Fish oil, flax seed oil, and Rancidity

Hi,

I've been taking a few grams of fish oil daily (by "fish oil" I actually mean 2-3g of omega 3, not just fish oil - I've read that only 300mg out of 1000mg of fish oil is actually omega 3) and I'm not sure whether it's doing me good or harm. I'd like your opinions on the following articles.

Below is a link to an article by Chris Kresser:

http://chriskresser.com/when-it-comes-t ... not-better

Below is a link to an article by a Dr. Dave Woynarowski:

http://drdaveunleashed.wordpress.com/ta ... -fish-oil/

What do you think? Is 3g of actual omega 3 too much?

Two side questions:

1) is flax seed oil comparable to fish oil?

2) has anyone else purchased any of the fish oil from TrueNutrition/TrueProtein? My mom thinks they taste rancid, but I can't tell because I don't bite my capsules, I swallow them. Any comments much appreciated.

Thanks

To answer #1: flax seed oil is fantastic, and more than good enough to supply you with all the omega 3 you need. Hemp and chia are also awesome; I prefer to just add some chia or hemp seeds into my meals (they taste great in things like oatmeal) rather than doing oils, but some flax seed oil in a protein shake will get the job done.

From my experience, I recommend fish oil from nordic naturals.

The articles I'm guessing discuss oxidation of the PUFAs. Generally there is a small amount of anti-oxidant included

in the fish oil to prevent that during storage. Once it's in the body, there are natural anti-oxidant systems to

deal with this, which is going to occur to some degree. As long as the body is in a healthy state it should

compensate. But on the whole I think a few grams of omega-3 a day is wise.

It doesn't have to come from a pill. Personally if I'm having an oily fish meal, sardines, salmon, etc., I'm not going to take the supplement.

Flax has ALA which is a precursor to the omega-3 (EPA/DHA). It's an alternative however only 5-15% is converted to omega-3.

So if you wanted to get 3 grams omega-3 you'd need something like 30g or 2 tablespoons.

Thanks, guys!