

You want to do the right thing for your health, but who can you trust? The supplement world can be a tricky place to navigate.



Choose one listed under "met quality standards." Those cost anywhere from 17 to 64 cents a day for 1 gram of EPA and DHA combined, the amount the American Heart Association recommends for people with coronary heart disease. Check with a doctor before taking omega-3 pills because they can interact with some medications. But people who have coronary heart disease require about a gram a day of those fatty acids, an amount that often requires taking a supplement. Most people can get enough omega-3s by eating fatty fish-such as salmon and sardines, which are also low in mercury-at least twice a week. Oddly, that was one of few tested products labeled "USP Verified," which indicates that the USP has tested and verified the claimed ingredients, potency, and manufacturing process.īottom line. The agency has taken no enforcement action against any omega-3 maker over PCBs or other contaminants, an FDA spokeswoman said, because it has seen no public-health risk.Īnd two samples of Kirkland Signature failed the USP's disintegration test for pills with enteric coatings (designed to prevent fishy aftertaste): Their coating could break up in the stomach, not in the small intestine as intended. Most tested pills are claimed to be "purified" or "free" of PCBs, mercury, or other contaminants, claims that have no specific regulatory definition, the Food and Drug Administration says. Pharmacopeia (USP), a nongovernmental standard-setting group, or by the European Union.īut the test results revealed total PCBs in amounts that could require warning labels under California's Proposition 65, a consumer right-to-know law, in one sample of the CVS, GNC, and Sundown products, and in two samples of Nature's Bounty. And none exceeded limits for lead, mercury, dioxins, or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) set by the U.S. All had their labeled amount of EPA and DHA, omega-3 fatty acids that can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The lab tested three lots of each brand, bought in New York-area stores. Update: See below for a correction related to this article.Īmericans are buying more fish-oil supplements than ever, but in industry-standard tests of 15 top-selling brands conducted by an outside lab for Consumer Reports, five fell a bit short.
