English: A Northern krill (Meganyctiphanes norvegica). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Confused about krill oil? Is it worth the money?
Dietetic intern Charlotte Collins and I spent time talking about omega-3s in a series of three videos.
The first video was what to look for in a supplement, the second video speaks to the vegans and vegetarians on what options to pursue. This last video is a discussion of krill oil. Is it worth it? To view the video or click here.
(Something to think about: WHERE are you getting nutrition information? I have absolutely no vested interest in any omega 3 supplement—personally I’d rather you eat fatty fish. But many that tout the benefits of certain supplements—like krill oil—often are suppliers or have a financial tie. So always, consider the source.)
| Neily: | We did a video on fish oil and omega-3s and it brought up some questions didn’t it Charlotte? |
| Charlotte: | Yes. Our video got a lot of feedback and comments. And some of the comments I saw were concerning krill oil. A lot of viewers had questions whether krill oil was the same as the fish oil we talked about and if it had the same benefits. There’s been a lot of hype around krill oil with Dr. Oz and other professionals. So, I’m just wondering what exactly is krill oil? |
| Neily: | I am really glad that came up because I do want to talk about that. Quite honestly, I’ve been wondering myself what is the big deal is with krill. Krill actually are shrimp-like crustaceans so they are fish. They’re a good source of EPA and DHA. I think some of the hype is because krill has an antioxidant—a protective molecule called astaxanthin—but we also get a lot of those antioxidants from plants, whole grains and so forth. That may be one of the things about it that makes it a little bit more “sexy” than other fish oils.It also has some phospholipids that might help absorption of the EPA and the DHA but that’s not totally substantiated. So, that might be another thing.However, what is it, specifically, that we talk about? Why do people take fish oil? Specifically for the benefits of… |
| Charlotte: | Specifically for the EPA and the DHA… |
| Neily: | And what is the typical recommendation that someone might get? |
| Charlotte: | 1000 mg of EPA and DHA |
| Neily: | Exactly. Looking at our other video, that’s what we were looking at when looking at labels. So looking at an example of a bottle of krill. What do you see there? |
| Charlotte: | In one soft gel, there’s a combined 80 mgs of EPA and DHA. |
| Neily: | 80 mg in one soft gel… |
| Charlotte: | So, you have to take over 10 of these… |
| Neily: | Yes… over 10 of these to get to 1000 (mg). And there are 60 in that bottle there. So that will last you less than 6 days. |
| Charlotte: | Wow…what’s the cost? |
| Neily: | That’s another thing. It kind of boggles my mind. One of my favorite websites is www.consumerlab.com and what they’ve done is analyze by 100 mg of EPA and DHA. Regular fish oil could be as low as a penny for 100 mg… go up to the teens but 1 cent to 5 cent to 7-8 cents per 100 mg… so to get that 1000, you’re looking an average of 50 cents for 1000 mg.In comparison, the krill—is going to be about 46 cents and one of them was even 59 cents per 100 mg. |
| Charlotte: | So, $5 – $6 just to get your 1000 mg per day. |
| Neily: | Exactly. I don’t know about you but that’s a little pricey for getting just that one little benefit of that antioxidant, astaxanthin. |
| Charlotte: | Definitely does not fit into that college budget! |
| Neily: | You can actually get astaxanthin as a separate supplement and be better off but again taking the fish oil for the benefits of heart health, brain health and the anti-inflammatory and so forth…Back to my recommendation of looking at the EPA and DHA specifically, getting that high concentration and that’s my recommendation. And leave the krill oil on the shelf unless you just want to make marketers a whole lot of money. |
| Charlotte: | Ok. Thank you… you definitely answered all my questions. |
Thanks for watching NeilyonNutrition and we will see you in the next video!
Related articles
- BEST source of omega 3 for a vegetarian/vegan (neilyonnutrition.wordpress.com)
- Are you taking the right amount of fish oil? (neilyonnutrition.wordpress.com)
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