelievable how many health benefits fish oil provides us. Not only does it protect us from cancer, it makes sure our heart remains in prime form and keeps pumping blood in a trouble free manner, enhances our brain power and improves our health in many other ways. However, as an educated consumer, you need to be aware of the side effects of fish oil and the ways to tackle them.

So, what are the side effects of fish oil exactly? In some people, taking fish oil can cause bloating of the stomach or even mild diarrhea. Flatulence can also occur initially as the body tries to absorb and process the oil. These symptoms are mostly experienced if the oil is not fresh or it has been oxidized during processing.

One important point here is: the way fish oil eases the flow of blood in the arteries is by thinning it a little bit. If this is combined with any blood thinning medicines, the effect would be magnified. So you may experience that blood takes a little longer to coagulate in any minor injury. Make sure to consult your doctor if you are taking any such medicines.

As you can see, fish oil by itself really doesn’t have any side effects to be concerned about. The real danger lies in the contaminants that might be present in the oil. As most of our oceans have become polluted by industrial waste, this pollution causes the fish to absorb some of these contaminants. When oil is extracted from this fish, the oil too contains concentrated form of the dangerous chemicals like mercury, lead, and PCBs. Mercury poisoning can cause side effects like muscle weakness, speech impairment and impairment of vision.

The good news is, a properly refined fish oil would be free from any dangerous pollutants. The process that can do this is called Molecular Distillation. This refining technique involves separating the oil from the contaminants in a vacuum. The vacuum enables this process to be done at a much lower temperature than the boiling point of the oil – thereby removing any risk of oxidative damage to the oil.

Common side effects of fish oil also include a fishy aftertaste or burps. This is an indication that either the oil is not fresh, or it has been oxidized at some point while processing the oil. You can easily avoid this by taking an oil extracted from fresh fish. This means the oil processing facility should be near to the place from where the fish is caught. This information should be readily available on the oil vendor’s website. Make sure to check for this before you buy the oil.

In conclusion, you can easily avoid all the side effects of fish oil by taking a properly refined oil prepared from fresh fish. Just a little upfront research and you need not worry about any side effects ever again.