How to choose a high-quality supplement Read the ingredients. Always be sure to read the ingredients. It's very important to choose a supplement that has the right dosage for you. Standard guidelines may not be sufficient.
Since 1938, Health Canada has been defining the nutrient needs of healthy people. These guidelines were originally developed to reduce the rates of diseases due to severe nutritional deficiency, such as scurvy (vitamin C deficiency), pellagra (niacin deficiency) and beriberi (vitamin B deficiency). In the mid-1990s, Health Canada began working with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide nutritional guidelines known as dietary reference intakes (DRI). However, DRIs focus solely on preventing overt nutritional deficiencies in population groups.
They don't define the “optimal intake” for an individual. When selecting a fish oil supplement, quality control is essential to ensure that the product is free of heavy metals such as lead and mercury, pesticides, damaged fats (lipid peroxides) and other contaminants. For general health, the recommended dose is 1000 mg of EPA and DHA per day. It's not 1000 mg of fish oil, it's 1000 mg of EPA and DHA.
For therapeutic purposes, such as reducing inflammation or reducing triglyceride levels, the recommended dose is usually 3000 mg of EPA and DHA per day. I want to help you eliminate the confusion and choose the right supplement and avoid spending your money on supplements that don't work. If you think your diet is lacking certain vitamins or minerals, your doctor may recommend a blood test to confirm this.
